Best of 2022: Profiles
A great profile accomplishes the nearly impossible by making you feel like you truly know someone you’ve never met.
一份出色的个人资料可以让你感觉自己真正认识一个从未见过的人，从而完成几乎不可能的任务。
It’s a feat of empathy and insight, the kind of alchemy that turns reporting into rapport.
这是同理心和洞察力的壮举，是一种将报告转化为融洽关系的炼金术。
The five examples here span all manner of tone and subject, from victims of gun violence to digital charlatans, but they share one very important trait: They lodged in our editors’ minds long after the reading was done.
这里的五个例子涵盖了各种语气和主题，从枪支暴力的受害者到数字江湖骗子，但它们有一个非常重要的特征：它们在阅读结束后很长一段时间内都留在了我们编辑的脑海中。
## An American Girl
## 一个美国女孩
John Woodrow Cox | The Washington Post | October 24, 2022 | 8,582 words
约翰·伍德罗·考克斯 | 约翰·伍德罗·考克斯华盛顿邮报 | 2022 年 10 月 24 日 | 8,582 字
“It had been 100 days since Caitlyne hid in a classroom, listening to a stranger slaughter 19 fourth-graders and two teachers across the hallway at Robb Elementary,” writes John Woodrow Cox.
约翰·伍德罗·考克斯 (John Woodrow Cox) 写道：“凯特琳躲在罗布小学的教室里，听着一个陌生人在走廊对面屠杀 19 名四年级学生和两名老师，已经过去 100 天了。”
“Caitlyne knew them all.” I revisited Cox’s profile of 10-year-old Caitlyne Gonzales, one of the survivors of the school shooting in Uvalde, on a week when I was touring public elementary schools, since my 4-year-old will be entering kindergarten next fall.
“凯特琳都认识他们。”在我参观公立小学的一周里，我重新审视了考克斯对 10 岁凯特琳·冈萨雷斯 (Caitlyne Gonzales) 的描述，凯特琳·冈萨雷斯是尤瓦尔迪学校枪击事件的幸存者之一，因为我 4 岁的孩子明年秋天将进入幼儿园。
As I visited classrooms, I pictured my daughter sitting on a rug, listening to the teacher reading a book; I imagined her coloring at her desk.
当我参观教室时，我想象女儿坐在地毯上听老师读书；我想象她在办公桌前涂色的情景。
My eyes well up as I read details about Caitlyne and her classmates’ lives: the things they like, the things they do.
当我读到有关凯特琳和她同学生活的细节时，我的眼睛湿润了：他们喜欢的事情，他们做的事情。
Watching TikToks, doing cartwheels.
看抖音、做侧手翻。
The things that 10-year-olds are supposed to do.
10岁孩子应该做的事情。
Cox does what he does best: He immerses us in Caitlyne’s day-to-day life and, with care and respect, tells an incredibly moving, human story of loss and resilience.
考克斯做了他最擅长的事情：他让我们沉浸在凯特琳的日常生活中，并带着关怀和尊重，讲述了一个令人难以置信的感人的关于失落和恢复的人类故事。
So much of this story hurts to read, particularly lines that reveal the impossible reality and trauma our children face in a country that values guns over their lives.
这个故事的大部分内容读起来都很伤人，尤其是那些揭示了我们的孩子在一个重视枪支而不是生命的国家所面临的不可能的现实和创伤的台词。
Caitlyne shouldn’t have to wear a lanyard with the photos of her dead friends.
凯特琳不应该佩戴挂有她已故朋友照片的挂绳。
She shouldn’t know more about ballistic windows and bulletproof backpacks before knowing how to ride a bike without training wheels.
在知道如何骑没有辅助轮的自行车之前，她不应该更多地了解防弹窗和防弹背包。
She shouldn’t have to travel to the nation’s capital to beg this country’s leadership to do something to make our schools safer.
她不应该前往国家首都恳求这个国家的领导层采取措施让我们的学校更安全。
(“I’m gonna go meet Joe Byron,” she says at one point, which is at first funny, but also deeply disturbing.) Caitlyne should be playing, learning — not fighting for action and accountability.
（“我要去见乔·拜伦，”她有一次说，这乍一听很有趣，但也深感不安。）凯特琳应该玩耍、学习，而不是为行动和责任而战。
It has now been 212 days since the Robb Elementary School shooting.
