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HeidiGrant_2019S-_如何寻求并得到帮助_-
So, asking for help is basically the worst, right? 求助可以说是最糟糕的事了,对吗？
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
I've actually never seen it on one of those top ten lists of things people fear, like public speaking and death, but I'm pretty sure it actually belongs there. 它却没有被列入人们最害怕的 十大事物之中, 比如公众演讲 和死亡, 但我非常确定它 属于这类事物。
Even though in many ways it's foolish for us to be afraid to admit we need help, whether it's from a loved one or a friend or from a coworker or even from a stranger, 尽管不愿承认我们 需要帮助是愚蠢的, 无论是向爱人, 朋友,同事, 甚至陌生人求助。
coworker:n.同事;合作者;
somehow it always feel just a little bit uncomfortable and embarrassing to actually ask for help, which is, of course, why most of us try to avoid asking for help whenever humanly possible. 求助总会让我们感到 有点不适和尴尬, 当然,这也是我们 大多数人尽可能 避免求助的原因。
somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地; embarrassing:adj.令人尴尬的; v.使尴尬; (embarrass的现在分词) humanly:adv.以人力;像人地;在人力所能及的范围;
My father was one of those legions of fathers who, I swear, would rather drive through an alligator-infested swamp than actually ask someone for help getting back to the road. 我父亲就是那 “父亲军团”的一员, 我发誓,他宁愿开车 穿过鳄鱼出没的沼泽, 也不愿意找人 帮助他开回大路。
legions:n.罗马军团;军队(legion的复数);万马千军; would rather:宁愿,宁可; swamp:v.淹没;使不堪承受;使疲于应对;使应接不暇;n.沼泽(地);
When I was a kid, we took a family vacation. 我记得小时候有一次 全家出去度假。
We drove from our home in South Jersey to Colonial Williamsburg. 从位于南新泽西州的家驱车 前往前殖民地威廉斯堡。
Colonial:n.殖民地居民;adj.殖民地的,殖民的;
And I remember we got really badly lost. 我记得我们完全迷路了。
My mother and I pleaded with him to please just pull over and ask someone for directions back to the highway, and he absolutely refused, and, in fact, assured us that we were not lost, he had just always wanted to know what was over here. 我和妈妈恳求他 把车停在路边, 向别人询问回高速公路的路, 他直接拒绝了, 事实上他向我们 保证他没有迷路, 他只是想四处看看。
pleaded:v.辩护(plead的过去式); absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地; assured:adj.确定的;自信的;n.被保险人;v.保证;确实;(assure的过去分词和过去式);
(Laughter) （笑声）
So if we're going to ask for help -- and we have to, we all do, practically every day -- the only way we're going to even begin to get comfortable with it is to get good at it, 因此如果我们要求助—— 这是我们几乎每天都会做, 而且需要做的—— 我们适应它的方法 是变得善于求助,
practically:adv.实际地;几乎;事实上;
to actually increase the chances that when you ask for help from someone, they're actually going to say yes. 去增加我们求助时 别人答应帮助的概率。
And not only that , but they're going to find it actually satisfying and rewarding to help you, because that way, they'll be motivated to continue to help you into the future. 不仅如此,他们还会发现自己 能够在帮助我们的过程中 获得满足和回报, 因此他们就有动力 继续在将来帮助我们。
only that:只是;要不是; rewarding:adj.有益的;值得做的;报酬高的;v.奖励;奖赏;给以报酬;(reward的现在分词) motivated:adj.有动机的; v.使产生动机;
So research that I and some of my colleagues have done has shed a lot of light on why it is that sometimes people say yes to our requests for help and why sometimes they say no. 我和我同事做的一些研究 对人们为什么 有时会伸出援手, 有时候则不, 提供了一些解释。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); shed:v.摆脱;去除;蜕;落;n.工棚;简易房;剪羊毛棚;挤奶棚;
Now let me just start by saying right now: if you need help, you are going to have to ask for it. 现在让我们进入主题: 如果我们需要帮助, 我们就得开口。
Out loud. 大声说出来。
OK? 可以吗？
We all, to some extent , suffer from something that psychologists call "the illusion of transparency " -- basically, the mistaken belief that our thoughts and our feelings and our needs are really obvious to other people. 我们在某种程度上 都有心理学家常说的 “被洞悉错觉”—— 这说的是我们的 一种错觉, 我们总觉得自己的 思想、感觉和需要 对他人而言很明显。
