PART 1 Summary
A good lead is one that captures readers immediately and forces them to keep reading. Adding a vein of freshness, or novelty or paradox or humor etc. to the lead can do the trick. Zinsser gave two useful tips in this regard. First, always collect more material than you would use. Second, look for your material everywhere. Moreover, a lead must do some real work by telling readers the purpose and rationale behind the piece. With a good lead in hand, writers should continue to build every paragraph and take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph.
On the other part, a good ending is no less important than a good lead. It not only could save an article from being wrecked at its final stage, but also could linger and give the readers a lift. A perfect ending takes readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right. There are two approaches that might help you nail an ending. One is to bring the story full circle. Another is to use an arresting quotation.
PART 2 Expressions
1. There's no pat answer.
a pat answer/ explanation: an answer or explanation that seems too quick and too simple and sounds as if it has been used before 过分简单的回答; 敷衍了事的回答
There are no pat answers to these questions.
A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.
2. Readers of a literary review expect its writers to start somewhat discursively.
discursive: discussing many different ideas, facts et without having a clear purpose 东拉西扯的；不着边际的
a long discursive article
3. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or an interesting fact, or a question.
cajole: [kəˈdʒəʊl] 劝诱 to gradually persuade sb to do sth by being nice to them, or making promises to them
cajole sb into doing sth
We do our best to cajole rich countries into helping.
4. But its content turns out to be more serious than readers expected when they were drawn into it by a whimsical lead.
whimsical: [ˈwɪmzɪkl] unusual or strange and often amusing 古怪的；异想天开的
He has a wonderful whimsical sense of humor.
后文中有个类似的表达 -- quirky: They are often just quirky enough to make a lead that's different from everybody else's.
5. Nose about in obscure crannies of the newspaper, like the Sunday real estate section.
nose about/ around (sth): to look around a place in order to try to find something, when there is no one else there
What were you doing nosing around in my office?
nose sth out: to discover some information that someone else does not want you to discover
The media always manage to nose out some interesting facts about a politician's past life.
6. Surely they will, because the end that's in sight turns out to be a mirage.
mirage: [məˈrɑ:ʒ] 幻景；海市蜃楼；引申为 a dream, hope or wish that cannot come true SYN illusion
Perhaps we are just chasing a mirage.
7. The five short sentences send the reader on his way quickly and with an arresting thought to take along.
arresting: catching the attention, striking, impressive
The origins of other hallowed trees — all visually arresting — are murkier.
PART 3 Thoughts
Like the minister's sermon that builds to a series of perfect conclusions that never conclude, an article that doesn't stop where it should stop becomes a drag and therefore a failure.
昨天和群里的一个小伙伴私聊说到专业课的书籍都比较枯燥无聊，后来转念一想，也不全是。大学里读过两本非常有趣生动的专业课书籍，一本是Michael Lewis的《说谎者的扑克牌》（Liar’s Poker），另一本是Bryan Burrough的《门口的野蛮人》（Barbarians at the Gate）。这两本都是金融法课上的教材，前者讲的是垃圾债券问题，后者围绕杠杆投资问题。今天重新把这两本书翻出来看看，发现它们的结尾都非常有意思。《说谎者的扑克牌》的结尾这样写到：“在一个注重小心翼翼的职业发展规划的年代里，听到这番倾心于不可预见性的高论，令人不禁有耳目一新的感觉。如果他说的是真的，那该有多好。”《门口的野蛮人》的结尾则更加出人意料：“约翰逊站了起来，和大家说‘我们回家吧。’”这两种结尾都极度新颖而有创意，在读者没有预期的地方戛然而至，令人有余音绕梁之感。佩服于作者学识和才华的同时，也不禁为国内罕见这样有趣的教材或论文而感到遗憾。我们初高中被要求写中规中矩的应试作文，而大学里的学术论文更是受到种种规则框架的束缚。我看过的和写过的所有专业课论文的结尾都不外乎对未来发展提建议的或者干脆是前文概要的翻版。不单是结尾，整本书或整篇文章都像八股文一样千篇一律，毫无特色，让人完全不想看第二遍。其实不管是什么题材和领域内的文章或书籍，都是可以写得有趣而生动的，但是很多时候写作者会被各种无形的框架束缚，难以跳出固有的写作思维模式，而这样写出来的文章注定是没有吸引力的。
