Best of 2023: Reported Essays

Reported essays reflect the great craft involved in blending fact, anecdote, and personal observation to tell a compelling story.

报道的文章反映了将事实、轶事和个人观察结合起来讲述一个引人入胜的故事的伟大技巧。

These are the pieces we can’t stop thinking about, the ones we will forever recommend to friends, the ones that surprised and delighted us—all drawn from our vast and deep pool of editors’ picks.

这些是我们无法停止思考的作品，是我们将永远推荐给朋友的作品，是让我们感到惊讶和高兴的作品——所有这些都来自我们庞大而深厚的编辑精选。

Enjoy!

享受！

## The Great Forgetting

## 伟大的遗忘

Summer Praetorius | Nautilus | December 19, 2022 | 3,975 words

夏季总督 |鹦鹉螺 | 2022 年 12 月 19 日 | 3,975 字

This piece by paleoclimatologist Summer Praetorius, which is part memoir and part science writing, was published in mid-December last year in that overlooked period that made it too late to include in our Best of 2022 collection, yet technically ineligible for this one.

古气候学家 Summer Praetorius 的这篇文章一半是回忆录，一半是科学写作，于去年 12 月中旬发表，当时正是那个被忽视的时期，因此它太晚了，无法纳入我们的 2022 年最佳收藏中，但从技术上讲，也不符合这篇文章的资格。

But I’m making an exception.

但我例外。

(As Praetorius notes about the Great Unconformity—the gap of a billion years of Earth’s unrecorded history between 1,600 and 600 million years ago—there’s much to be discovered about seemingly forgotten periods of time.) I’ve read many poignant climate stories on the melting of glaciers and the razing of ancient forests, but I keep returning to this one because of Praetorius’ vast understanding of the Earth’s history across hundreds of millions of years; she simplifies complex concepts about geological amnesia, resilience, and system collapse so they’re more accessible to a general reader.

（正如普雷托里斯关于大不整合现象（1600 至 6 亿年前地球未记录历史的 10 亿年的差距）所指出的那样，对于看似被遗忘的时期，还有很多东西有待发现。）我读过许多关于冰川融化和古老森林被夷为平地的令人心酸的气候故事，但我不断回到这个故事，因为普雷托里斯对地球数亿年的历史有深入的了解；她简化了有关地质失忆症、复原力和系统崩溃的复杂概念，以便普通读者更容易理解。

I love the beautiful way she describes the Earth’s memory, recorded in layers of sediment and held within its disappearing ice sheets, which she refers to as “the great brains of our planet.” But she also weaves a deeply personal account of her late brother Jebsen’s mental deterioration after a snowboarding accident, another example of a complex system pushed too far out of equilibrium to recover effectively.

我喜欢她描述地球记忆的美丽方式，这些记忆记录在沉积层中并保存在正在消失的冰盖中，她称之为“我们星球的伟大大脑”。但她也对已故哥哥捷成在一次滑雪事故后精神恶化的情况进行了深刻的个人描述，这是复杂系统严重脱离平衡而无法有效恢复的另一个例子。

This parallel story helps to make the piece relatable on a more intimate scale.

这个平行的故事有助于使作品在更亲密的范围内产生关联。

Recalling the ride home from the woods when she notices the first signs of Jebsen’s memory loss as he sat in the back seat, she realizes now that he was forever changed from that moment and never recovered.

回想起从树林回家的路上，当她注意到捷成坐在后座上的记忆丧失的最初迹象时，她现在意识到，从那一刻起，他就永远改变了，而且再也没有恢复过来。

“I fixate on our immobility; on the lack of actions we took to assess the larger damages that may have been hiding beneath that hole in his memory,” she writes.

“我关注的是我们的一动不动；关注的是我们没有采取行动来评估可能隐藏在他记忆中的那个漏洞之下的更大的损失，”她写道。

It wasn’t that she and her mother didn’t care about his well-being, but perhaps they didn’t initially believe it was anything serious.