extent:n.程度;范围;长度; psychologists:n.[心理]心理学家(psychologist的复数形式); illusion:n.幻觉,错觉;错误的观念或信仰; transparency:n.透明,透明度;幻灯片;有图案的玻璃; mistaken:adj.错误;不正确;被误解的;v.弄错;误解;误会;(mistake的过去分词) obvious:adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的;
This is not true, but we believe it. 事实并非如此, 但我们相信这点。
And so, we just mostly stand around waiting for someone to notice our needs and then spontaneously offer to help us with it. 所以我们只是干等在那儿, 等待有人注意到我们的需求, 然后主动提出帮助我们。
spontaneously:adv.自发地;自然地;不由自主地;
This is a really, really bad assumption . 这是一个非常糟糕的假设。
assumption:n.假定;设想;担任;采取;
In fact, not only is it very difficult to tell what your needs are, but even the people close to you often struggle to understand how they can support you. 事实上,不仅说出 我们的需求很难, 而且我们身边的人 也往往琢磨不透 应该如何支持我们。
My partner has actually had to adopt a habit of asking me multiple times a day, "Are you OK? Do you need anything?" 我的伴侣不得不 养成一个习惯, 每天问我很多次, “现在怎样？ 你需要什么吗？”
adopt:v.采取;接受;收养;正式通过; multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数;
because I am so, so bad at signaling when I need someone's help. 因为在需要帮助时, 我太不擅长发出信号。
signaling:n.发信号;打信号;
Now, he is more patient than I deserve and much more proactive , much more, about helping than any of us have any right to expect other people to be. 现在,他给予了我更多耐心, 更积极主动, 更乐于助人, 我们通常没有权利要求 别人这样对我们。
patient:adj.有耐心的,能容忍的;n.病人;患者; deserve:vi.应受,应得; proactive:adj.前摄的(前一活动中的因素对后一活动造成影响的);
So if you need help, you're going to have to ask for it. 所以如果我们需要帮助, 我们必须开口。
And by the way , even when someone can tell that you need help, how do they know that you want it? 另外,即便有人 看出来我们需要帮助, 他们怎么知道 我们需要什么？
by the way:顺便说一下;
Did you ever try to give unsolicited help to someone who, it turns out, did not actually want your help in the first place ? 大家有没有试过 主动帮助别人, 结果人家根本就 不想让你帮？
unsolicited:adj.未经请求的;主动提供的; in the first place:首先;起初;
They get nasty real quick, don't they? 他们很快就会厌恶,对吧？
nasty:adj.极差的:令人厌恶的:不友好的:n.令人不愉快的事物:
The other day -- true story -- my teenage daughter was getting dressed for school, and I decided to give her some unsolicited help about that. 这是个真实的故事—— 前些天,我十几岁的女儿 穿好衣服准备上学, 我决定自发地 给她一些帮助。
The other day:不久前某一天;几天以前;
(Laughter) （笑声）
I happen to think she looks amazing in brighter colors. 我碰巧觉得她 穿亮色衣服好看。
She tends to prefer sort of darker, more neutral tones . 但她通常喜欢偏深、 中性的色调。
prefer:v.更喜欢;宁愿;提出;提升; neutral:n.中立国; adj.中立的; tones:n.声调;基本音色(tone的复数);v.调节音调(tone的第三人称单数);
And so I said, very helpfully , that I thought maybe she could go back upstairs and try to find something a little less somber . 于是我试着说, 也许她可以回到楼上, 试着找件颜色 不那么阴沉的衣服穿。
helpfully:adv.有益地;有用地; somber:adj.忧郁的;昏暗的;严峻的;阴天的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So, if looks could kill, 如果眼神能杀人的话,
I would not be standing here right now. 我现在就不会 站在这里了。
We really can't blame other people for not just spontaneously offering to help us when we don't actually know that that's what is wanted. 我们不能责怪别人 不主动帮助我们, 特别是当对方不知道 我们需要什么时。
In fact, actually, research shows that 90 percent of the help that coworkers give one another in the workplace is in response to explicit requests for help. 事实上,研究显示 工作时同事之间 百分之九十的帮助 是响应明确的 求助请求的。
coworkers:n.同事;合作人;(coworker的复数形式) workplace:n.工作场所;车间; in response to:响应;回答;对…有反应; explicit:adj.明确的;清楚的;直率的;详述的;
So you're going to have to say the words "I need your help." Right? 所以我们得说: “我需要你的帮助“。
There's no getting around it. 这是无法回避的。
Now, to be good at it, to make sure that people actually do help you when you ask for it, there are a few other things that are very helpful to keep in mind . 想要做好它, 确保当我们寻求帮助时, 人们会帮我们, 请记住一些非常有用的做法。
