Best of 2025: The Most Popular Editors’ Picks of the Year

In addition to the Top 5 reads we share each Friday, we also recognize the most-read editor’s pick of the week: a piece that readers couldn’t put down, a story making a big splash on the internet.

除了我们每周五分享的前 5 名读物外，我们还评选了本周阅读次数最多的编辑精选：一篇让读者爱不释手的文章，一个在互联网上引起轰动的故事。

This list compiles the 10 most popular reads we recommended this year, including a nightmarish New York cover story involving crypto and torture, a San Francisco Chronicle critic’s unforgettable night at a famous French restaurant, and a wild Slate story exploring the world of scammers.

该列表汇集了我们今年推荐的 10 本最受欢迎的读物，包括涉及加密货币和酷刑的噩梦般的纽约封面故事、《旧金山纪事报》评论家在一家著名法国餐厅的难忘夜晚，以及探索骗子世界的狂野 Slate 故事。

If you missed these knockout stories the first time around, sit down and enjoy!

如果您第一次错过了这些精彩故事，请坐下来享受！

—Brendan, Carolyn, Cheri, Krista, Peter & Seyward

—布伦丹、卡罗琳、谢里、克里斯塔、彼得和西沃德

## 1.

## 1.

The Deaths—and Lives—of Two Sons

两个儿子的死与生

Yiyun Li | The New Yorker | March 23, 2025 | 8,293 words

李翊云 |纽约客 | 2025 年 3 月 23 日 | 8,293 字

Yiyun Li lost both of her sons, Vincent and James, to suicide, six years apart, at 16 and 19.

李依云 (Yiyun Li) 的两个儿子文森特 (Vincent) 和詹姆斯 (James) 均因自杀身亡，两个儿子相差六年，分别为 16 岁和 19 岁。

In this essay, drawn from her book Things in Nature Merely Grow, Li writes through her grief.

在这篇文章中，李写下了她的悲伤。

It’s difficult to read, and yet Li writes with a lucidity and steadiness that guides us through with her.

这本书很难读，但李的写作清晰而稳定，引导我们与她一起阅读。

—CLR

—CLR

## 2.

## 2.

The Crypto Maniacs and the Torture Townhouse

加密货币狂人和酷刑联排别墅

Ezra Marcus and Jen Wieczner | New York | August 11, 2025 | 8,014 words

埃兹拉·马库斯和珍·维茨纳 |纽约 | 2025 年 8 月 11 日 | 8,014 字

Cryptocurrency turned John Woeltz and William Duplessie into friends.

加密货币让约翰·沃尔茨 (John Woeltz) 和威廉·杜普莱西 (William Duplessie) 成为了朋友。

It also allegedly turned them into military cosplayers who club-hopped their way through New York with a cadre of guards and a seemingly bottomless appetite for drugs.

据称，这还把他们变成了军事角色扮演者，带着一群警卫和看似无底洞的毒品欲望，在纽约的俱乐部里跳来跳去。

And when Michael Carturan ran from their townhouse in late May, claiming Woeltz and Duplessie had been torturing him for his crypto accounts, it marked the arrival of crypto kidnappings, a.k.a.

当迈克尔·卡图兰 (Michael Carturan) 在 5 月底从他们的联排别墅跑出时，声称沃尔茨和杜普莱西一直在折磨他的加密货币账户，这标志着加密货币绑架（又称加密货币绑架）的到来。

“wrench attacks,” in New York.

纽约的“扳手攻击”。

If that all sounds like too much to fit into a single feature, trust me: It’s barely the logline of the dizzying nightmare that is this week’s New York cover story.

如果这一切听起来太多，无法融入单一专题，请相信我：这只是本周纽约封面故事令人眼花缭乱的噩梦的梗概。

—PR

——公关

## 3.

## 3.

Boomers Are Passing Down Fortunes—And Way, Way Too Much Stuff

婴儿潮一代正在传承财富——而且传承的东西太多了

Chris Rovzar | Bloomberg Weekend* | November 14, 2025 | 2,177 words

克里斯·罗夫扎尔 |彭博周末* | 2025 年 11 月 14 日 | 2,177 字

My mother’s been cleaning out the rambling study in the house she shared with my late father—which means that last week, I started researching how to ship a crate of records across the country.

我母亲一直在清理她与已故父亲合住的房子里杂乱的书房——这意味着上周我开始研究如何在全国范围内运送一箱唱片。

Next up: how to get rid of a warped and hopelessly untunable piano!