并不是说她和她的母亲不关心他的健康，但也许他们一开始并不认为这是什么严重的事情。

As Praetorius shifts between her family’s story and scientific research, you can’t help but ask: How resilient is Earth?

当普雷托利斯在她的家庭故事和科学研究之间切换时，你不禁会问：地球的弹性有多强？

Are we seeing and acting on the warning signs?

我们是否看到警告信号并采取行动？

—CLR

—CLR

## The Ones We Sent Away

## 我们送走的人

Jennifer Senior | The Atlantic | August 7, 2023 | 13,585 words

詹妮弗高级|大西洋 | 2023 年 8 月 7 日 | 13,585 字

So many families, mine and likely yours, have things they just don’t talk about, experiences and events rooted in regret and shame, where everyone concerned wants to forget or remain silent.

很多家庭，包括我的家庭，也可能是你的家庭，都有一些他们只是不谈论的事情、植根于遗憾和羞耻的经历和事件，每个有关的人都想忘记或保持沉默。

But does silence bring solace or does it ensure irreparable harm, perhaps greater than the pain of confronting the past?

但沉默会带来安慰还是会造成无法弥补的伤害，甚至可能比面对过去的痛苦更大？

This is just one of the weighty themes Jennifer Senior considers in “The Ones We Sent Away,” a brilliant essay I have not stopped thinking about since reading it in August.

这只是詹妮弗·西尼尔在《我们送走的人》中考虑的重要主题之一，自从八月读完这篇精彩的文章以来，我一直在思考它。

At the heart of the piece is Senior’s aunt Adele, who was institutionalized in 1953 at 21 months old.

这件作品的核心人物是 Senior 的阿黛尔阿姨，她于 1953 年 21 个月大时被送进收容机构。

Adele was diagnosed with microcephaly and removed from those who loved her the most in this world on the advice of medical doctors who meant well.

阿黛尔被诊断出患有小头畸形，并在善意的医生建议下与这个世界上最爱她的人分开。

This story is chiefly about loss and trauma, primarily the trauma Adele endured while institutionalized and the incalculable loss of not receiving enlightened care.

这个故事主要是关于损失和创伤，主要是阿黛尔在收容期间所遭受的创伤，以及没有得到开明照顾所带来的不可估量的损失。

Adele’s family suffered too, deprived of Adele’s lively spirit in their lives.

阿黛尔的家人也深受其害，生活中失去了阿黛尔的活泼精神。

With deep care and nuance, Senior examines the systemic and societal failures that deemed it best to separate Adele from her family.

西尼尔带着深切的关怀和细致入微地审视了系统性和社会性的失败，这些失败认为最好将阿黛尔与家人分开。

In writing this essay, she looks closely at the decision makers of the past and turns the microscope on herself: as a journalist writing about an aunt unable to give consent, Senior realized she faced an ethical dilemma not unlike the doctors who suggested Adele be institutionalized in 1952.

在写这篇文章时，她仔细观察了过去的决策者，并将显微镜转向了自己：作为一名记者，报道一位无法给予同意的阿姨，西尼尔意识到她面临着道德困境，这与 1952 年建议将阿黛尔送入收容机构的医生没什么两样。

She, like they, meant well.

她和他们一样，本意是好的。

By sharing Adele’s story, Senior wants not just to avoid harm, but to do good, possibly for other families facing similar decisions today, possibly for anyone who sits in silence, afraid to face an unpleasant and painful past.

通过分享阿黛尔的故事，西尼尔不仅希望避免伤害，而且希望做好事，可能是为了今天面临类似决定的其他家庭，也可能是为了那些保持沉默、害怕面对不愉快和痛苦的过去的人。

Through Adele’s incredible story, Senior suggests that to do better as humans, we first need to be brave enough to talk about it.