距离罗布小学枪击案已经过去 212 天了。
This is just a reminder so we don’t forget.
这只是一个提醒，以免我们忘记。
—Cheri Lucas Rowlands
——切里·卢卡斯·罗兰兹
John Woodrow Cox recommends a profile from a WaPo co-worker:
John Woodrow Cox 推荐了 WaPo 同事的简介：
“The Remarkable Brain of a Carpet Cleaner Who Speaks 24 Languages” by Jessica Contrera for The Washington Post: My colleague Jessica Contrera’s story on a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages was such a delight.
杰西卡·孔特雷拉 (Jessica Contrera) 为《华盛顿邮报》撰写的“会说 24 种语言的地毯清洁工的非凡大脑”：我的同事杰西卡·孔特雷拉 (Jessica Contrera) 讲述了一位会说 24 种语言的地毯清洁工的故事，非常令人愉悦。
Many reporters would’ve seen it as an 800-word feature, but Jess went so much deeper, revealing the complex person behind the extraordinary talent.
许多记者认为这是一篇 800 字的专题报道，但杰西却深入得多，揭示了非凡才华背后的复杂人物。
It never feels saccharine or belonging in the genre of manufactured, feel-good stories that make us cringe.
它从来不会让人觉得甜腻或属于那些让人感到畏缩的人造的、感觉良好的故事类型。
The profile was often painful and poignant — moments that made the joyous ones feel earned.
这段经历常常是痛苦而辛酸的——那些让快乐的人感到自己值得的时刻。
## The Bronc-Busting, Cow-Punching, Death-Defying Legend of Boots O’Neal
## 靴子奥尼尔 (Boot O'Neal) 的野马、拳牛、挑战死亡的传奇
Christian Wallace | Texas Monthly | May 11, 2022 | 6,127 words
克里斯蒂安·华莱士 |德克萨斯月刊| 2022 年 5 月 11 日 | 6,127 字
I am fascinated by vital elders.
我对充满活力的长老很着迷。
I want to be a vital elder.
我想成为一位充满活力的长老。
So when I see fascinating profiles of “old” folks kicking proverbial butt, I am there for it.
因此，当我看到那些令人着迷的“老”人们踢众所周知的屁股时，我就在那里。
Boots O’Neal was 89 at the time Christian Wallace wrote this fun, deeply reported profile of a cowboy who just loves to go to work every day, decades after many would have hung up their spurs to sit on the porch full-time and tell tall tales.
克里斯蒂安·华莱士（Christian Wallace）在布茨·奥尼尔（Boots O'Neal）89岁高龄的时候写下了这本有趣的、深入报道的牛仔故事，描述了一位每天只喜欢去上班的牛仔，几十年前，许多人都会挂起马刺，全职坐在门廊上讲一些荒唐的故事。
Boots has a roundup of stories, that’s for sure.
Boots 有很多故事，这是肯定的。
But by getting up before first light, riding a horse, and moving ornery bulls for a living at the end of his ninth decade, he is also the story.
但在九十岁末，他在黎明前起床，骑马，并以搬运脾气暴躁的公牛为生，他也是故事中的人物。
Wallace does a masterful job, not just in painting a portrait of Boots’ working life, but into capturing precisely what drives Boots to do the job he’s loved for the past seven decades: “’There’s not very many people in the world who love their job,’ Boots and Nelda’s daughter, Lauri Colbert, told me later.
华莱士做得非常出色，不仅描绘了布茨的工作生活，而且准确地捕捉了推动布茨从事他过去七年热爱的工作的因素：“‘世界上热爱自己工作的人并不多，’布茨和内尔达的女儿劳里·科尔伯特后来告诉我。
‘I mean, people might like their job, they might tolerate it, but he loves it.
“我的意思是，人们可能喜欢他们的工作，他们可能会容忍它，但他喜欢它。
When they give him the weekend off, he’s kind of mad about it.’” This devotion to his craft, coupled with the deep knowledge of ranching he’s accumulated over a stunningly long career — possibly longer than any cowpuncher alive — has propelled Boots to a level of fame practically unheard of for a working cowboy.
