译文及生词短语整理：朗读者小组
Translation
Eliminating Verbal Pauses
消除言语停顿
By Steve Pavlina
One of the communication skills Toastmasters teaches is to eliminate verbal pauses when speaking, whether giving a speech, talking on the phone, or having a face-to-face conversation.
“国际演讲会”（Toastmasters）教授的一个沟通技巧是在发言时消除言语停顿，不论你是在演讲，打电话，还是进行面对面的交谈。
Verbal pauses are when you say um, ah, uh, you know, etc. While your brain is searching for the next words to say, your mouth keeps on going and blurts out meaningless extra syllables.
言语停顿是当你说“嗯，啊，呃，你知道”等词，当你的大脑正在寻找下一句要说的话时，你的嘴会继续说，无意义的多余音节便脱口而出。
Verbal pauses also include bridge words like and, but, and so. If you say one of these words and hang on it before you actually know what you’re going to say next, it’s a bridge word.
言语停顿也包括桥接词，如“和，但”等词。如果你说了一个这样的连词词，但是在你想清楚接下来要说什么之前停顿了下来，那么这种连词就是桥接词。
Another form of verbal pause is the repeated word. You keep repeating your last word until you figure out what to say next, like and and and.
言语停顿的另一种形式是不断重复某个字或词。你不停重复你的最后一个词，直到你找出接下来要说的话，像“还有，还有，还有…”。
One of the meeting roles in Toastmasters is the Ah Counter. The person who fills this role changes every week, and his/her job is to count the verbal pauses of everyone who speaks during the meeting and then to tell each of us how we did at the end of the meeting.
国际演讲会的会议角色之一是“啊”计数人。扮演这个角色的人每周都会发生变化，他/她的工作是计算在会议期间发言的每个人的言语停顿次数，然后在会议结束后告诉我们每个人今天的表现。
This is incredibly eye-opening.
When I first started in Toastmasters, I might have 10-20 verbal pauses during a meeting. Now I’ve got it down in the 0-2 range. Some veteran Toastmasters members have gotten good enough that it’s rare they’ll ever have a verbal pause. But some new members are challenged to commit less than 10 verbal pauses per minute of speaking.
这真的很开眼界。
当我第一次参加国际演讲会时，我在会议期间可能有10-20次言语停顿。现在我已经把它控制在0-2的范围了。一些经验丰富的演讲会成员已经变得足够好，很少会出现言语停顿。但是有些新成员面临的挑战是做到每分钟说话不到10次的言语停顿。
The simplest replacement for a verbal pause is a silent pause. When your brain stops feeding intelligible words to your mouth, stop talking. Don’t say um, ah, y’know, sooooo, etc. If you’re addicted to verbal pauses, this may feel uncomfortable at first, but you eventually get used to it. Remember that you don’t have to fill every minute of airtime with noise.
有一个替代言语停顿的最简单的方法：沉默停顿。当你的大脑还没有考虑好你要说的确切词汇时，就先别说话。不要说“嗯”、“啊”、“你知道”、“所以啊”之类的话。如果你平时习惯于言语停顿，沉默停顿最开始可能会让你很不舒服，但你迟早会习惯它。你要知道，你不需要每时每刻都在讲话。
Verbal pauses are distracting in communication. They can make you sound less intelligent and clear. They muddle your message. Verbal pauses are simply noise, not communication. You don’t need them, and your communication will be more effective once you eliminate them.
在交谈中，言语停顿也是容易让人分心的。它们会让你听起来不那么机敏和思路清晰。它们你的表达更加混乱了。言语停顿不属于沟通，而是噪音。你不需要它们，去掉它们，你的交流会变得更高效。
New words
1. face-to-face英 ['feɪs,tʊ'feɪs] 美 ['fes,tə'fes]
adj. 面对面的；当面的
e.g. Would you do this in a face-to-face meeting?
你会在一个面对面的会议中做这样的事情么？
2. syllable 英 ['sɪləb(ə)l] 美 ['sɪləbl]
n. 音节
e.g. The accent falls on the third syllable.
重音落在第三个音节上。
3. eye-opening ['ai,əupəniŋ]
adj. 使人开眼界的
e.g. For an American, it was eye-opening from the first moment.
身为一个美国人，我从开始一刻起就大开眼界。
4. veteran 英 ['vet(ə)r(ə)n] 美 ['vɛtərən]
adj. 经验丰富的
e.g. On the way to the meeting, I asked a veteran campaigner how many people we needed to avoid embarrassment.
在路上，我问一个组织竞选活动的老手，需要有多少人到场我们才不会显得难堪？
5. intelligible 英 [ɪn'telɪdʒɪb(ə)l] 美 [ɪn'tɛlɪdʒəbl]
adj. 可理解的；明了的
e.g. I guessed he uttered those words, though his voice was hardly intelligible.
我猜他说出了这几个字，虽然他的声音是难以听清的。
6. airtime 英 ['eətaɪm] 美 ['εə,taim]
n. 电影或电视节目开始的时间
e.g. Even when the media do provide campaign coverage, the candidates may not get much direct airtime.
即便媒体真正报道竞选时，候选人得到直接亮相的时间可能也不多。
7. muddle 英 ['mʌd(ə)l] 美 ['mʌdl]
vt. 混合，混乱；使咬字不清晰；
e.g. You'd better not muddle me about, but tell me the truth.
你最好别把我弄得糊里糊涂，而是把实情告诉我。
Phrases
1.verbal pause 说话间的无意义停顿，如啊、额等
2.communication skill 沟通能力；沟通技能
3.blurt out 脱口而出
这篇文章讲了通过刻意练习降低言语停顿的方法。其实很多技能的get都需要刻意练习。比如学英语、学编程、打羽毛球、练钢琴等等。
将刻意练习这个概念引入中国的人就是万维钢老师，推荐你阅读万维钢老师的书《万万没想到》、《智识分子》，希望通过阅读万sir的书能帮助你get到如何对自己想get的技能进行刻意练习。
本译文仅供个人研习、欣赏语言之用，谢绝任何转载及用于任何商业用途。本译文所涉法律后果均由本人承担。本人同意平台在接获有关著作权人的通知后，删除文章。