Sometimes you’re not trying to persuade the person that people think you’re trying to persuade.
有时候你并不是在说服别人以为你在说服的那个人
What you’re actually doing is trying to persuade lots of other people at the same time.
而是与此同时 试图说服很多其他人
I’ve spent my whole life as an educator, as a scientific educator at Oxford and at Oxford we have a rather unique system:
我一辈子都是名教育家 是牛津大学的科学教育家 牛津大学有一个很独特的系统：
a tutorial system where every student gets a one hour one-on-one tutorial each week with a tutor.
一种导师制 每个学生每周都会跟一名导师一对一相处一小时

And I had this as an undergraduate, which I absolutely loved, and then throughout my career I was a tutor.
我上大学的时候也有这种制度 我很喜欢 在我整个职业生涯中 我都是导师
So I would have student after student after student coming into my room, spending an hour with me;
所以会有一个接一个的学生走进我的房间 跟我相处一小时
they would produce an essay, we will talk about it, and I would be trying to, we would have a conversation.
他们会写一篇论文 我们就论文展开讨论 进行对话
So I got very practiced in the art of persuading people of scientific things.
所以我在说服别人接受科学事物上拥有大量的练习
And I think this may show itself in my writing the discipline of putting yourself in the shoes of the reader, of the other person,
这一点可能在我的写作中有所体现 习惯于站在读者 站在别人的角度来看待问题
asking yourself all the time: “What could be misunderstood here?
一直问自己：“这里可能产生什么歧义？
In what way might my words be misconstrued?
我的话可能被误解成什么样？
How could I... this person is not really getting it, I can see it from their face that they’re puzzled, maybe an analogy would help, maybe a metaphor would help.”
我怎么能 这个人没太看懂 我能从脸上看出来他们很困惑 或许用一个类比或者暗喻可以帮助理解”
So I suppose the only general thing I can think is put yourself in the position of your audience,
所以我能想到的一个笼统的想法就是让自己站在观众的角度
try to see where they’re coming from sympathetically and, um, argue your case in a way that should resonate with them.
带着同理心 试图理解他们的想法 用能与他们产生共鸣的方式去阐述自己的观点
There is a difference between persuading a single individual, which is what I was talking about in the case of an Oxford tutorial,
说服某个人 比如我刚才说的牛津大学的导师制
and persuading a whole audience who are, say, reading a book or listening to perhaps a radio program where sometimes—
和说服一群人 比如 一群读者或广播节目的听众 这之间有很大的不同
I’ve done quite frequently in America—I’ve done shows where there’s a phone in and people phone in and ask me questions or have an argument with me.
我在美国做过很多广播节目 曾经有节目有电话连线 人们会直接打电话进来问我问题 或者跟我争论
And there I have sometimes given up, I have to confess this I have sometimes given up on the quest to persuade the person who is arguing with me
有时候我也会放弃 我得承认有时候我会放弃说服我的争论者这个目标
I might regard them as a lost cause, but I’m conscious of the fact that thousands of other people are listening in,
可能是我觉得那注定是个败局 但我知道有数千人在收听这个节目
and the way I handle my argument with the one person who—maybe say a Young Earth creationist—
我会用这种方式处理跟那个人的争论——比如说一个地球年轻论鼓吹者
who is beyond redemption and clearly they aren’t going to believe anything I say.
他错的无可救药 而且显然不会相信我说的任何话
Nevertheless the method that I argue with them maybe a total failure as far as persuading them is concerned,
但是 要是从说服他们的角度来看 那我跟他们争论的方式可以说是完完全全的失败
but nevertheless may persuade thousands of other people who are listening in.
但却能说服正在收听的数千位其他听众