当他们给他周末休息时，他会有点生气。’”这种对手艺的热爱，加上他在漫长的职业生涯中积累的深厚的牧场知识——可能比任何在世的牛仔职业生涯都长——让布茨的名气达到了职业牛仔几乎闻所未闻的水平。
—Krista Stevens
—克里斯塔·史蒂文斯
Christian Wallace recommends:
克里斯蒂安·华莱士建议：
“‘She Made Us Happy’: The All-Star Dreams of Uvalde’s Biggest José Altuve Fan” by Roberto José Andrade Franco for ESPN: It’s been difficult to even read stories about Uvalde, so I can’t imagine how painful this piece was to write.
“‘她让我们快乐’：尤瓦尔德最大的何塞·阿尔图夫粉丝的全明星梦想”，罗伯托·何塞·安德拉德·佛朗哥为 ESPN 撰写：阅读有关尤瓦尔德的故事都很困难，所以我无法想象写这篇文章有多么痛苦。
Roberto’s profile of 10-year-old Tess Mata is an incredible tribute to a young life taken too soon.
罗伯托对 10 岁的苔丝·玛塔的侧写是对一个过早逝去的年轻生命的令人难以置信的致敬。
It’s also more than that.
还不止于此。
By exploring historical events that shaped this part of South Texas and the American West, Roberto helps us — not make sense — but contextualize the racism and violence that continue to shape and shatter our lives.
通过探索塑造南德克萨斯州和美国西部这一地区的历史事件，罗伯托帮助我们——虽然没有道理——但将继续塑造和破坏我们生活的种族主义和暴力置于背景之中。
I’ll never forget Tess — or this story.
我永远不会忘记苔丝——或者这个故事。
## The Woman Who Killed Roe
## 杀死罗伊的女人
Kerry Howley | New York Magazine | May 9, 2022 | 7,800 words
凯瑞·豪利 |纽约杂志 | 2022 年 5 月 9 日 | 7,800 字
I knew as soon as I read this piece in May that I would pick it for Longreads’ Best of 2022.
当我五月份读到这篇文章时，我就知道我会把它选为 Longreads 的 2022 年最佳作品。
Not because the subject, Marjorie Dannenfelser, is from my hometown, went to the same university I did, and got married in the Catholic church attached to my middle school.
并不是因为这个对象Marjorie Dannenfelser来自我的家乡，和我上同一所大学，并在我中学附属的天主教堂结婚。
All that made me feel eerily close to the piece, sure, but what makes Kerry Howley’s work worthy of inclusion here is that she uses a magazine profile as a vehicle for challenging the tropes and omissions, the lies and distortions of America’s anti-abortion movement.
当然，所有这些都让我感觉与这篇文章非常接近，但凯瑞·豪利的作品值得包含在这里的是，她使用杂志简介作为挑战美国反堕胎运动的比喻和遗漏、谎言和扭曲的工具。
“If we are by now accustomed to discussing ulterior motives and the well-documented history of legislators using abortion rhetoric to consolidate the right,” Howley notes, “we speak less of how the rhetoric works: by triggering in its subjects a stomach-churning horror.” And: “Almost all social movements work to erase context contrary to the cause.
豪利指出：“如果我们现在习惯于讨论别有用心的动机以及立法者使用堕胎言论来巩固权利的有据可查的历史，那么我们就很少谈论这些言论是如何运作的：通过在其对象中引发令人反胃的恐怖。”并且：“几乎所有的社会运动都致力于消除与目标相反的背景。
In this case, the context is a woman.” Howley shows how Dannenfelser, a powerful, single-minded activist, orchestrated a generation’s worth of horror and erasure, leading directly to the overturning of Roe v.
在这种情况下，背景是女性。”豪利向我们展示了丹南菲尔瑟这位强大而专一的活动家如何精心策划了一代人的恐怖和抹杀，直接导致了罗伊诉科特迪瓦案的推翻。
Wade.
韦德。
—Seyward Darby
——西沃德·达比
## Stone Skipping Is a Lost Art.
## 跳石是一门失传的艺术。
Kurt Steiner Wants the World to Find It.
库尔特·斯坦纳希望全世界都能找到它。
Sean Williams | Outside | September 20, 2022 | 6,616 words
肖恩·威廉姆斯 |外面| 2022 年 9 月 20 日 | 6,616 字
There is something primal about skipping stones.