keep in mind:记住;
First thing: when you ask for help, be very, very specific about the help you want and why. 第一点:当我们求助时, 一定要准确地阐述 我们要的帮助和原因。
specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药;
Vague , sort of indirect requests for help actually aren't very helpful to the helper, right? 含糊、间接的求助 对于帮助者其实 不是很有用,不是吗？
Vague:adj.模糊的;含糊的;不明确的;暧昧的; indirect:adj.间接的;迂回的;非直截了当的;
We don't actually know what it is you want from us, and, just as important, we don't know whether or not we can be successful in giving you the help. 他们的确不知道我们 想得到的帮助是什么, 同样重要的是, 他们不知道是否能够 成功帮助我们。
whether or not:是否…;
Nobody wants to give bad help. 没人想帮倒忙。
Like me, you probably get some of these requests from perfectly pleasant strangers on LinkedIn who want to do things like " get together over coffee and connect" 大家或许像我一样, 在领英收到过 来自非常友好的 陌生人的邀请, 这些人想做一些 “喝杯咖啡、聊个天”
LinkedIn:人际关系网;邻客音;社交网站; get together:聚会
or "pick your brain." 或“向你请教一下” 之类的事情。
I ignore these requests literally every time. 我每次都忽略这些请求。
ignore:v.驳回诉讼;忽视;不理睬; literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地:
And it's not that I'm not a nice person. 这并不是因为 我不够友好。
It's just that when I don't know what it is you want from me, like the kind of help you're hoping that can I provide, 只是我不知道他们 想从我这里得到什么, 以及希望我能 提供哪种帮助,
I'm not interested. 我就不感兴趣。
Nobody is. 没人会有兴趣。
I'd have been much more interested if they had just come out and said whatever it is was they were hoping to get from me, because I'm pretty sure they had something specific in mind. 如果他们能直接说出 任何他们想从我这里 获得的帮助,我就会更有兴趣, 因为我很肯定他们有些具体的想法。
So go ahead and say, "I'm hoping to discuss opportunities to work in your company," 所以要开口, “我想和你谈谈贵司 有没有工作机会。”
or, "I'd like to propose a joint research project in an area I know you're interested in," 或“我想提出一个你一定 会非常感兴趣的领域的 联合研究项目。”
propose:v.建议;提议;求婚;打算; joint:n.关节; adj.共同的; v.连接,贴合;
or, "I'd like your advice on getting into medical school." 或者,“我想听听你对 读医学院的建议。”
Technically, I can't help you with that last one because I'm not that kind of doctor, but I could point you in the direction of someone who could. 说实话,我不能帮助 解决最后一个请求, 因为我不是医生, 但我可以指明谁可以 提供帮助。
OK, second tip. 好了,第二个技巧。
This is really important: please avoid disclaimers , apologies and bribes . 这点真的很重要: 请不要用免责声明, 道歉和贿赂。
disclaimers:n.放弃;弃权者(disclaimer的复数); bribes:n.贿赂;v.向(某人)行贿;贿赂(bribe的第三人称单数和复数)
Really, really important. 真的,这非常重要。
Do any of these sound familiar ? 这些听起来熟悉吗？
familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友;
(Clears throat) （清嗓子）
'I'm so, so sorry that I have to ask you for this." “我非常、非常抱歉 要请求你件事情”。
'"I really hate bothering you with this." “我真的非常不想麻烦你”。
bothering:v.使某人烦恼或担忧;打扰;(bother的现在分词)
'"If I had any way of doing this without your help, I would." “如果没有你能做成 这事的话,我一定会的”。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Sometimes it feels like people are so eager to prove that they're not weak and greedy when they ask your for help, they're completely missing out on how uncomfortable they're making you feel. 有时候这让人感觉, 他们是如此渴望去证明 他们寻求帮助时, 不是因为软弱和贪婪, 但他们完全忽视了这样做会 让我们感到不舒服。
greedy:adj.贪婪的;贪吃的;渴望的;
And by the way -- how am I supposed to find it satisfying to help you if you really hated having to ask me for help? 顺便问一句, 如果他们讨厌求助我, 我怎会觉得帮助他们是 让我感到满足的事呢？
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式)
And while it is perfectly, perfectly acceptable to pay strangers to do things for you, you need to be very, very careful when it comes to incentivizing your friends and coworkers. 虽然付费给陌生人 帮我们做事情 是完全可以接受的, 当涉及到激励 我们的朋友和同事时, 我们要非常小心。
