President Obama and former governor Mitt Romney have teams of advisors and aides to help them prepare for their three debates. But what about the rest of us who would like some help winning an argument—at work， at school or at home？

For advice， we asked two experts at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem， North Carolina. Allan Louden chairs[任教授職位] the Department of Communication. Assistant professor Jarrod Atchison is the director of debate. His first piece of advice is to know your audience.

Jarrod Atchison： Before you know if youve won or you lost， you have to know who the audience is or who the judge is. And so in everyday argumentation some people think that logic alone will prevail[占上風(fēng)] when sometimes thats not the most persuasive[有說服力的] form of argument in a given situation. So you have to know your audience and what they consider to be relevant[相關(guān)的] information for the debate at hand[即將到來].

Second， find a “universal principle” that everyone in the room—from the audience members to your opponent[敵手，對(duì)手]—can agree to. Jarrod Atchison says if you argue from that principle， “then you do not have to fight the fight about the basics of the evidence.”

Third， he says the best debaters are the best listeners. They listen to what their opponent is saying， instead of just repeating their own position.

And fourth， he says， “be very careful in deploying[使用] history in argumentation.” Some people think that having one strong historical example to support their side will win the argument. But their opponents may have other historical examples to support their side.

Atchison： And a very good debater will always use that to their advantage by saying， “Well， you may have identified one example that supports your direction. But heres a larger， more important example that supports my side.”

奧巴馬總統(tǒng)和前州長米特·羅姆尼都有各自的顧問團(tuán)隊(duì)來幫助他們準(zhǔn)備三場（總統(tǒng)）辯論。但對(duì)我們這些想在工作場合、學(xué)校里或者是家里贏得辯論的人又有什么好的建議呢？

我們請(qǐng)來了（美國）北卡羅來納州溫斯頓-賽納姆市的維克森林大學(xué)的兩位專家——傳播系教授艾倫·勞登和擔(dān)任辯論總監(jiān)的助理教授賈羅德·艾奇遜——為我們指點(diǎn)迷津。艾奇遜的第一條建議是了解你的觀眾。

賈羅德·艾奇遜：在了解辯論是成是敗之前，你必須先了解你的聽眾或者評(píng)委。因此，在日常的辯論中，有人認(rèn)為邏輯這個(gè)單一元素就會(huì)讓自己占上風(fēng)，但在某些特定情況下，邏輯并不是最有說服力的論證形式。所以，你必須了解你的觀眾，以及對(duì)他們來說什么是即將到來的這場辯論的相關(guān)信息。

第二，找到一個(gè)能讓現(xiàn)場每一個(gè)人——從全場觀眾到你的對(duì)手——都同意的“通用法則”。賈羅德·艾奇遜說如果你以這一法則為出發(fā)點(diǎn)辯論，“那么你不需要與基本的知識(shí)作斗爭。”

第三，他說最好的辯論家也是最好的聆聽者。他們聆聽對(duì)手講的話，而不只是重復(fù)自己的論點(diǎn)。

第四，他說，“在辯論過程中引用歷史（事件）要非常謹(jǐn)慎?！庇腥苏J(rèn)為用一個(gè)有力的歷史事例來支持己方論點(diǎn)就能夠贏得辯論。但對(duì)方可能提出其他歷史事例來支持他們的論點(diǎn)。

艾奇遜：一個(gè)優(yōu)秀的辯手總會(huì)說“好吧！你可能有一個(gè)有用的論據(jù)來支持你方觀點(diǎn)。但我們有一個(gè)（影響）更深遠(yuǎn)的、更重要的例子來支持我方論點(diǎn)。”以此作為自己的優(yōu)勢。

Next， some advice about terms to avoid. Atchison： Where people tend to get in trouble is they try to use phrases like “always”or “never，”and we find these in our relational[相關(guān)的] arguments as well， that nothing draws the ire[忿怒] of an audience than an overstated[夸張的] claim. Because then all the other person has to do is to make a little bit more nuanced[有細(xì)微差別的] argument about where under certain conditions a particular argument or Plan A makes sense versus[與……相對(duì)] Plan B. So one of the major mistakes people make is they try to think that theyre arguing in absolutes[絕對(duì)真理] to sound more persuasive， when in actuality it comes across[給人……印象] as too ideological[意識(shí)形態(tài)的] and not nuanced enough.

Professor Alllan Louden says debaters should be careful not to underestimate[低估] their audiences ability to follow the arguments.

Allan Louden： Theyre kind of assuming the first-time audience that doesnt know much， and they tend to pander[迎合]， when in fact if you were to step it up a notch[等級(jí)] and actually say what your position was and defend it with support， etcetera[等等] would be well-received[受到歡迎的，被認(rèn)可的].

In the end， he says， people have to make up their mind for themselves.