跳石头有一些原始的东西。
See some rocks near a body of water and I’ll bet you chuck one across it, as millions have done before you, all the way back to competitions in Ancient Greece.
看到水体附近的一些岩石，我敢打赌你会扔掉一块石头，就像数百万人在你之前所做的那样，一直追溯到古希腊的比赛。
The subject of this profile, Kurt Steiner, has tapped into this deeply embedded part of our psyche.
本篇简介的主题是库尔特·斯坦纳 (Kurt Steiner)，他深入挖掘了我们心灵中这个根深蒂固的部分。
Stone skipping, he says, has an “undeveloped natural purity, a refuge against the consumerist, plutocratic, kleptocratic, f*cking destroy-and-build-up-everything mentality.” In this beautiful piece, Sean Williams attempts to find out more about Steiner and this ancient sport.
他说，跳石具有“未开发的自然纯洁性，是对抗消费主义、财阀、盗贼统治、破坏和建立一切心态的避难所。”在这篇美丽的作品中，肖恩·威廉姆斯试图更多地了解斯坦纳和这项古老的运动。
It was not an easy quest: Kurt lives in a cabin with no central heating or shower, craps in a bucket, and goes weeks without cell or internet coverage.
这并不是一个容易的任务：库尔特住在一间没有中央暖气或淋浴的小屋里，粪便在桶里，并且连续几周没有手机或互联网覆盖。
It took Williams a year to reach Steiner via email, two years to set a time to meet him, and an intense few minutes to persuade U.S. border guards he was entering the country to interview a stone skipper.
威廉姆斯花了一年时间通过电子邮件联系斯坦纳，花了两年时间确定会见他的时间，并花了几分钟时间说服美国边防人员他要进入该国采访一位石船长。
It was worth it.
这是值得的。
Williams immerses himself in Steiner’s world, spending days with him, skipping stones until his elbow throbs, talking for 12 hours at a time.
威廉姆斯沉浸在斯坦纳的世界里，和他待了好几天，跳石头直到他的肘部抽痛，一次聊了 12 个小时。
He discovers a fascinating character for whom stone skipping is a respite from mental illnesses, love, and loss.
他发现了一个迷人的角色，对他来说，跳石是摆脱精神疾病、爱情和失落的一种喘息机会。
The time invested in getting to know Steiner is apparent in every word.
花在了解斯坦纳身上的时间从每一个字中都显而易见。
A respectful, thoughtful look at someone who has found a way to step out of society as we know it — and produced some record-breaking throws to boot.
对一个已经找到了走出我们所知道的社会的方法并创造了一些破纪录投掷的人的尊重和深思熟虑的目光。
—Carolyn Wells
——卡罗琳·威尔斯
Sean Williams‘ favorite lede of 2022:
肖恩·威廉姆斯 (Sean Williams) 2022 年最喜欢的 LED 灯：
“Deep in Guyana’s Jungle, Just Upriver from a Thundering Waterfall, My Boat Began to Sink .
“在圭亚那的丛林深处，就在雷鸣般的瀑布上游，我的船开始下沉 。
.
。
.” by Jamie Lafferty for The Financial Times
”。 杰米·拉弗蒂 (Jamie Lafferty) 为《金融时报》撰写
This was going to be a story about trekking in the western reaches of Guyana, about beautiful waterfalls and indigenous people living in an area where the border with Venezuela is a mushy and unimportant thing.
这将是一个关于在圭亚那西部地区徒步旅行的故事，关于美丽的瀑布和生活在与委内瑞拉接壤的地区的土著人民的故事，该地区与委内瑞拉的边界是一个糊状且不重要的事情。
Then I found myself travelling with a pair of influencers, so instead it was going to be about what it’s like to witness, up close, the rise of their industry and the death of mine.
然后我发现自己和一对有影响力的人一起旅行，所以相反，这将是关于近距离目睹他们行业的崛起和我的行业消亡的感觉。
It was going to be about content and clicks and why any of that matters in a place with no electricity, let alone WiFi.
重点是内容和点击，以及为什么这些在没有电的地方很重要，更不用说 WiFi 了。
But then something weird happened, and we all almost died together, so now it’s really a story about that.