acceptable:adj.认同的;可接受的;令人满意的; incentivizing:以物质刺激鼓励;
When you have a relationship with someone, helping one another is actually a natural part of that relationship. 如果我们跟某人关系很好, 彼此帮助就是那段关系 很自然的部分。
It's how we show one another that we care. 这是我们展示 关心彼此的方式。
If you introduce incentives or payments into that, what can happen is, it starts to feel like it isn't a relationship, it's a transaction . 如果我们在这种关系中 加入激励或者付费, 会让人觉得这不是段关系, 而是个交易。
incentives:n.激励;奖励;诱因(incentive的复数形式);奖励措施; payments:n.付款;支付;收款;款项;报答;(payment的复数) transaction:n.处理;业务;办理;
And that actually is experienced as distancing, which, ironically , makes people less likely to help you. 这其实会让人 产生一种距离感, 更讽刺的事,这反而 会让人更不愿意帮助我们。
ironically:adv.讽刺地;说反话地;
So a spontaneous gift after someone gives you some help to show your appreciation and gratitude -- perfectly fine. 所以,在别人帮助我们后, 我们可以用更淳朴的礼物 来表达感激之情—— 这样做就很好。
appreciation:n.升值;欣赏;感谢;增值; gratitude:n.感谢(的心情);感激;
An offer to pay your best friend to help you move into your new apartment is not. 付钱给帮我们 搬进新公寓的朋友 就不是好做法。
OK, third rule, and I really mean this one: please do not ask for help over email or text. 第三点, 我想说的是: 请不要通过邮件 或者短信 请求帮助。
help over:帮助越过;
Really, seriously, please don't. 我是认真的, 请不要那样做。
Email and text are impersonal . 邮件和短信 很不正式。
impersonal:adj.客观的; n.非人称动词;
I realize sometimes there's no alternative , but mostly what happens is, we like to ask for help over email and text because it feels less awkward for us to do so. 我知道有时候没得选, 但多数情况下, 我们喜欢通过邮件 或短信求助, 是因为这样做我们 不会感到那么尴尬。
alternative:adj.供选择的;选择性的;交替的;n.二中择一;供替代的选择; awkward:adj.尴尬的;笨拙的;棘手的;不合适的;
You know what else feels less awkward over email and text? 有什么比用邮件和短信 求助更尴尬的吗？
Telling you no. 没有。
And it turns out, there's research to support this. 事实上,有研究 支持这个观点。
In-person requests for help are 30 times more likely to get a yes than a request made by email. 当面请求得到 帮助的可能性 比发邮件高30倍。
In-person:亲自;外貌上;
So when something is really important and you really need someone's help, make face time to make the request, or use your phone as a phone -- 所以当一件事真的很重要, 我们需要人的帮助时, 当面提出这个请求, 或者只用手机通过打电话——
face time:n.(与同事等的)面对面(交流)时间;
(Laughter) （笑声）
to ask for the help that you need. 去寻求我们需要的帮助。
OK. 好了。
Last one, and this is actually a really, really important one and probably the one that is most overlooked when it comes to asking for help: when you ask someone for their help and they say yes, follow up with them afterward . 最后一点也非常重要, 它可能是寻求帮助时 最容易被忽视的一点: 当我们寻求别人的帮助 并得到肯定回答时, 事后与他们保持联系。
overlooked:n.被忽视;v.忽视(overlook的过去式和过去分词形式);忽略;俯瞰; afterward:adv.以后,后来;
There's a common misconception that what's rewarding about helping is the act of helping itself. 人们普遍有种误解, 认为帮助别人的回报 在于帮助本身。
misconception:n.误解;错觉;错误想法;
This is not true. 事实并非如此。
What is rewarding about helping is knowing that your help landed, that it had impact , that you were effective . 帮助的回报是知道 你的帮助落实了, 它产生了影响, 你的帮忙是有效的。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象;
If I have no idea how my help affected you, how am I supposed to feel about it? 如果我根本不知道 我的帮助如何影响你, 我对这帮助 会有何感想？
I have no idea:我没有头绪…;
This happened; I was a university professor for many years, 这种事情发生过: 我当大学教授很多年,
I wrote lots and lots of letters of recommendation for people to get jobs or to go into graduate school . 写了很多的推荐信, 帮学生找工作 或申请研究生院。
recommendation:n.推荐;介绍;提议;正式建议; graduate school:研究所,研究院;
And probably about 95 percent of them, 其中有大约95%
I have no idea what happened. 我都不知道之后 发生了什么。
