Howard Riefs: My Top Longreads of 2011
Howard Riefs is a prolific Longreader and a communications consultant in Chicago.
霍华德·里夫斯 (Howard Riefs) 是一位多产的长篇读者，也是芝加哥的一名传播顾问。
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It was another strong year for long-form content and journalism.
对于长篇内容和新闻业来说，今年又是强劲的一年。
There was no shortage of attention-grabbing longreads in traditional media, online-only outlets, alt-weeklies and literary journals—both in the U.S. and abroad, and written as profiles, personal essays, historical accounts and op-eds.
无论是在美国还是在国外，传统媒体、在线媒体、另类周刊和文学期刊上都不乏引人注目的长篇读物，包括简介、个人文章、历史记述和专栏文章。
And many take residence in Instapaper and Read It Later apps, including mine.
许多人都居住在 Instapaper 和 Read It Later 应用程序中，包括我的。
My top five for the year:
我今年的前五名：
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1.
1.
“Brevard Woman Disappeared, but Never Left Home,” Michael Kruse, St. Petersburg Times, July 22
“布里瓦德女人失踪了，但从未离开过家”，Michael Kruse，《圣彼得堡时报》，7 月 22 日
A stirring and richly reported narrative of a Florida woman who vanished from her neighborhood and society.
这部激动人心、内容丰富的故事讲述了一位佛罗里达州妇女从她的社区和社会中消失的故事。
“The neighbors said that they seldom saw her but that for more than a year they hadn’t seen her at all.
“邻居们说很少见到她，但已经有一年多没有见到她了。
One called her ‘a little strange.’ Another said she ‘just disappeared.’ The How could a woman die a block from the beach, surrounded by her neighbors, and not be found for almost 16 months?
一个人称她“有点奇怪”。另一个人说她“就这样消失了”。一个女人怎么可能死在距离海滩一个街区的地方，周围都是邻居，而且近 16 个月都没有被发现？
How could a woman go missing inside her own home?”
一个女人怎么会在自己家里失踪呢？”
2.
2.
“The Bomb That Didn’t Go Off,” Charles P.
“没有爆炸的炸弹”，查尔斯·P.
Pierce, Esquire, July 21
皮尔斯，《时尚先生》，7 月 21 日
The overwhelming majority of terrorism in the United States has always been homegrown, even while fear is diverted elsewhere in the wake of 9/11.
尽管恐惧在 9/11 事件后转移到其他地方，但美国绝大多数恐怖主义始终是本土产生的。
Pierce provides an engrossing narrative of a bomb that was planted along a parade route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Spokane, Wash., this year.
皮尔斯引人入胜地讲述了今年华盛顿州斯波坎马丁·路德·金日庆祝活动沿线放置的一枚炸弹的故事。
It didn’t go off.
它没有消失。
(Update: The man who planted the bomb was recently sentenced to the maximum 32 years in prison.)
（更新：安置炸弹的男子最近被判处最高 32 年监禁。）
“There’s a spot by the Spokane River where they would have built the memorial, and what would it have looked like, the memorial to the victims of the bag on the bench?
“斯波坎河边有一个地方，他们会在那里建造纪念碑，它会是什么样子，纪念长凳上袋子的受害者？
Would it be lovely and muted, the way the grounds of what used to be the Murrah Building are today in Oklahoma City, with their bronze chairs and the water gently lapping at the sides of the reflecting pool?
俄克拉荷马城以前的默拉大厦的地面上摆着青铜椅子，水轻轻地拍打着倒影池的两侧，这会是可爱而安静的吗？
Maybe they’d buy one of the pawnshops downtown for the museum.
也许他们会买下市中心的一家当铺作为博物馆。
Maybe there would be an exhibit of children’s shoes there, like the display case in the Oklahoma City museum that’s full of watches frozen at 9:02, the time at which the bomb they didn’t find went off.”
也许那里会有童鞋展览，就像俄克拉荷马城博物馆的陈列柜一样，里面装满了冻结在 9 点 02 分的手表，也就是他们没有找到的炸弹爆炸的时间。”
3.
3.
“Getting Bin Laden,” Nicholas Schmidle, The New Yorker, Aug.
“抓捕本·拉登”，尼古拉斯·施密德尔，《纽约客》，8 月
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The definitive account of the top news event of the year.
年度头条新闻事件的权威报道。
“Three SEALs shuttled past Khalid’s body and blew open another metal cage, which obstructed the staircase leading to the third floor.
“三名海豹队员从哈立德的尸体旁穿梭而过，炸开了另一个金属笼子，挡住了通往三楼的楼梯。
Bounding up the unlit stairs, they scanned the railed landing.
他们跳上没有灯光的楼梯，扫视着有栏杆的平台。
On the top stair, the lead SEAL swivelled right; with his night-vision goggles, he discerned that a tall, rangy man with a fist-length beard was peeking out from behind a bedroom door, ten feet away…“A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest.