但后来发生了一些奇怪的事情，我们几乎都死在一起了，所以现在这真的是一个关于这个的故事。
This was going to be a story about trekking in the western reaches of Guyana, about beautiful waterfalls and indigenous people living in an area where the border with Venezuela is a mushy and unimportant thing.
这将是一个关于在圭亚那西部地区徒步旅行的故事，关于美丽的瀑布和生活在与委内瑞拉接壤的地区的土著人民的故事，该地区与委内瑞拉的边界是一个糊状且不重要的事情。
Then I found myself travelling with a pair of influencers, so instead it was going to be about what it’s like to witness, up close, the rise of their industry and the death of mine.
然后我发现自己和一对有影响力的人一起旅行，所以相反，这将是关于近距离目睹他们行业的崛起和我的行业消亡的感觉。
It was going to be about content and clicks and why any of that matters in a place with no electricity, let alone WiFi.
重点是内容和点击，以及为什么这些在没有电的地方很重要，更不用说 WiFi 了。
But then something weird happened, and we all almost died together, so now it’s really a story about that.
但后来发生了一些奇怪的事情，我们几乎都死在一起了，所以现在这真的是一个关于这个的故事。
## In the Court of the Liver King
## 肝王宫中
Madeleine Aggeler | GQ | May 5, 2022 | 3,054 words
玛德琳·阿格勒 |智群 | 2022 年 5 月 5 日 | 3,054 字
What was the year of the scammer?
骗子是哪一年的事？
Was it 2016, when a scammer became president of the United States?
是2016年，骗子当上了美国总统吗？
2018, when the Anna Delvey saga became known?
2018 年，安娜·德尔维传奇何时为人所知？
2019, when twin documentaries about the Fyre Fest fiasco landed on competing streaming platforms?
2019 年，关于 Fyre Fest 惨败的双胞胎纪录片何时登陆竞争的流媒体平台？
Or has it truly been 2022, when a man named Brian Johnson amassed a following of millions on TikTok and Instagram by selling supplements and espousing an “ancestral lifestyle” that includes eating a pound of raw beef liver a day — only to be brought low in December after his staggering (and obvious) steroid habit was revealed?
还是说这确实是 2022 年，当时一位名叫布莱恩·约翰逊 (Brian Johnson) 的男子通过销售补充剂并拥护每天吃一磅生牛肝的“祖传生活方式”，在 TikTok 和 Instagram 上积累了数百万粉丝，但在 12 月他令人震惊（且明显）的类固醇习惯被揭露后，他的地位却下降了？
It’s a trick question: Thanks to the attention economy, every year is the year of the scammer!
这是一个棘手的问题：由于注意力经济，每年都是骗子年！
But at least 2022 brought us Madeleine Aggeler’s treat of a profile of Johnson, a man who hasn’t seen a shirt or a parenting manual in years.
但至少 2022 年，玛德琳·阿格勒 (Madeleine Aggeler) 为我们带来了约翰逊的个人资料，他已经很多年没有见过衬衫或育儿手册了。
(I’m not saying that boxing lessons in the living room is bad parenting; I’m saying that calling them “Savage Liver Boys” and filming them eating organ meats is maybe worth a think.) Be clear: This is not a history-bending profile.
（我并不是说在客厅上拳击课是不好的养育方式；我是说称他们为“野蛮肝男孩”并拍摄他们吃器官肉也许值得考虑。）要明确的是：这不是一个扭曲历史的形象。
It is, however, a wildly entertaining one.
然而，这是一件非常有趣的事情。
And more importantly, it’s a valuable reminder that social media isn’t a dumpster fire just because Elon Musk bought Twitter; it’s a dumpster fire because the only thing it rewards is extremity.
更重要的是，这是一个有价值的提醒：社交媒体并不是因为埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 收购了 Twitter 而引发的一场垃圾箱火灾；它是一个有价值的提醒。这是一场垃圾箱火灾，因为它唯一奖励的就是极端。
We’ll see if that’s changed by the end of 2023, the year of the scammer.
我们将看看到 2023 年底（骗子横行的一年），这种情况是否会发生变化。
—Peter Rubin
——彼得·鲁宾
You can also browse all of our year-end collections since 2011 in one place.
您还可以在一处浏览我们自 2011 年以来的所有年终系列。