| Inventor: The Earplug | |
June 18, 2015
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| A man in his mid-40s came to the inventor's office and started to talk about his problems: He was a skillful researcher, so he said. But he had a weak point. Presentation. He originally hated to speak in public even at a friendly party. Recently, his chances to speak in front of people was increasing because his team's studies gathered more public attention. Last time, he became stuck in the middle of a presentation, not once but many times. He asked his team manager to change the presenter to another colleague but the manager insisted for him to present because he was the biggest contributor to the study. Up to date, his biggest presentation would be next month. The inventor asked him to demonstrate his presentation. He did a short presentation, and it was not bad. The researcher said, "I have no problem in front of a few people. But this time, it'll be hundreds of people gathered. Just think about that c." He looked very nervous. The inventor asked, "Have you ever experienced something like a speaking school?" The researcher replied, "Not a few! I joined several speaking schools. I
One week later, he came back to the inventor's office. The inventor showed him a gadget that he invented. The man looked suspicious. It looked just like earplugs. With a smirk, he said, "I hope you don't want me to simply shut out the audience's laughter with these earplugs after my presentation fails." The inventor looked uneasy but started to explain how to use this machine. The presentation day finally came. On this day, in a big hall of a big hotel, he was very nervous sitting on the stage facing the hundreds of people in the audience. The host started to introduce him, his way of talking was smart and witty. It made him more nervous. When the host's introduction was about finished, he turned on the controller of his earplugs from his jacket pocket. Gradually the host's voice and the buzz of the audience became smaller and smaller, the machine's voice-cancelation system worked. Suddenly music from the earplug-machine became louder little by little, it was the theme song from 'Rocky.' He felt his feeling liven up. The host's introduction finished and he waved him to the podium. He stood at the podium, looked around the audience. He could see their applause but the sound was completely mute. The Rocky's theme song became smaller, and transferred to ballade-style music, it was gentle and it made him relax. He cleared his throat, he could hear his own voice because the machine accepted only his voice. Now he was somehow feeling weird, like he was in the deep sea. He started to speak. His voice wasn't so confident, but smooth, at least smoother than he expected. He felt a sense of calmness. He started to concentrate on the speech's contents. After he ended his speech, he turned off his controller in his pocket. Suddenly, the audience's applause occurred. He was surprised that it was big. He smiled and bowed to the audience many times. On his way home he stopped by the inventor's office and expressed his gratitude to the inventor about the gadget. The inventor began to speak: "Actually, this was a good chance for me too. Because, originally, I'm a bad speaker, like you. So, this time I tried this gadget in front of people many times by myself. I went to a nearby park every day and gave a speech to people in the park. Although, they were mostly children and teachers of the kindergarten near the park. I gained important knowledge through this experiment." He continued, "We human beings can close our eyes if we want to and shut out the information from the outside. But, we can't stop the sound from the outside because we can't close our ears. But, why can we close our eyes but can't close our ears? I am not a specialist, but maybe it's because we need some information, even as we are sleeping, like wild animals do to check for wolves approaching, and have left our ears open." He said, "But, on the other hand, sometimes it becomes a source of problems. Proverbs say, 'Walls have ears.', 'Dead men tell no tales.', 'Bad news travels fast.' People want to talk about everything, especially scandals. And so, we worry about it. Sometimes we need to rest our ears." The researcher nodded and said, "By the way, Rocky's theme song was effective. And the background music changed according to the contents of my speech. That was the amazing part. I could relax." The inventor said, "Yes. Another function of ears is to listen to comfortable things, like a river streaming, leaves rustling. Music was invented to make people feel good. You can use it effectively." The researcher said, "But, I was very surprised with myself. I felt that my speech wasn't bad." The inventor said, "You could relax and so you could concentrate on the content itself. You could pay close attention to details, and so it became sophisticated. It was because of your good research." "Yours too." The researcher replied. They both smiled. |
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*hypnotic :to place someone in a mental state like sleep, in which their thoughts can be easily influenced (=hypnotize) (C)
*liven up :to become more exciting, or to make an event become more exciting (L)
*rustle :to make a sound like dry leaves or paper moving (O)
*sophisticate :having or showing a lot of experience of the world and social situation; knowing about fashion, culture, etc (O)