PART 1 Gist
Writing well about places is much harder than what most people thought. Writers tend to write everything they did on their trip, which could hardly arouse the readers' interest. Worse still, they are tempted to use syrupy words and groaning platitudes when describing places. Zinsser's advice comes down to two principles -- one of style, the other of substance. First, writers should avoid clichés and strive for fresh words and images. Second, they should strain to draw the best out of their visiting places by distilling the important qualities from the immaterial ones. Or they could do in reverse and let the place draw the best out of them.
PART 2 Expressions
1. Nowhere else in nonfiction do writers use such syrupy words and groaning platitudes.
syrupy: [?s?r?pi] 1. 糖漿似的；2. too nice or kind in a way that seems insincere, used to show disapproval
a syrupy speech
She admired everything she saw in a tone of syrupy earnestness.
syrup: (n.) 糖漿
platitude: （n.）陳詞濫調(diào)
His excuse was the platitude "boys will be boys".
2. Adjectives you would squirm to use in conversation are common currency.
squirm: 1. 蠕動 SYN wriggle; 2. embarrassed or ashamed
The boy tried to squirm free.
He made me squirm with embarrassment.?
currency: the state of being accepted or used by a lot of people
The argument has received wide currency.
The idea was common currency in European political life.
3. Ruins beckon and the very chimneytops sing their immemorial song of welcome.
beckon: 1.（用手或頭）示意或召喚?
She beckoned to the waitress to the waitress to bring more wine.
He beckoned us over and introduced us to his wife.
2. if sth such as a place or opportunity beckon, it appears so attractive that you want to have it
A career in the film industry beckoned.
4. One one's romantic sunrise is another man's hangover.
hangover: 1.宿醉；
I had a terrible hangover the other day.
2. sth from the past that still exists or happens but is no longer necessary or useful 遺留的感覺或事物；后遺癥
This feeling was a hangover from her schooldays.
an institution which is a hangover from Victorian times
5. It's about a lurid crime that occurred in the San Bernardino Valley of California.
lurid：[?l??r?d]/[?l?r?d] 1. too brightly colored 色彩過于鮮艷的；2. 可怕的 a description, story etc that is lurid is deliberately shocking and involving sex or violence
He told me in lurid detail what would happen to me.
a lurid orange dress
6. McPhee distills its essence in a paragraph that is adroit both in detail and in metaphor.
adroit: [??dr??t] SYN skilled，clever and skillful, especially in the way you use words and arguments
an adroit negotiator
She is a remarkably adroit and determined politician.
adroitly (ad.);? adroitness (n.)
7. They're peering right into your mind, wondering what you're thinking, making you feel guilty.
peer: (v.) to look very carefully at sth, especially because you are having difficulty seeing it 凝視；盯著看
He was peering though the wet windscreen at the cars ahead.
Philippa peered into the darkness.
8. I didn't need to wax emotional or patriotic. Beware of waxing.
wax: “打蠟”、“（月亮）漸盈”
wax sentimental/ eloquent/ lyrical etc (about sth): to talk with extreme feeling, liking, or pleasure about sth, used humorously
Journalists wax lyrical about the band.
wax and wane: to increase and decrease over time
Interest in the show has waxed and waned.
PART 3 Thoughts
But that is ground already covered by multitudes of people. As a writer you must keep a tight rein on your subjective self -- the traveler touched by new sights and sounds and smells -- and keep an objective eye on the reader. The article that records your trip. Will it fascinate the reader? It won't.
韓版《花樣姐姐》剛播出的時候，我一下子就入迷了。我不太喜歡看旅游節(jié)目，但這個節(jié)目卻很吸引我，它雖然是以土耳其旅行為背景，去的地方也大多是一些有名的廣場、海岸、城墻等，但它有很多不同于一般旅游節(jié)目的細節(jié)。剛經(jīng)歷一場大病即將進入花甲之年的奶奶、十多年一直圍著孩子和丈夫轉(zhuǎn)幾乎從未遠行的中年女演員，對世界充滿好奇感、渾身散發(fā)活力的年輕男藝人等等，這些人之間的故事遠比風景本身更加生動和有趣。他們在旅行途中遇到許多意外的人和店，也發(fā)生了很多意外的驚喜。這些新穎的細節(jié)才是真正吸引和打動觀眾的地方。后來中國版的兩季《花樣姐姐》雖然在節(jié)目安排更加緊湊，去了更多的旅行地甚至到了南極，然而卻讓我有一種索然無味之感。一方面節(jié)目在嘉賓的選擇甚至故事安排上都與韓版非常相似，缺少新意。另一方面，節(jié)目安排太緊湊了每一兩集就換一個城市或國家，更多像是走馬觀花一樣體驗當?shù)赜忻拿麆?、美食或藝術(shù)，讓人有審美疲之感。
