陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作。他今天有事去找美国同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
A：Hi, Chen Hao. How are you today?
C：还好，不过，我有点儿事想请教你。
A：How can I help you?
C：今天下班，我又要去参加公司的社交活动。
A：Where the point is to make business contacts and develop relationships with current or potential clients?
C：没错，就是要多认识点儿人，跟客户搞好关系。不过，我还是不太习惯这种活动。
A：What’s the problem?
C：自我介绍完，我就不知道该说什么了。
A：Well, The first thing is to prepare your conversation starters ahead of time.
C：怎么准备啊？
A：Find out who will be there so you will know whom you will be seeing.
C：然后呢？
A：Find out as much as you can about the guests. The more information you have about them and their business, the easier it will be to talk to them.
C：可我根本不知道谁会去啊？
A：I suggest you go ask your boss’ assistant right now.
******
一个小时过后，陈豪和Amy又见面了。
C：Amy, 今天的活动是Jepson公司主办的。
A：I happen to know that Mr. Jepson, the president of the company, loves airplanes. He is a licensed pilot and owns quite a number of small planes.
C：Mr. Jepson自己有飞机，还有执照？太好了，我也喜欢飞机。
A：Well, see, you have something in common so you shouldn’t have any problems talking to him.
C：那其它人呢？
A：Be ready to ask people about themselves. Start your conversations with open-ended questions.
C：Open-ended questions, 那是什么样的问题啊？
A：Those are questions that begin with “how” and “why?” The kinds of questions that people almost have to answer with more than one word.
C：就是要问为什么，怎么样这类的问题， 是吗？
A：Right. Stay away from “when,” “where” and “what” since it’s easy to give short answer to those questions.
C：不要问什么时候，在哪儿，哎呀，太复杂了。我恐怕记不住。
A：Oh, yes, you can. People like to talk about themselves so long as you continue to listen and act interested, they will continue to talk.
C：做个好听众当然没问题。我难道就不需要说话吗？
A：All you really need to do is repeat or comment on something the other person has said. Like with Mr. Jepson, you could ask how many planes he has?
C：他要是说25架呢？
A：Then you respond, “So you have 25 of your own airplanes?” That’s interesting. Tell me about them.” And he’ll continue to talk.
C：好主意。我试试看。