A Year in Reading: Power to the People
“You know you’re going to die—today, tomorrow, within fifty years.
“你知道你会死——今天，明天，五十年内。
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What is it that you want to do with your life before that happens?” Back in January, cave dweller Beatriz Flamini posed this question to D.T.
在那之前你想做什么？早在一月份，穴居人 Beatriz Flamini 就向 D.T. 提出了这个问题。
Max in a piece for The New Yorker (Flamini chose to spend five hundred days of her life alone in a cave).
麦克斯为《纽约客》撰写的一篇文章（弗拉米尼选择独自在山洞里度过五百天的人生）。
Contemplating my favorite stories of 2024, I realized I had been drawn to many pieces that asked something similar: What are people doing with their time on this little blue planet?
思考 2024 年我最喜欢的故事，我意识到我被许多提出类似问题的文章所吸引：人们在这个小小的蓝色星球上都在做什么？
Perhaps it’s traveling to as many places as possible.
也许它会去尽可能多的地方。
Maybe it’s running across sporting events naked.
也许它正在裸体奔跑穿过体育赛事。
Whatever it is, I want to know.
不管是什么，我都想知道。
For me, this has been the year of the life story.
对我来说，今年是人生故事的一年。
I have always found myself enthralled by people.
我总是发现自己对人们着迷。
In my 20s, I worked in documentary film, and what I loved most about that field was meeting people from all walks of life: NASA scientists.
20 多岁时，我从事纪录片工作，在这个领域我最喜欢的是结识各行各业的人：美国宇航局的科学家。
Tornado chasers.
龙卷风追逐者。
The Pope.
教皇。
Bronies (men with a fondness for My Little Pony).
Bronies（喜欢《小马宝莉》的男人）。
I once interviewed a surfer, a physics professor, and someone who claimed to have seen fish falling from the sky (long story), in one day—a good day.
我曾经采访过一位冲浪者、一位物理学教授，还有一位声称在某一天——美好的一天——看到鱼从天上掉下来的人（说来话长）。
Peeking into someone else’s existence is a privilege.
窥视别人的存在是一种特权。
I still encounter people I would not meet in my regular life, just now through words.
我仍然会遇到一些在日常生活中不会遇到的人，只是现在通过言语。
I am grateful that in 2024 so many writers have gone out to meet interesting individuals for me: Some kooky.
我很感激 2024 年有这么多作家出去结识了对我来说有趣的人：一些古怪的人。
Some extreme.
有些极端。
Some famous.
一些有名的。
All fascinating.
一切都令人着迷。
A particular favorite of the year was Abe Beame’s profile for Taste on Chef Angel Jimenez, who runs a highly successful food truck in the South Bronx.
今年特别受欢迎的是 Abe Beame 为《Taste on Chef Angel Jimenez》所做的简介，他在南布朗克斯经营着一家非常成功的餐车。
Jimenez relates his story “with a grin, a Heineken deuce bottle in his hand and a half-smoked, clipped joint sticking out of his mouth.” Swimming in meat fat and sweat in his converted van, there is joy in Jimenez’s chaotic systems.
希门尼斯讲述他的故事时，“脸上挂着笑容，手里拿着一瓶喜力啤酒，嘴里还伸出一根吸了一半的、剪短的大麻烟”。在他改装的货车里，在肉脂肪和汗水中游泳，希门尼斯混乱的系统充满了欢乐。
In another pick from Taste—on cookbook editor Judith Jones—Sara Franklin peers in a different direction.
在 Taste 的另一篇精选菜谱编辑朱迪思·琼斯 (Judith Jones) 中，莎拉·富兰克林 (Sara Franklin) 则看到了不同的方向。
Jones greets Franklin serenely, in her “pressed slacks and a gorgeous, cream-colored silk blouse, with pearl studs in her ears.” They get to know each other over genteel lunches in Jones’ apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
琼斯平静地迎接富兰克林，她“穿着熨烫过的休闲裤和华丽的米色丝绸衬衫，耳朵上戴着珍珠耳钉”。他们在曼哈顿上东区琼斯的公寓里享用优雅的午餐时相互认识。
Flip sides of New York—equal delight in food.
纽约的另一面——同样享受美食。
Across the pond, it fell to Sophie Elmhirst to enlighten me on some ebullient characters.
大洋彼岸，索菲·埃尔姆赫斯特负责向我介绍一些热情洋溢的人物。
In a piece for The Economist, Elmhirst meets Gary, a call center worker for Vision Direct in Manchester, England, whose job is under threat from the looming tidal wave of AI.
在《经济学人》的一篇文章中，埃尔姆赫斯特遇到了英国曼彻斯特 Vision Direct 呼叫中心工作人员加里，他的工作正受到迫在眉睫的人工智能浪潮的威胁。
After being questioned about robot agents, Gary grumbles, “Why is it all of a sudden everything has to be 100% beautifully perfected responses?
在被问到有关机器人代理的问题后，加里抱怨道：“为什么突然间一切都必须是 100% 完美的响应？
It reminds me of processed cheese, Sophie.” I love Gary.
这让我想起了加工奶酪，索菲。”我爱加里。
For The Guardian, Elmhirst moves on to Guy Toyn, a member of a dying breed of court reporters and someone who has mastered dashing around the courts of London’s Old Bailey with maximum flamboyance.
在《卫报》中，埃尔姆赫斯特转向了盖伊·托因（Guy Toyn），他是垂死的法庭记者中的一员，也是一位擅长在伦敦老贝利法庭上以最华丽的方式奔跑的人。
I was captivated by these old guards—both in changing industries.
我被这些老卫士迷住了——他们都身处不断变化的行业。
Elmhirst has a knack for making characters bustle off the page right into your front room.
