第一次演讲
大学二年级的时候，我参加了一次演讲比赛。
In my second year at university I entered a speech competition.
说实话，我当时并不想参加，是室友帮我报的名。
To be honest I didn't want to enter; my roommate signed me up.
那天下午，礼堂里坐了差不多三百个人。
That afternoon there were nearly three hundred people in the hall.
轮到我的时候，我的手一直在抖。
When my turn came, my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
我走上台，看着下面那么多张脸，脑子忽然一片空白。
I walked on stage, looked at all those faces, and my mind went blank.
我准备了两个星期的稿子，第一句话就说反了。
I'd prepared the script for two weeks, and I got the very first sentence backwards.
台下有人笑了。
Someone in the audience laughed.
我停了大概三秒钟——那三秒钟对我来说像三个小时。
I stopped for about three seconds — three seconds that felt like three hours to me.
然后我做了一件我自己都没想到的事：我笑着说，“对不起，我太紧张了，我们重新开始。”
Then I did something I hadn't expected of myself: I smiled and said, "Sorry, I'm too nervous — let's start again."
大家鼓掌了。
The audience applauded.
后面的八分钟，我说得比在宿舍里练习的时候还流利。
For the next eight minutes I spoke more fluently than I ever had practising in my dorm.
最后我得了第三名。
I came third.
不过对我来说，名次并不重要。
But the placing wasn't what mattered to me.
重要的是我知道了：紧张不可怕，可怕的是因为紧张就不上台。
What mattered was learning that nerves aren't the problem — not going on stage because of them is.