TED英语演讲稿：内向性格的力量
Now of course， this does not mean that we should all stop collaborating —— and case in point， is Steve Wozniak famously coming together with Steve Jobs to start Apple Computer —— but it does mean that solitude matters and that for some people it is the air that they breathe。 And in fact， we have known for centuries about the transcendent power of solitude。 It's only recently that we've strangely begun to forget it。 If you look at most of the world's major religions， you will find seekers —— Moses， Jesus， Buddha， Muhammad ——seekers who are going off by themselves alone to the wilderness where they then have profound epiphanies and revelations that they then bring back to the rest of the community。 So no wilderness， no revelations。
当然了 这并不意味着我们都应该停止合作—— 恰当的例子呢，是史蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克和史蒂夫·乔布斯的著名联手 创建苹果电脑公司—— 但是这并不意味着和独处有重大关系 并且对于一些人来说 这是他们赖以呼吸生存的空气 事实上，几个世纪以来我们已经非常明白 独处的卓越力量只是到了最近，非常奇怪，我们开始遗忘它了 如果你看看世界上主要的宗教 你会发现探寻者—— 摩西，耶稣，佛祖，那些独身去探寻的人们 在大自然的旷野中独处，思索 在那里，他们有了深刻的顿悟和对于奥义的揭示 之后他们把这些思想带回到社会的其他地方去没有旷原，没有启示
This is no surprise though if you look at the insights of contemporary psychology。 It turns out that we can't even be in a group of people without instinctively mirroring， mimicking their opinions。 Even about seemingly personal and visceral things like who you're attracted to， you will start aping the beliefs of the people around you without even realizing that that's what you're doing。
尽管这并不令人惊讶 如果你注意到现代心理学的思想理论 它反映出来我们甚至不能和一组人待在一起 而不去本能地模仿他们的意见与想法 甚至是看上去私人的，发自内心的事情 像是你被谁所吸引 你会开始模仿你周围的人的信仰 甚至都觉察不到你自己在做什么
And groups famously follow the opinions of the most dominant or charismatic person in the room， even though there's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas —— I mean zero。 So 。。。 （Laughter） You might be following the person with the best ideas， but you might not。 And do you really want to leave it up to chance？ Much better for everybody to go off by themselves， generate their own ideas freed from the distortions of group dynamics， and then come together as a team to talk them through in a well—managed environment and take it from there。
还曾跟随群体的意见 跟随着房间里最具有统治力的，最有领袖气质的人的思路 虽然这真的没什么关系 在成为一个卓越的演讲家还是拥有最好的主意之间—— 我的意思是“零相关” 那么。。。（笑声） 你们或许会跟随有最好头脑的人 但是你们也许不会 可你们真的想把这机会扔掉吗？如果每个人都自己行动或许好得多 发掘他们自己的想法 没有群体动力学的曲解 接着来到一起组成一个团队 在一个良好管理的环境中互相交流 并且在那里学习别的思想
Now if all this is true， then why are we getting it so wrong？ Why are we setting up our schools this way and our workplaces？ And why are we making these introverts feel so guilty about wanting to just go off by themselves some of the time？ One answer lies deep in our cultural history。 Western societies， and in particular the U。S。， have always favored the man of action over the man of contemplation and "man" of contemplation。 But in America's early days， we lived in what historians call a culture of character， where we still， at that point， valued people for their inner selves and their moral rectitude。 And if you look at the self—help books from this era， they all had titles with things like "Character， the Grandest Thing in the World。" And they featured role models like Abraham Lincoln who was praised for being modest and unassuming。 Ralph Waldo Emerson called him "A man who does not offend by superiority。"
如果说现在这一切都是真的 那么为什么我们还得到这样错误的结论？ 为什么我们要这样创立我们的学校，还有我们的工作单位？ 为什么我们要让这些内向的人觉得那么愧疚 。对于他们只是想要离开，一个人独处一段时间的事实？ 有一个答案在我们的文化史中埋藏已久 西方社会特别是在美国 总是偏爱有行动的人 而不是有深刻思考的人 有深刻思考的“人” 但是在美国早期的时候 我们生活在一个被历史学家称作“性格特征”的文化 那时我们仍然，在这点上，判断人们的'价值 从人们的内涵和道义正直 而且如果你看一看这个时代关于自立的书籍的话 它们都有这样一种标题： “性格”，世界上最伟大的事物 并且它们以亚伯拉罕·林肯这样的为标榜 一个被形容为谦虚低调的男人 拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生称他是 “一个以‘优越’二字形容都不为过的人”
But then we hit the 20th century and we entered a new culture that historians call the culture of personality。 What happened is we had evolved an agricultural economy to a world of big business。 And so suddenly people are moving from small towns to the cities。And instead of working alongside people they've known all their lives， now they are having to prove themselves in a crowd of strangers。 So， quite understandably， qualities like magnetism and charisma suddenly come to seem really important。 And sure enough， the self—help books change to meet these new needs and they start to have names like "How to Win Friends and Influence People。" And they feature as their role models really great salesmen。 So that's the world we're living in today。 That's our cultural inheritance。