Chapter 5 Lead (2)

The Inverted Pyramid Lead▲pyramid▼inverted pyramidAn inverted pyramid is also called a summ

ary lead. It begins with the most important elements of a story.

e.g.Israel and Palestinians could resume talks

as soon as next Sunday in their quest to cease attacks on each other, Israeli and Palestinian officials said yesterday.

Backing into the lead

Failure to present the essence of the story in the beginning of the lead is a mistake called backing into the lead.

It is a mistake because it goes against the way we normally communicate when time is tight.

Compare: A: “Fire Department,” the dispatcher answers. “Hello. At about 10 o’clock, I was lying on my

bed watching TV and smoking,” the voice says. “I must have fallen asleep about 10:30 because that was when the football game was over. Anyway, I woke up just now and my bedroom is on fire.”

B: “Fire Department.” “Fire!” a voice at the other end yells. “Where?” the dispatcher asks. “At 172 Heping Road.”

A simply way to check if you have committed the error of backing into the lead:

After you finish the draft of a lead, cover up the second half of the sentence and see if the gist of the story is still there. If it is, fine. If not, rewrite the lead.

Tasks

A new tendency has been found in the beginning of this semester in some major universities, where the number of graduate students is similar to or even larger than that of undergraduates because the country has increased research demand.

Major universities enrolled more graduate students than undergraduates this year in response to the increasing research demand of the country.

Something went wrong with the water supply from Oct. 3 to 4, bringing a great deal of inconvenience to students who remained in school during the seven-day holiday.

The water supply was cut off from Oct. 3 to 4, inconveniencing the students who remained in school during the seven-day holiday.

Five Steps in Writing a Summary Lead

1) Summarize the story in a few simple sentences.

2) Combine the sentences into one.3) Underline all the verbs in the sentence,

and put them in reverse time order.4) Rewrite the sentence by following this

reverse time order.5) Carefully edit the sentence you have

written.

Example Story: Li Jun and Wang Hao are fourth-year computer majors sha

ring the same dormitory room. Due to a severe case of polio in childhood, Wang Hao has to walk with two crutches. For more than 3 years since they entered the university, Li Jun has been helping his roommate climb stairs, carry things, and get meals and hot water regardless of how bad the weather is. Last semester when the class had an outing, Li Jun borrowed a wheelchair so that Wang Hao could go hiking with others. Li and other students pushed the wheelchair all the way to the top of the mountain. Because of what Li Jun has done for Wang Hao over the years, the student union of the university decided at a recent meeting to award Li Jun the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” when they hold the May Fourth Youth Day student meeting next week.

1) Summarize the story in a few simple sentences.

A fourth-year computer major shares the dorm with a classmate who walks on crutches. For more than 3 years, he has been helping this roommate climb stairs, carry books, and get meals and hot water. The student union will award him the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” next week.

2) Combine the sentences into one.For more than 3 years, a fourth-year comp

uter major has been helping his disabled roommate climb stairs, carry books, and get meals and hot water, so the student union will award him the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” next week.

3) Underline all the verbs in the sentence, and put them in reverse time order.

For more than 3 years, a fourth-year computer major has been helping his disabled roommate climb stairs, carry books, and get meals and hot water, so the student union will award him the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” next week.

4) Rewrite the sentence by following this reverse time order.

Next week, the student union will award a fourth-year computer major the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” because he has been helping a disabled roommate climb stairs, carry books, and get meals and hot water for more than 3 years.

5) Carefully edit the sentence you have written.

The student union next week will award the title of “Model Student in Learning from Lei Feng” to a fourth-year computer major who has been, for more than 3 years, helping a disabled roommate climb stairs, carry books, and get meals and hot water.

Tasks

During the seven-day National Day holiday, the entire class of second-year English majors went to Huang Shan for a week. On the first day of class after the holiday, the students were too exhausted to concentrate. Some even dozed off. The professors were upset and said that the students’ “minds were not on their studies.” Then, the department announced that the class would have the mid-term examination in a week’s time, which is two weeks before the schedule.

The second-year English majors will have their mid-term in a week’s time – two weeks before schedule – because their professors said their “minds were not on their studies” after their long tour in Huang Shan during the seven-day National Day holiday.

Last night, a third-year geology major ate noodles at a roadside eatery. An hour later, an acute pain developed in his stomach. His roommates believed he suffered food poisoning and rushed him to the hospital. Now, doctors say he is in stable condition.

A third-year geology major is said to be in stable condition after his roommates rushed him to hospital last night when he developed symptoms of food-poisoning from the noodles at a roadside eatery.

Compare the following four leads. Which one do you think is the best?

1) L. P. Yau, editor-in-chief of Asian Weekly, lectured to junior English majors in Nanjing University last Friday, introducing American journalism and commenting on English writing.

2) Asian Weekly editor-in-chief L. P. Lau pointed out that Western journalism today had better be called information, meaning information plus entertainment, during his lecture last Friday to junior English majors of Nanjing University.

3) To be a journalist is not to make money or to gain fame, but to let the passion in one’s heart burn longer, said L. P. Yau, editor-in-chief of Asian Weekly, in his lecture last Friday to junior English majors of Nanjing Universiy.

4) Although Hemingway died forty years ago, his writing style is still exerting significant influence on American journalism, remarked L. P. Yau, editor-in-chief of Asian Weekly, who came to give a lecture last Friday to the English majors of Nanjing University about the US news industry.