下面介紹一些需要避免的錯(cuò)誤。艾奇遜：使人們陷入困境的往往是他們?cè)噲D使用諸如“總是”或“從不”等短語，而我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些現(xiàn)象也存在于我們的相關(guān)辯論中，沒有什么比一個(gè)夸張的論點(diǎn)更能惹怒觀眾的了。因?yàn)槟菢右粊恚渌怂龅木褪菫檎擖c(diǎn)做些微調(diào)整，使其在某些情況下，一個(gè)特定的論點(diǎn)或“計(jì)劃A”在與“計(jì)劃B”的對(duì)抗中顯得有理。因此，人們會(huì)犯的一個(gè)重大錯(cuò)誤就是為了使論點(diǎn)聽起來更有說服力，他們?cè)O(shè)想自己所辯論的話是絕對(duì)真理。事實(shí)上，這讓人覺得過于意識(shí)形態(tài)，而且留下不夠細(xì)致的印象。

艾倫·勞登教授認(rèn)為辯論者應(yīng)該小心，不要低估觀眾了解辯論的能力。艾倫·勞登：他們假定第一次聽的觀眾知道得不多，他們傾向于迎合（觀眾）。但事實(shí)上，如果你提高自己的層次，確實(shí)地講出己方論點(diǎn)、在事例的支持下辯論等等，那么你就會(huì)得到觀眾的認(rèn)可。

最后，他說，人們不得不自圓其說。

Louden： Ultimately[最終，根本] everybody persuades themselves， and the best message is that which solicits[慫恿] the person to whatever part of their cognitive[認(rèn)知的]makeup[構(gòu)造] says that this is a good idea. Typically people see things from a point of view， so you pick a language which is in their language and you argue from a perspective[觀點(diǎn)] which says “This is to your advantage because，” things that they kind of agree with. People ultimately persuade themselves.

So what should you do if you feel like you are losing an argument？ Jarrod Atchison says the first thing to do is to be willing to recognize what parts of your opponents arguments are persuasive.

Atchison： The best debaters in the country， from an academic[學(xué)術(shù)的] perspective and in our daily lives， are the people that can acknowledge what parts of their opponents arguments are correct， make sense， are persuasive—“however，” and then provide a warrant[根據(jù)] after the however that explains why their position is still more persuasive in the end.

Professor Atchison says everyone can improve their argumentation skills. There are lots of books that people can read.

Atchison： But in my experience the best resource is evaluating your own arguments in action. And that can be something as self-reflective[反思的] as sitting back[休息] and asking yourself， “How did that conversation go？ Was it where I wanted it to end up？ Were there moments when I found myself acting reactionary[反動(dòng)的] rather than conceding[棄權(quán)讓步] that my opponent may have had something to say there？”

That was Jarrod Atchison， director of debate at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Oh， and one more thing. He tells us that his wife is one of the top debaters in the country. So we wondered what the conversations are like around the dinner table.

Atchison： Well， the best debaters know what arguments are worthy to argue about， and so we find that oftentimes[時(shí)常] we dont have as many arguments as our peers[同齡人] because we know what the nuclear[核心的] option looks like.

勞登：從根本上說，每個(gè)人都在說服自己，而最佳信息就在于慫恿自己“這是個(gè)好主意”的認(rèn)知構(gòu)造的任一部分中。通常人們都是從一個(gè)角度看事情的，所以你用他們能聽懂的語言，并從一個(gè)人們都同意的“這是對(duì)你有利的，因?yàn)椤钡慕嵌日归_辯論。人們最終會(huì)自己說服自己。

那么如果覺得自己好像要輸?shù)艮q論時(shí)，你應(yīng)該做些什么呢？賈羅德·艾奇遜認(rèn)為你首先要做的是樂于承認(rèn)對(duì)手的哪些論點(diǎn)是有說服力的。

艾奇遜：這個(gè)國家的最佳辯手——從學(xué)術(shù)辯論到我們的日常生活——是那些能夠承認(rèn)對(duì)手的部分觀點(diǎn)是正確的、言之有理的和有說服力的人——“但是”，在“但是”之后提供合理的證據(jù)來最終解釋為什么他們的論點(diǎn)仍然更有說服力。

艾奇遜教授說每個(gè)人都能提高自身的辯論能力，有許多書是人們可以閱讀的。

艾奇遜：但就我個(gè)人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)而言，最好的辦法是在實(shí)戰(zhàn)中提高自己。抽空坐下來反思，問自己“對(duì)話進(jìn)行得如何？是在我想結(jié)束的地方結(jié)束的嗎？在哪些時(shí)刻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己反應(yīng)過激，而不是考慮到那時(shí)我的對(duì)手也許有話要說？”

這就是賈羅德·艾奇遜——北卡羅來納州維克森林大學(xué)的辯論總監(jiān)。噢，還有一件事，他告訴我們，他的妻子也是美國最佳辯手之一。因此我們想知道他們用餐時(shí)的談話是怎么樣的。

艾奇遜：哦，最優(yōu)秀的辯論家知道什么論題值得辯論，所以我們常常發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不像其他夫婦，我們沒什么好爭辯的，因?yàn)槲覀冎篮诵倪x項(xiàng)是什么。