还有一个几乎不败的方法，可让听众密切注意，那就是告诉听众，如果他们按照你的建议而行，就可以获得他们想要的结果。这也有一些例子：An almost unfailing way to get alert attention is to promise to tell your listeners how they can get what they want by doing what you suggest. Following are some illustrations of what I mean:

“我要告诉各位如何防止疲倦，如何让自己每天多一个小时的清醒时间。”I am going to tell you how to prevent fatigue. I am going to tell you how to add one hour a day to your waking life.

“我要告诉各位如何从实质上多增加收入。”I'm going to tell you how you can materially increase your income.

“如果各位听我讲十分钟，我答应各位一定会告诉你们一个让你们更受欢迎的方法。”I promise that, if you will listen to me for ten minutes, I'll tell you one sure way to make yourself more popular.

这种承诺的开场白必定会获得注意，因为它直接触及听众的自我关注意识。讲演人常常忽略自己的题目与听众的兴趣之间的联系，他们不打开通往听众注意的门，却说些无趣的开场白，去追溯题材的由来，啰嗦地大谈背景，忘了自己的主旨。The "promise" type of opener is sure to get attention because it goes straight to the selfinterests of the audience. All too often speakers neglect to tie their topics to the vital interests of their hearers. Instead of opening the door to attention, they slam it shut with dull openings that trace the history of the subject matter or laboriously dwell upon the background necessary to an understanding of the topic.

我记得几年前听过一个讲演，题目本身对听众颇为重要：定期健康检查的必要性。演讲人一开始就无盐无味地背上一段延年益寿研究所的历史，没有以巧妙的开场白来增加自己题材的自然吸引力。于是，听众便对他和他的题目意兴索然。若依着“承诺”的技巧来建构开场白，效果便会大大增强。I remember one talk I heard a few years ago on a topic which, in itself, was important to the audience: the necessity of periodic health examinations. How did the speaker begin his talk? Did he add to the natural attractiveness of his subject by an effective opening? No. He started with a colorless recital of the history of his topic and the audience began to lose interest in him and in his subject. An opening built around the "promise" technique would have been admirably appropriate. For instance:

“根据统计数字，你知道你可以活多久吗？据保险公司的统计指出，你的平均寿命大概是你目前年龄与80岁之间的2/3。例如，如果你今年是35岁，你目前年龄与80岁之间的差距是45岁，那么，你大概可以活上这个数目的2/3，也就是说，你最少可活30年……这样子够了吗？不，不，我们都热烈盼望能多活几年。然而，这些统计数字是根据几百万份纪录而得出的，我们能不能够突破这项限制呢？可以的，只要有准确的预防，我们就可以办得到。但第一步就是要进行一次彻底的健康检查……”Do you know how long you are expected to live? Life insurance companies can predict this by means of life expectancy tables which have been compiled from the lives of millions of persons. You can expect to live two-thirds of the time between your present age and eighty... now, is this long enough for you to live? No, no! We are all passionately eager to live longer and we want to prove that this prediction is wrong. But how, you ask, can this be done? How can I extend my life beyond the shockingly small number of years statisticians say remain for me? Well, there is an answer, a possible way this can be done, and I shall tell you how to do this...