Public speaking fills most people with dread. Humiliation is greatest fear; self-exposure and failing to appeal to the audience

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问题     Public speaking fills most people with dread. Humiliation is greatest fear; self-exposure and failing to appeal to the audience come a close second. Women hate it most, since girls are pressurized from an early age to be concerned with appearances of all kinds.
    Most people have plenty of insecurities, and this seems like a situation that will bring them out. If you were under pressure to be perfect, you are terrified of falling in the most public of ways.
    Extroverts, on the contrary, will feel less fear before the ordeal. It does not mean they will necessarily do it better. Some very shy people manage to shine. When I met the British comedian Julian Clary, he was shy and cautious, yet his TV performances are perfect.
    In fact, personality is not the best predictor of who does it well. Regardless of what you are like in real life, the key seems to be to act yourself.
    Actual acting, as in performing the scripted lines of a character other than yourself, does not do the job. While politicians may limit damage by having carefully written and rehearsed scripts to speak from, there is always a hidden awareness among the audience that the words might not be true.
    Likewise, the incredibly perfect speeches of many American academics are far from natural. You may end up buying their book on the way out, but soon afterwards, it is much like fast food, and you get a nameless sense that you’ve been cheated.
    But, being yourself doesn’t work either. If you spoke as if you were in your own kitchen, it would be too authentic, too unaware of the need to communicate with an audience.
    I remember going to see British psychiatrist R. D. Laing speak in public. He behaved like a seriously odd person, talking off the top of his head. Although he was talking about madness and he wrote on mental illness, he seemed to be exhibiting rather than explaining it.
    The best psychological place from which to speak in public is an unselfconscious self-consciousness, providing the illusion of being natural. Studies suggest that this state of "flow", as psychologists call it, is very satisfying.
What is the author’s view on personality?

选项 A、Personality is the key to success in public speaking.
B、Extroverts are better public speakers.
C、Introverts have to learn harder to be good speakers.
D、Factors other than personality ensure better performance.

答案D

解析 细节推理题。根据题干关键词personality定位到原文第四段首句。原句指出personality并不能决定演讲效果的好坏,换句话说,能否做好演讲,取决于其他因素。故答案为D。
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