通过阿黛尔令人难以置信的故事，西尼尔建议，为了人类做得更好，我们首先需要有足够的勇气去谈论它。

—KS

—KS

## A Good Prospect

## 良好的前景

Nick Bowlin | The Drift | July 9, 2023 | 7,602 words

尼克·鲍林 |漂移| 2023 年 7 月 9 日 | 7,602 字

Here’s an endorsement: I am prone to ranting about Teslas not (only) because of the waste of space that is Elon Musk and the shoddy construction of his EVs, but also because of this essay.

这是一个认可：我倾向于对特斯拉咆哮，不仅因为埃隆·马斯克浪费空间和他的电动汽车的劣质结构，而且还因为这篇文章。

In March, writer Nick Bowlin attended an annual conference in Toronto, Ontario, where the “institutions that constitute the global metal-mining industry commiserate in the bad times and celebrate the good.” In a perverse twist, Bowlin found that 2023 is a decidedly good time for mining not in spite of climate change, but because of it.

三月，作家尼克·鲍林 (Nick Bowlin) 参加了在安大略省多伦多举行的年度会议，会上“构成全球金属采矿业的机构在困难时期表示同情，并庆祝美好时期”。鲍林发现，尽管存在气候变化，但正是因为气候变化，2023 年绝对是采矿的好时机。

A world hungry for electric batteries, solar panels, and other essentials of a decarbonized economy means there is escalating demand for metals, and mining interests are seizing the moment to make over their image—and to make bank.

世界对电池、太阳能电池板和其他脱碳经济必需品的渴求意味着对金属的需求不断上升，而采矿业正在抓住时机改变自己的形象并赚钱。

“To stop global warming,” one conference speaker says, “you need us.” But boosting the profits of some of the world’s most notoriously exploitative concerns comes at a terrible cost: to the earth, to mine workers, to the inhabitants of metal-rich land.

“为了阻止全球变暖，”一位会议发言人说，“你需要我们。”但世界上一些最臭名昭著的剥削性企业的利润增长却要付出可怕的代价：对地球、对矿工、对金属丰富的土地上的居民来说。

Bowlin doesn’t suggest that mining can’t be part of green solutions.

鲍林并不认为采矿不能成为绿色解决方案的一部分。

Rather, his essay brilliantly illuminates the perils of trying to save the world by relying on the blunt tools and maximalist mindset of late-stage capitalism.

相反，他的文章精彩地阐明了试图依靠晚期资本主义的生硬工具和极端主义思维来拯救世界的危险。

—SD

—SD

## The Horrors of Pompeii

## 庞贝古城的恐怖

Guy D.

盖伊·D.

Middleton | Aeon | July 4, 2023 | 4,000 words

米德尔顿 |永旺 | 2023 年 7 月 4 日 | 4,000 字

Reported essays cover a broad spectrum, with historical reporting being oft-overlooked.

报道的文章涵盖范围广泛，历史报道经常被忽视。

It’s a difficult skill: conjuring events from hundreds—or even thousands—of years ago is no mean feat.

这是一项困难的技能：召唤数百年甚至数千年前的事件绝非易事。

But when it works, a history piece is engaging and fascinating reportage.

但当它发挥作用时，历史作品就会成为引人入胜、引人入胜的报告文学。

In this essay on ancient Pompeii for Aeon, Guy D.

在这篇为 Aeon 撰写的关于古代庞贝古城的文章中，Guy D.

Middleton grabs attention with a piece of graffiti scrawled on the vestibule wall of a well-to-do house owned by two freedmen, the Vettii: “Eutychis, a Greek lass with sweet ways, 2 asses.” Explaining how “graffiti .

米德尔顿在两名自由民维蒂家族拥有的一栋富裕房屋的门厅墙上画了一幅涂鸦，吸引了人们的注意：“Eutychis，一个举止甜美的希腊姑娘，有两头驴。”解释如何“涂鸦”。

.

。

.

。

comes not from the literature of the elite, or the inscriptions of the powerful, but from a wider cross-section of society, ” Middleton leads us into the bowels of Pompeii to try and discover who Eutychis was.