在最上面的楼梯上，领头的海豹队员向右旋转；戴着夜视镜，他发现一个高大、瘦长、留着拳头长胡子的男人正在十英尺外的卧室门后探出头来……“第二名海豹队员走进房间，将 M4 的红外激光对准本·拉登的胸部。
The Al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head, froze; he was unarmed.
这位身穿棕褐色沙瓦尔卡米兹、头戴祈祷帽的基地组织头目愣住了。他手无寸铁。
“There was never any question of detaining or capturing him—it wasn’t a split-second decision.
“从来不存在任何拘留或逮捕他的问题——这不是一个瞬间的决定。
No one wanted detainees,” the special-operations officer told me.
没有人想要被拘留者，”特别行动官员告诉我。
(The Administration maintains that had bin Laden immediately surrendered he could have been taken alive.) Nine years, seven months, and twenty days after September 11th, an American was a trigger pull from ending bin Laden’s life.
（政府坚称，如果本·拉登立即投降，他可能会被活捉。）9 月 11 日之后的九年零七个月又二十天，一名美国人成为结束本·拉登生命的扳机。
The first round, a 5.56-mm.
第一轮，5.56 毫米。
bullet, struck bin Laden in the chest.
子弹击中本·拉登的胸部。
As he fell backward, the SEAL fired a second round into his head, just above his left eye.
当他向后倒下时，海豹突击队员向他的头部开了第二枪，就在他的左眼上方。
On his radio, he reported, ‘For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.’ After a pause, he added, ’Geronimo E.K.I.A.’—‘enemy killed in action.’ “Hearing this at the White House, Obama pursed his lips, and said solemnly, to no one in particular, ‘We got him.’ ”
他在广播中报道说，“为了上帝和国家——杰罗尼莫，杰罗尼莫，杰罗尼莫。”停顿了一下，他补充道，“杰罗尼莫 E.K.I.A.”——“敌人在行动中阵亡。”“在白宫听到这句话时，奥巴马抿起嘴唇，郑重地对任何人说：‘我们抓住了他。’”
“Three SEALs shuttled past Khalid’s body and blew open another metal cage, which obstructed the staircase leading to the third floor.
“三名海豹队员从哈立德的尸体旁穿梭而过，炸开了另一个金属笼子，挡住了通往三楼的楼梯。
Bounding up the unlit stairs, they scanned the railed landing.
他们跳上没有灯光的楼梯，扫视着有栏杆的平台。
On the top stair, the lead SEAL swivelled right; with his night-vision goggles, he discerned that a tall, rangy man with a fist-length beard was peeking out from behind a bedroom door, ten feet away…
在最上面的楼梯上，领头的海豹队员向右旋转；戴着夜视镜，他发现十英尺外的卧室门后，有一个身材高大、身材瘦长、留着拳头长胡须的男人正探出头来……
“A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest.
“第二名海豹队员走进房间，将他的 M4 红外激光对准本·拉登的胸部。
The Al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head, froze; he was unarmed.
身穿棕褐色长袍、头上戴着祈祷帽的基地组织头目愣住了。他手无寸铁。
“There was never any question of detaining or capturing him—it wasn’t a split-second decision.
“从来不存在任何拘留或逮捕他的问题——这不是一个瞬间的决定。
No one wanted detainees,” the special-operations officer told me.
没有人想要被拘留者，”特别行动官员告诉我。
(The Administration maintains that had bin Laden immediately surrendered he could have been taken alive.) Nine years, seven months, and twenty days after September 11th, an American was a trigger pull from ending bin Laden’s life.
（政府坚称，如果本·拉登立即投降，他可能会被活捉。）9 月 11 日之后的九年零七个月又二十天，一名美国人成为结束本·拉登生命的扳机。
The first round, a 5.56-mm.
第一轮，5.56 毫米。
bullet, struck bin Laden in the chest.
子弹击中本·拉登的胸部。
As he fell backward, the SEAL fired a second round into his head, just above his left eye.
当他向后倒下时，海豹突击队员向他的头部开了第二枪，就在他的左眼上方。
On his radio, he reported, ‘For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.’ After a pause, he added, ’Geronimo E.K.I.A.’—‘enemy killed in action.’
他在广播中报道道：“为了上帝和国家——杰罗尼莫，杰罗尼莫，杰罗尼莫。”停顿了一下，他补充道，“杰罗尼莫 E.K.I.A.”——“敌人在行动中阵亡。”
“Hearing this at the White House, Obama pursed his lips, and said solemnly, to no one in particular, ‘We got him.’ ”
“在白宫听到这件事后，奥巴马抿起嘴唇，郑重地对任何人说：‘我们抓到了他。’”
4.
4.
“Writing Advice from George Saunders,” Patrick Dacey, BOMB Magazine, April 26
“乔治·桑德斯的写作建议”，Patrick Dacey，BOMB 杂志，4 月 26 日
Acclaimed writer Saunders discusses the writing process, storytelling technique (“Any monkey in a story had better be a dead monkey”) and whether a man can ever really experience true happiness without an icicle impaling him through the head.
