I.Words and express

1.If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.

第九章開篇的其中一句，表明作者需要在文章開始的第一二句中吸引讀者。“吸引讀者繼續閱讀”，在這里使用了兩個同義的表達“proceed to”和“continue to”。

2.There is no pat answer.

pat? exactly suited to the occasion? (a pat reply)

3.It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor……

cajole? influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering.

synonymous: palaver, coax, sweet-talk, inveigle

4.But don't dwell on the reason. Coax the reader a little more; keep him inquisitive.

dwell? think moodily or anxiously about something

synonymous: brood

5.Most of us are still prisoners of the lesson pounded into us by the composition teachers of our youth.

pounded in? 在這里與cramming的意思相近，指作文老師教給我們的那種三段式方法。

6.The reader's interest begins to falter; the tension you have built begins to sag.

falter? be unsure or weak? （Their enthusiasm is faltering.）

sag? droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness.

II.Summary

In this chapter, Zinsser told us the importance of article's lead and the ending. In the beginning paragraph, the writer should induce readers to continue to read. So the lead should e fresh and interesting. Then every paragraph should express the material and detail coherently.

Before writing, we should collect more material, even we can not use all of them in one article. Zinsser also give us suggestion to look for material. We can find them in our daily life, which is to say everything we can see. Then we can select the proper one for our writing.

There is no firm rules for how to write a lead. The only rule is don't lost your reader. A good write should make sure the lead is naturally suits the whole article and writer's style.

About the ending, writer should left the reader a deep impression in the last paragraph. Just like Zinsser said, "a lift". When the reader finished his reading, the ending is still lingers in his mind and remind the whole article.

In short, entertaining the reader in the lead and surprising them in the ending.

III.Thoughts

本章的內容是關于文章的開頭和結尾。和我們熟知的寫作方法相近，Zinsser同樣認為好的文章在開篇首先是要引起讀者的閱讀興趣。但并不是說文章開頭要寫的多么吸引眼球，能引起人們閱讀興趣的并不是那些怪誕離奇的句子，而是首先在全文中有實際的應用意義。并且，整篇文章的各個段落要緊密關聯，最好是每段的最后一句為下一段的開始埋好伏筆。雖然Zinsser所說的是針對nonfiction的寫作，但實際上，開頭引人注目，激發閱讀興趣在各類經典著作中都可以見到。比如曹丕《典論·論文》首句即是“文人相輕，自古皆然”; 《紅樓夢》的開篇用了“真事隱去”、“假語村言”;更不用說膾炙人口的《雙城記》的開篇:“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

至于文章的結尾，Zinsser指出，結尾要給讀者“a lift”。開頭引人入勝，結尾自然要出其不意，使人讀罷掩卷，沉思良久。另外，Zinsser還提到了中學時作文老師教給我們的三部分寫作法，古今皆然，中外同理，八股文有“破題、承題、起講、入手、起股、中股、后股、束股”，中小學作文有“龍頭、豬肚、豹尾”之法。這樣寫作的好處是有邏輯，但會顯得文章各部分銜接十分機械化。因此，想要寫出好的文章，想要展現個人的風格，那么就要把這些套路拋開，寫出自己所想，使開頭與結尾為自己的觀點服務。能打動自己的文字，必然也會打動讀者。