Churchill—A Study in Oratory
丘吉爾——演講的藝術
1.Endure your handicaps if they can't be cured and turn them to your advantage. Never give up！
He wasn't a natural orator， not at all. His voice was raspy. A stammer and a lisp often marred many of his speeches. Nor was his appearance attractive. A snub nose and a jutting lower lip made him look like a bulldog. Short and fat， he was also stoop-shouldered.
Yet this man—Sir Winston Churchill—became probably the greatest orator of our time and won the Nobel Prize for his writings and “brilliant oratory”. How did he do it？ And what lessons can all Toastmasters learn from him to help them make better speeches？
In school， Winston Churchill was a backward student. But he wasn't stupid. He later explained， “Where my reason， imagination or interest were not engaged， I would not or I could not learn.” But the English language fascinated him. He was the best in his class.
His English teacher once said， “I do not believe that I have ever seen in a boy of 14 such a veneration for the English language.” Churchill called the English sentence “a noble thing” and said， “The only thing I would whip boys for is not knowing English. I would whip them hard for that.” Lord Moran， his physician and intimate friend， wrote， “Without that feeling for words， he would have made little enough in life.”
2.Put forth your best efforts to prepare your speeches and seize every possible opportunity to practice them.
Failure in academic schooling， except for English， led young Churchill to a military academy. Enthusiastic about his military studies， he was highly successful at the academy. After graduating he took a commission as lieutenant in a cavalry regiment and began his army career.
Routine army life in India gave him free time between drills and polo. Deciding to make up for his lack of a university education， he spent his leisure hours reading. He asked his mother to send him certain books from England—by the box. For four to five hours each day he read more of Macaulay and Gibbon， as well as Shakespeare， Plato， Aristotle， Burke， Darwin， Maithus and Bartlett's Quotations.
He approached these books， as he once said， “with a hungry， empty mind， and with fairly strong jaws， and what I got I bit.” This reading gave him knowledge and opportunities for independent thinking. Nourished in the fertile soil of such excellent reading， ideas developed in his enriched mind. His interests widened and matured.