Many people make the mistake of thinking that knowing their own viewpoint is all that is necessary to be persuasive.
很多人错误的认为，只要知道自己的观点就能说服他们。

• "What my readers think about the issue is really irrelevant," they reason. "All that matters is what I'm going to get them to think."
  “我的读者对这个问题的想法真的毫不重要，” 他们认为，“重要的是我让他们怎么想。”

• In addition to being pompous, this attitude ignore two crucial points:
  除了变得自负，这种态度还忽视了两个关键的问题：

  1. First, people's view matter very much to them, and when others refuse to acknowledge this fact they feel offended,
     首先，人们的观点对他们很重要，当别人拒绝承认这一事实时，他们会感到被冒犯了。

  2. Second, we must know where people stand before we can hope to reach them.
     其次，我们必须知道人们的立场，我们才能希望达到他们。