when he first began his speaking career，mark twain re－called，he used a full page of notes to keep him from getting mixedup.he would write down the beginning of key sentences，to takehim from one point to another and to protect him from skipping .for a typical evening's lecture，he would write and memorize key beginnings.
the plan failed.twain would remember the sentences，allright，but forget their order.he would have to stop，consult hisnotes，and thereby spoil the spontaneous effect of the wholespeech.
twain then decided to memorize not only key sentences，butalso the first letter of each sentence.this initial -letter methoddidn't work either.not even when he cut the number of letters to0 and inked them on his fingernails.
“i kept track of the fingers for a while，”he wrote in hisessay，“then i lost it，and after that i was never quite sure whichfinger i had used last.”
he considered licking off the inked letters as he went along.people noticed he seemed more interested in his fingernails thanhis subject；one or two listeners would come up afterwards and askwhat was wrong with his hands.
当马克·吐温开始他的演讲生涯的时候，他回忆说，他使用满满一页的草稿以避免搞乱。他将把所有关键句子的开头写下来，使他能从一点讲到另一点，而不会有所遗漏。为某一个晚上的典型的演讲，他将写下并记住个关键的开头。
这个计划失败了。吐温会准确无误地记住句子，但却忘了它们的顺序。他得停小来，看看草稿，因此也就破坏了整个演讲的自然效果。
然后吐温决定，不仅要记忆关键句子，还要记住每个句子的第一个字母。这个第一字母法也不奏效。即使当他把字母的数量减少到0个，并用墨水写在他的指甲上的时候也不行。
“我得经常看一阵我的手指，”他在一篇文章中写道，“然后我就忘了，在这之后我就不敢肯定我刚用过哪个手指。”
他曾经考虑过随着演讲的进行，舔掉用墨水写的字母。人们注意到他好象更感兴趣的是他的指甲，而不是他演讲的主题；有一两个听众在演讲结束后会走上前来问他的手到底怎么了。