埃尔姆赫斯特有一种技巧，可以让人物从书页上匆忙进入你的前室。
Both Guy and Gary are clinging to ways of life they love.
盖伊和加里都坚持他们喜欢的生活方式。
I hope they can hold on a little longer.
我希望他们能再坚持一会儿。
Then there are the athletes: A tennis player.
然后是运动员：一名网球运动员。
A bull rider.
一名公牛骑手。
A climber.
一名登山者。
An extreme skier.
极限滑雪者。
I have devoured and picked all their stories.
我吞噬并挑选了他们所有的故事。
The sports are loved, but the costs are high.
体育运动深受人们喜爱，但成本很高。
J.B.
J.B.
Mauney—the bull rider—tells Sally Jenkins for The Washington Post how a bull broke his neck, ending his career.
骑牛人莫尼向《华盛顿邮报》的莎莉·詹金斯讲述一头公牛如何折断他的脖子，从而结束了他的职业生涯。
In The Guardian, Conor Niland bemoans the loneliness of life as a low-ranking tennis player.
在《卫报》中，康纳·尼兰哀叹作为一名低排名网球运动员的孤独生活。
Also for The Guardian (yes, I know, I do have a penchant for this British paper), Simon Akam reports on how too much time in the world of skier Jérémie Heitz “is to encounter something like the normalisation, even the banalisation, of premature death.” In his essay for Alpinist, climber Michael Gardner wrestles with whether his sport is worth the losses.
同样，《卫报》（是的，我知道，我确实喜欢这份英国报纸）的西蒙·阿卡姆 (Simon Akam) 报道了滑雪运动员杰雷米·海茨 (Jérémie Heitz) 的世界中有多少时间“遭遇过早死亡的正常化，甚至平庸化”。登山者迈克尔·加德纳 (Michael Gardner) 在为 Alpinist 撰写的文章中思考了自己的运动是否值得为此付出的损失。
(A hard read—Gardner himself tragically passed away during a climbing expedition in October.) These pieces all offer powerful insights into lives lived on the edge.
（很难读——加德纳本人在十月份的一次登山探险中不幸去世。）这些文章都提供了对边缘生活的深刻见解。
All question if it is worth it.
大家都在问这是否值得。
Even celebrities can doubt their choices.
即使是名人也会怀疑他们的选择。
When Hayley Campbell interviews Richard Gadd for GQ, she finds a man retreating from his fame, his “scope becoming smaller.” Ironically, Gadd’s show about his experience with a stalker, Baby Reindeer, fueled internet sleuths into tracking down those he wished to protect.
当海莉·坎贝尔 (Hayley Campbell) 为《GQ》杂志采访理查德·加德 (Richard Gadd) 时，她发现理查德·加德 (Richard Gadd) 正在淡出自己的名气，他的“视野变得越来越小”。讽刺的是，加德在节目中讲述了他与跟踪者“小驯鹿”的经历，这促使互联网侦探追查他想要保护的人。
In an interview with Susan Dominus for The New York Times Magazine, Kate Winslet also reflects on the harrowing nature of fame, having become famous in the ’90s—an era when “waif-like” was the acceptable body size for women.
在接受《纽约时报》杂志苏珊·多米纳斯采访时，凯特·温斯莱特也反思了成名的痛苦本质，她在 90 年代成名——在那个时代，“流浪儿”是女性可以接受的体型。
Winslet has shaken it off though, and her stoicism shines through in a rather jolly time spent with Dominus, topped off when she coerces her into a swim in the freezing British sea.
不过，温斯莱特已经摆脱了这种束缚，她的坚忍在与多米纳斯度过的一段相当愉快的时光中表现得淋漓尽致，当她强迫多米纳斯在冰冷的英国海里游泳时，她的坚忍精神表现得淋漓尽致。
Many huge world events have happened this year.
今年世界发生了许多重大事件。
We could easily disregard the granular stories of chefs, tennis players, and call center workers.
我们很容易忽视厨师、网球运动员和呼叫中心工作人员的具体故事。
But they do still matter.
但它们仍然很重要。
First-person accounts are profound, intimate, and reflective.
第一人称叙述深刻、亲密且具有反思性。
Reported profiles allow authors to seep into their writing, often learning something about their own lives through those of their subjects.
报告的个人资料使作者能够渗透到他们的写作中，经常通过他们的主题了解他们自己的生活。
And, as the world grows heavier, delight can be found in the eccentricities and achievements of our fellow humans.
而且，随着世界变得越来越沉重，我们可以从人类同胞的怪癖和成就中找到快乐。
Stepping into someone else’s life can be a blessed piece of escapism.
走进别人的生活可能是一种逃避现实的幸福。
It is also an education.
这也是一种教育。
“People pieces” have taught me what drives us: our passions and weirdness.
“人物作品”告诉我驱动我们的是什么：我们的激情和怪异。
I may never run a food truck, live in a cave, ride a bull, or win an Oscar; but discovering more about those who have has given me a greater insight into what it is to be part of this bonkers, wonderful, sometimes terrifying, species.
我可能永远不会开餐车，住在山洞里，骑公牛，或者赢得奥斯卡奖；但对这些人的了解让我对成为这个疯狂、奇妙、有时令人恐惧的物种的一部分有了更深入的了解。
Go back and read a few of the splendid life stories from 2024.
回顾一下 2024 年的一些精彩人生故事。
Then imagine the even more bizarre and brilliant things people could do in 2025.
然后想象一下 2025 年人们可以做的更加奇异和辉煌的事情。
—CW
—CW
Browse all of our year-end collections since 2011.
浏览我们自 2011 年以来的所有年终系列。