I. Words and express

1. But more often you'll need to evoke the mood of a whole neighborhood or town to give texture to the story you're telling.

texture  the essential quality of something

give texture to the story 在这里的意思是投入自己的情感，使故事变得有质感

2. As a writer you must keep a tight rein on your subjective self and keep an objective eye on the reader.

keep a tight rein  拉紧缰绳

试译: “作者必须紧紧地约束主观自我，并且以客观的眼光审视读者。”

3.The mere agglomeration of detail is no free pass to the reader's interest.

agglomeration  a jumbled collection or mass.

no free pass  没有通行证    在这里指不会引起读者的阅读兴趣

4.Nowwhere else in nonfiction do writers use such syrupy words and groaning platitudes.

syrupy  overly sweet    synonyms: cloying, saccharine, treacly

groaning platitude  无病呻吟的陈词滥调

5. In Europe you awake to the clip-clop of horse-drawn wagons along a history-haunted river; you seem to hear the scratch of a quill pen.

clip-clop  the sound of a horse's hoofs hitting on a hard surface.

history-haunted  有历史感的，饱经历史沧桑的

6. Leave "ilk" to anyone who will take it away.

ilk  a kind of person  adj. 同类、相同的    synonymous: like, kind, sort, form, variety

II. Summary

Descriptive detail is the main substance of the travel article. The detail must be significant and do the real work. The other substance is style. Writer should choose their own words with unusual care. Selective is not very easy at the beginning, for the reason that we are tend to influenced by the countless clichés.

If you practice writing travel piece, just use the material in your daily life. Maybe it's a local mall, or day-care center, whatever it is, make it distinctive. Respect the reality, beware of wax emotional or patriotic.

III. Thoughts

在第十三章中，Zinsser谈论的是游记写作。游记看起来似乎十分容易，但实际上很多人写出来的游记往往是千人一面，乏味之至。

一篇好的游记，关键在于要写的是“你的游记”，要反映出你的所见所闻，所思所感，这些自然是有别于他人的。但是，在写作中如何体现这种不同呢？当我们看到高山大海，每个人都会联想到巍峨壮丽、波澜壮阔，这是人之常情。差异并不在于这些大的景象与场面，而是在于细节。在游记中描写出某个地方的特殊之处，既能区别与其他地方，也能够使自己的风格凸显出来。比如柳宗元的《永州八记》，同样是写潭水，《小石潭记》与《钴鉧潭记》各不相同；同样是为楼阁作记文，王勃《滕王阁序》骈俪铺张，少年意气风发之感跃然纸上，范仲淹《岳阳楼记》则笔力稳健，摹巴陵四时风物，抒先忧后乐之情。可见，文章并非是为了写而写的，素材与文字只是作者用以表达情感、彰显风格的工具，要驾驭文字，而不是被它牵着鼻子走。