Now, how do I feel about the time and effort I took to do that, when I really have no idea if I helped you, if it actually helped you get the thing that you wanted? 当我不知道 我是否帮助了你, 是否帮助你得到 你想要的东西时, 我该如何看待我花在 这件事上的时间和精力？
In fact, this idea of feeling effective is part of why certain kinds of donor appeals are so, so persuasive -- because they allow you to really vividly imagine the effect that your help is going to have. 事实上,这种 感觉有效的想法是 某些捐助的呼吁 如此有说服力的原因, 因为它们能让 我们生动地想象 我们的帮助将产生的效果。
donor:n.捐赠者;供者;赠送人;adj.捐献的;经人工授精出生的; appeals:n.[法]上诉; v.有吸引力(appeal的单三形式); persuasive:adj.有说服力的;劝诱的,劝说的; vividly:adv.生动地;强烈地;
Take something like DonorsChoose. 比如 DonorsChoose。
You go online, you can choose the individual teacher by name whose classroom you're going to be able to help by literally buying the specific items they've requested, like microscopes or laptops or flexible seating. 我们在网上选择 我们想给予帮助的 教室的老师的名字。 为他们购买他们 请求的特定商品, 比如显微镜、笔记本电脑 和可调节高度的座椅。
individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; items:n.项目;一件商品(或物品);一则,一条(新闻)(item的复数) microscopes:n.[光]显微镜(microscope的复数); laptops:n.便携式电脑;笔记本电脑;(laptop的复数) flexible:adj.灵活的;柔韧的;易弯曲的;
An appeal like that makes it so easy for me to imagine the good that my money will do, that I actually get an immediate sense of effectiveness the minute I commit to giving. 这就让我很容易想象 我的钱将会起到的作用, 在我做出捐赠的那一刻, 就感觉有一种 立竿见影的效果。
effectiveness:n.效力; commit:v.犯(罪等);干(坏事等);[法]提(审);判处;
But you know what else they do? 但你知道他们 还会做什么吗？
They follow up. 他们还会跟捐助者 保持联系。
Donors actually get letters from the kids in the classroom. 捐赠者会收到教室里 学生的来信。
Donors:n.捐赠人(donor的复数);[电子]施主;
They get pictures. 他们会收到照片。
They get to know that they made a difference. 他们知道他们对别人 产生了影响。
And this is something we need to all be doing in our everyday lives, especially if we want people to continue to give us help over the long term. 这是我们在生活中 都应该做的事情, 尤其当我们想要人们 长期帮助我们时。
especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
Take time to tell your colleague that the help that they gave you really helped you land that big sale, or helped you get that interview that you were really hoping to get. 花时间告诉我们的同事 他们给予的帮助 帮助我们谈成了 那笔大买卖, 或帮助我们得到了 很想要的面试机会。
interview:n.接见,采访;面试,面谈;v.采访;接见;对…进行面谈;
Take time to tell your partner that the support they gave you really made it possible for you to get through a tough time. 花时间告诉我们的伴侣 他们给予的帮助 帮助我们度过了 艰难的时光。
Take time to tell your catsitter that you're super happy that for some reason, this time the cats didn't break anything while you were away, and so they must have done a really good job. 花点时间告诉帮助你照顾猫的人, 我们很高兴, 因为这次我们不在的时候, 猫没有打坏任何东西, 他们做得棒极了。
The bottom line is: 归根结底:
The bottom line:底线;本质内容;最底线;
I know -- believe me, I know -- that it is not easy to ask for help. 相信我——我知道—— 寻求帮助并不容易。
We are all a little bit afraid to do it. 我们都有点害怕这样做。
It makes us feel vulnerable . 这让我们感到脆弱。
vulnerable:adj.易受攻击的,易受…的攻击;易受伤害的;有弱点的;
But the reality of modern work and modern life is that nobody does it alone. 但现代的工作和生活 不是我们可以 独自应对的。
Nobody succeeds in a vacuum . 没人能独自成功。
vacuum:n.真空; adj.真空的; v.用真空吸尘器清扫;
More than ever, we actually do have to rely on other people, on their support and collaboration , in order to be successful. 事实上,我们比以往 更需要依靠他人, 有了他们的支持和配合, 我们才能成功。
rely:vi.依靠;信赖; collaboration:n.合作;勾结;通敌;
So when you need help, ask for it out loud. 所以需要帮助时, 大声说出来。
And when you do, do it in a way that increases your chances that you'll get a yes and makes the other person feel awesome for having helped you, because you both deserve it. 用可以提高 得到肯定回答概率 的方法去做, 另外,确保他人因为 帮助我们而感到快乐, 因为这是帮助者应得的。
awesome:adj.令人敬畏的;使人畏惧的;可怕的;极好的;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）