Lin Yutang’s humorous stories

1. Humorous words and extraordinary wisdom

Lin Yutang’s humor is not simply funny. His humor reflects his agility and wisdom, as well as his profound literary accomplishment. It is closely related to the philosophy condensed from profound thoughts.

Once, Lin Yutang was invited to attend a school’s graduation ceremony. There were many people giving speeches in front of him, and all of them were lengthy and boring. When it was his turn to speak, it was already past noon and the students were getting impatient. Lin Yutang walked up to the podium and said: "A gentleman's speech should be like a girl's skirt, the shorter the better." As soon as he said this, the whole audience burst into laughter, and the audience was in high spirits. Be inspired. Lin Yutang's humorous phrase put forward a pertinent criticism of those speeches that were like "lazy women's foot wraps" and firmly grasped the psychology of the audience. This sentence has become a very famous saying in the speech field, widely circulated and still remains today. Lin Yutang was once invited by Columbia University in the United States to give a lecture on Chinese culture. In his speech, he talked about the superiority of Chinese culture, believing that whether it was food, clothing, housing, transportation or philosophy of life, China was better than the West. American students found it refreshing, but also quite suspicious.

One female student couldn't bear it any longer, raised her hand to speak, and asked: "Dr. Lin, you seem to be saying that everything from China is the best. Don't we in the United States have anything that is as good as China?

" Lin Yutang thought for a while and replied cheerfully: "Yes, your American toilets are better than those in China!" This witty answer caused the whole room to burst into laughter and discussion. Lin Yutang here humorously pointed out the characteristics of Americans pursuing material enjoyment. This is true, but it seems to be praise but is actually criticism, and it is thought-provoking.

2. Humorous stories and profound truths

Lin Yutang is good at telling some humorous stories in his speeches, which are vivid and full of wit.

Once, he went to a university to visit friends. The principal learned that the celebrity Lin Yutang was here and thought it was a rare opportunity, so he temporarily asked him to give a speech to the students. Lin Yutang was very embarrassed, but he had no choice but to ask him to give a speech to the students. Next, I told a joke:

In the ancient Roman era, the emperor often sent people to throw living people into the Colosseum to be eaten by wild beasts. The emperor, amidst the heart-rending shouts of the living people, Watch and have fun amidst the dripping blood. One day, the emperor ordered a man to be thrown into the Colosseum to be eaten by a lion. When the man saw the lion, he was not afraid. He approached the lion and whispered a few words in its ear. The lion turned around and ran away, not eating him anymore.

The emperor was very surprised when he saw it. He thought that the lion was not hungry, had a bad appetite, and was too lazy to eat in the presence of living people. So he ordered a hungry tiger to be released. The hungry tiger rushed towards him with fierce eyes, but the man was still not afraid. He walked close to the tiger again and whispered to it. The hungry tiger also walked away dejectedly.

When the emperor saw all this, he found it unbelievable. He thought, what kind of magic does this man have to prevent lions and hungry tigers from eating him? He summoned the man and interrogated him: "What did you say to the lion and the hungry tiger to make them turn away?" The man said calmly: "Your Majesty, It's actually very simple. I just reminded them that eating me is easy, but after eating me, you have to speak and make a speech."

After that, he sat down. The audience thought for a while before bursting into warm applause and laughter. The principal was left dumbfounded.

Lin Yutang not only used a story here to tactfully express his dissatisfaction with the principal's insistence on others, but also used this humorous story to illustrate that giving a speech is not an easy task. He also cleverly told the students: Practice your eloquence well and be good at it. Talking can also help you turn misfortunes into good fortune, and turn misfortunes into good fortune.

A Lin clan association in New York invited Lin Yutang to give a speech, hoping to promote the glorious deeds of Lin's ancestors. This kind of speech is thankless, because if you don't say something to praise your ancestors, your fellow clan members will be disappointed. If you brag too much, you will be unlearned.

I saw Lin Yutang calmly speaking: The ancestor of our surname Lin is said to be Bigan of the Shang Dynasty. This is mentioned in "Fengshenbang"... The heroic and invincible ancestor of the Lin family has "Water Margin" Lin Chong in...

Our travelers and navigators named Lin include Lin Zhiyang in "Flowers in the Mirror"... poets and talented women include Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions"... In addition, there are President Lincoln of the United States...Lin Bai, who flew alone across the Atlantic Ocean...We

The Lin family can be said to be full of talented people and have a glorious ancestor!

Lin Yutang’s wonderful speech made the clan members in the audience so excited that they couldn’t help but applaud. However, if we carefully understand his words, we will find that many of the people he talks about are fictional characters in literary works, and even Americans who have nothing to do with the Lin family. He does not make unprincipled remarks about the ancestors of his surname. Brag. This speech not only satisfies the requirements of Lin's clan members, but also maintains the scholar's rigorous and realistic style. It also satirizes the pragmatic and boastful world customs in the form of humorous stories.

Mr. Lin never sits upright or expresses his tone when giving lectures. He likes to walk up and down the podium and talk. Sometimes he walks into the audience and talks directly with everyone. He never reads or reads the lecture notes. It was his first time to give a lecture at Soochow University Law School. After getting on the podium, he calmly opened his bag and found a bag of shelled peanuts inside. He gave the peanuts to the students to enjoy. He started by eating peanuts: "You must eat peanuts with shells. All the taste and fun are in shelling. The more vigorously you peel the shells, the more flavorful the peanuts are." The students were very interested. Peeling, eating and listening. Mr. Lin continued: "Peanuts are also called longevity fruit. Please eat my longevity fruit. I wish you eternal life! I never take names in lectures. Eating the longevity fruit will improve your memory. Don't play truant, it will be a blessing, a blessing!" The audience was lively and applauded enthusiastically.

Third, half of the speech to stay in the United States

At the 36th annual meeting of World PEN held in Monton, France, when it was Lin Yutang’s turn to speak, he asked the chairman to speak for 15 minutes, but The chairman refused, saying that everyone else spoke for five minutes and no exceptions could be made. Lin Yutang said that he would not speak for 5 minutes. After discussion, the chairman finally agreed, and the secretary-general of the conference agreed to arrange 10 minutes first.

After Lin Yutang took the stage, the audience was completely silent, and he was very engaged in what he said. Before I knew it, 10 minutes had arrived. The chairman said that time had come and asked Lin Yutang to finish his speech. Lin Yutang walked off the stage without saying a word. The attendees were listening intently, so they applauded enthusiastically, hoping that Lin Yutang would continue speaking. But Lin Yutang said nothing, leaving only half of this wonderful speech.

Lin Yutang did not do this out of anger, but by using this humorous approach to make his speech unique. This is another good story left by Lin Yutang in the history of speeches.