米德尔顿带领我们深入庞贝古城，试图找出尤蒂奇斯是谁。

Expect back-stabbing brothels, brutal slavery, and sexual abuse.

妓院里的暗箭伤人、残酷的奴役和性虐待都是可以预见的。

The meaning of every word of the crude advertisement is examined, along with writings, paintings, and artifacts that add further insight into this grim world.

粗制滥造的广告中每个词的含义以及文字、绘画和文物都被检查了，这些都增加了人们对这个残酷世界的进一步了解。

(Particularly revealing is a lead collar inscribed: “This is a cheating whore!

（特别暴露的是一个铅领，上面刻着：“这是一个作弊的妓女！

Seize her because she escaped from Bulla Regia.”) Through clever tools, rather than dumbing down, Middleton makes history accessible—and Eutychis can call out to us from nearly 2,000 years ago.

抓住她，因为她逃离了 Bulla Regia。”）米德尔顿通过巧妙的工具，而不是简单化的方式，让历史变得容易理解——尤蒂奇斯可以向我们呼唤近 2000 年前的故事。

—CW

—CW

## In Search of Lost Time

## 寻找失去的时间

Tom Vanderbilt | Harper’s Magazine | March 20, 2023 | 5,339 words

汤姆·范德比尔特 |哈珀杂志 | 2023 年 3 月 20 日 | 5,339 字

Despite the fact that I’m one of those clean-but-messy people, I also love precision.

尽管我是那些干净但凌乱的人之一，但我也喜欢精确。

Exactitude.

准确。

The idea of a constant.

常数的想法。

That spills over into a fascination with measurement in general.

这最终导致人们对测量的着迷。

It’s not a hobby—I don’t collect rulers or, like, assemble Ikea shelves with a torque wrench—just an abiding curiosity.

这不是一种爱好——我不收集尺子，也不用扭矩扳手组装宜家的架子——只是一种持久的好奇心。

And it’s one that Tom Vanderbilt seems to share, judging from his quest in Harper’s to find the ground truth of the second.

从汤姆·范德比尔特 (Tom Vanderbilt) 在《哈珀》杂志上寻找第二个事实的真相来看，他似乎也认同这一点。

Like so much of his writing, he sets about answering a question (in this case, what drives clock time?) as genially as possible.

就像他的大部分作品一样，他开始尽可能友好地回答一个问题（在这种情况下，是什么驱动了时钟时间？）。

Characters don’t just talk, they do so “with weary resignation” or “[nodding] excitedly”; they call statistical noise “jiggly wigglies.” That seasoning, Vanderbilt knows, becomes all the more crucial when the rest of the recipe comprises chewy concepts like dematerialization or the ephemeris second.

角色不只是说话，他们是“带着疲倦的顺从”或“兴奋地[点头]”这样做；他们将统计噪音称为“摇摇晃晃的波动”。范德比尔特知道，当食谱的其余部分包含像非物质化或星历表这样耐嚼的概念时，这种调味料就变得更加重要。

Who wouldn’t get the tiniest thrill knowing that researchers had to travel to France to compare their kilograms to the platinum-iridium cylinder once deemed the “official” kilogram?

当知道研究人员必须前往法国将他们的公斤与曾经被视为“官方”公斤的铂铱圆筒进行比较时，谁不会感到一丝兴奋呢？

Who’s not just a little bit awed by the idea that the official second doesn’t actally exist, but is essentially spit out by a nine-billion-step Rube Goldberg machine made of cesium atoms?

官方的秒实际上并不存在，而是由铯原子制成的 90 亿步鲁布·戈德堡机器吐出来的，谁会对此感到敬畏呢？

It’s science writing that reads like a travelog: Look to your left and see the world’s smallest ruler!

这是一本读起来像游记的科学写作：向左看，会看到世界上最小的尺子！

If you’re going to guide readers through the world of the abstract, you’ve gotta make the concrete part fun.

如果你要引导读者了解抽象的世界，你就必须让具体的部分变得有趣。

—PR

——公关

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。