著名作家桑德斯讨论了写作过程、讲故事的技巧（“故事中的任何猴子最好是一只死猴子”）以及一个人是否能够在没有冰柱刺穿头部的情况下真正体验到真正的幸福。
Former student Patrick Dacey effectively guides the multi-part Q&A.
前学生帕特里克·达西有效地指导了多部分问答。
“I vaguely remember seeing something, when I was very young (maybe 3 or 4), about Hemingway’s death on TV.
“我依稀记得在我很小的时候（大概三四岁）在电视上看到过有关海明威去世的事情。
My memory is: a photo of him in that safari jacket, and the announcer sort of intoning all the cool things he’d done (‘Africa!
我的记忆是：一张他穿着狩猎夹克的照片，播音员吟诵着他所做的所有很酷的事情（“非洲！
Cuba!
古巴！
Friends with movie stars!’).
与电影明星的朋友！”）。
So I got this idea of a writer as someone who went out and did all these adventurous things, jotted down a few notes afterward, then got all this acclaim, world-wide attention etc., etc.—with the emphasis on the ‘adventuring’ and not so much on the ‘jotting down.’ ”
所以我对作家的看法是，一个出去做所有这些冒险的事情，然后记下一些笔记，然后得到所有这些赞誉、全世界的关注等等——重点是‘冒险’，而不是‘记下’。”
5.
5.
“Little Girl Found,” Patti Waldmeir, Financial Times, Aug.
“小女孩被发现”，Patti Waldmeir，《金融时报》，8 月
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Waldmeir, the adoptive mother of two abandoned children, discovered an abandoned baby behind a Dunkin’ Donuts in Shanghai one winter night.
沃尔德梅尔是两个被遗弃儿童的养母，一个冬天的夜晚，她在上海的一家邓肯甜甜圈后面发现了一名被遗弃的婴儿。
In this personal essay she tracks the baby from hospital to police station to orphanage, with side trips into reflection on her daughters’ stories.
在这篇个人文章中，她追踪了婴儿从医院到警察局再到孤儿院的轨迹，并顺便反思了女儿们的故事。
“This child’s mother had chosen the spot carefully: only steps from one of the best hotels in Shanghai, beside a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise patronised mostly by foreigners.
“这个孩子的母亲精心挑选了这个地点：距离上海最好的酒店之一仅几步之遥，旁边是一家主要由外国人光顾的唐恩都乐特许经营店。
I had been meeting my friend John there for a quick doughnut fix, and it was he who heard the baby’s cries as he chained his bicycle to the alleyway gate.
我在那里和我的朋友约翰会面，一起吃甜甜圈，当他把自行车拴在巷子门口时，他听到了婴儿的哭声。
‘There’s a baby outside!’ John exclaimed as he slid into the seat beside me, still blustery from the cold.
“外面有一个婴儿！”约翰一边滑到我旁边的座位上，一边惊呼道，他的身上仍然因为寒冷而狂风大作。
‘What do you mean, there’s a baby outside?’ I asked in alarm, bolting out of the door to see what he was talking about.”
“外面有一个婴儿，你这是什么意思？”我惊慌地问道，冲出门去看看他在说什么。
It’s difficult to stop at only five.
只到五点就很难停下来。
A few bonus reads:
一些奖金如下：
“Anthrax Redux: Did the Feds Nab the Wrong Guy?” Noah Shachtman, Wired, March 24
“炭疽重制：联邦调查局抓错人了吗？”诺亚·沙赫特曼 (Noah Shachtman)，《连线》，3 月 24 日
“Inside David Foster Wallace’s Private Self-Help Library,” Maria Bustillos, The Awl, April 5
“走进大卫·福斯特·华莱士的私人自助图书馆”，Maria Busstillos，The Awl，4 月 5 日
“The Greatest Paper That Ever Died,” Alex French and Howie Kahn, Grantland, June 8
“有史以来最伟大的论文”，Alex French 和 Howie Kahn，Grantland，6 月 8 日
“Karen Wagner’s Life,” John Spong, Texas Monthly, Sept.
“凯伦·瓦格纳的一生”，约翰·斯蓬，《德克萨斯月刊》，九月二十二日
2011
2011年
“The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch, The Atlantic, Oct.
“大学体育的耻辱”，泰勒·布兰奇，《大西洋月刊》，10 月
2011
2011年
“Steve Jobs Was Always Kind to Me (or Regrets of an Asshole),” Brian Lam, The Wirecutter, Oct.
“史蒂夫·乔布斯总是对我很好（或者是一个混蛋的遗憾）”，Brian Lam，《Wirecutter》，10 月 17 日。
5
5
“Punched Out: Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer,” John Branch, New York Times, Dec.
“被打倒：曲棍球执法者的生与死”，约翰·布兰奇，《纽约时报》，12 月 12 日。
3-5
3-5
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Share your own Top 5 Longreads of 2011, all through December.
整个 12 月，分享您自己的 2011 年 5 首长读作品。
Just tag it #longreads on Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook.
只需在 Twitter、Tumblr 或 Facebook 上标记#longreads 即可。