接下来：如何摆脱变形且无法调音的钢琴！

I should consider myself lucky; at least she doesn’t have 10,000 Pez dispensers or 1,300 teacups, like some of the people in Chris Rovzar’s piece about how the “Great Wealth Transfer” from Boomers to their kids is really the “Great Clutter Transfer.” —PR

我应该认为自己很幸运；至少她没有 10,000 个 Pez 分配器或 1,300 个茶杯，就像 Chris Rovzar 的文章中的一些人那样，从婴儿潮一代到孩子的“巨大财富转移”实际上是“大混乱转移”。 ——公关

* Reading this piece may require a subscription to Bloomberg News.

* 阅读本文可能需要订阅彭博新闻。

## 4.

## 4.

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

每个人都在通过作弊进入大学

James D.

詹姆斯·D.

Walsh | New York | May 7, 2025 | 5,342 words

沃尔什|纽约 | 2025 年 5 月 7 日 | 5,342 字

I’ve been contemplating future education options for my 7-year-old daughter, and I get anxious when I think ahead and imagine her navigating a higher education system that feels so broken.

我一直在为我 7 岁的女儿考虑未来的教育选择，当我提前思考并想象她在一个感觉如此破碎的高等教育体系中航行时，我会感到焦虑。

James D.

詹姆斯·D.

Walsh’s Intelligencer story about ubiquitous ChatGPT use among college students is a bleak read.

Walsh 在 Intelligencer 上发表的有关大学生普遍使用 ChatGPT 的故事读起来很惨淡。

It’s depressing to sit and think about today’s undergraduates—many of whom will never know the academic experience without AI—and the increasing number of people earning degrees who may be essentially illiterate.

坐下来想想今天的本科生——他们中的许多人永远不会知道没有人工智能的学术经历——以及越来越多的获得学位的人可能本质上是文盲，这是令人沮丧的。

Teachers, on the other hand, describe “AI’s takeover as a full-blown existential crisis.” Some professors use AI detectors to spot plagiarism, while others have decided to embrace AI in their classrooms.

另一方面，教师们将“人工智能的接管描述为一场全面的生存危机”。一些教授使用人工智能检测器来发现抄袭，而另一些教授则决定在课堂上采用人工智能。

But most educators are at a loss for what to do, and unless there’s a radical shift, there’s no stopping the bots in higher education.

但大多数教育工作者都不知所措，除非发生根本性转变，否则高等教育中的机器人是无法阻止的。

—CLR

—CLR

## 5.

## 5.

The Baby Whisperer

婴儿语者

Michael Hardy | Texas Monthly | October 28, 2025 | 10,265 words

迈克尔·哈迪 |德克萨斯月刊| 2025 年 10 月 28 日 | 10,265 字

Marian Fraser once ran Spoiled Rotten, the go-to day care for Waco’s elite.

玛丽安·弗雷泽 (Marian Fraser) 曾经经营过 Spoiled Rotten，这是韦科精英阶层的首选日托中心。

But people turned against her after she was arrested for the death of a child in her charge.

但在她因自己负责的一名儿童死亡而被捕后，人们开始反对她。

The cause: Benadryl poisoning.

原因：苯那君中毒。

Parents came to believe Fraser had been deliberately drugging children.

家长们开始相信弗雷泽故意给孩子们下药。

But the truth, Michael Hardy finds, might be less nefarious.

但迈克尔·哈迪发现，事实可能并不那么邪恶。

—SD

—SD

## 6.

## 6.

Thomas Keller Asked Me to Leave The French Laundry.

托马斯·凯勒让我离开法国洗衣店。

It Turned Into My Most Extraordinary Night as a Critic.

这是我作为评论家最不平凡的夜晚。

MacKenzie Chung Fegan | The San Francisco Chronicle | May 19, 2025 | 3,381 words

麦肯齐·钟·费根 | 麦肯齐·钟·费根旧金山纪事报 | 2025 年 5 月 19 日 | 3,381 字

On at least two occasions, Thomas Keller, the exhaustively acclaimed chef of the French Laundry and Per Se, has served mushroom soup to restaurant critics via a glass bong—an allusion to a negative review published nearly 10 years ago.

法国洗衣店 (French Laundry) 和 Per Se 餐厅广受好评的主厨托马斯·凯勒 (Thomas Keller) 至少两次用玻璃烟枪向餐厅评论家提供蘑菇汤——暗指近 10 年前发表的一篇负面评论。

MacKenzie Chung Fegan, restaurant critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, encounters a decidedly less playful Keller during a recent visit to the French Laundry, where she is separated from her table, made to wait in a courtyard for Keller, and ultimately informed by the chef that he would like the critic gone from his restaurant.

《旧金山纪事报》的餐厅评论家麦肯齐·钟·费根 (MacKenzie Chung Fegan) 在最近一次访问法国洗衣店 (French Laundry) 时遇到了一个明显不那么顽皮的凯勒，她与自己的餐桌分开，被迫在庭院里等待凯勒，最终厨师通知他希望这位评论家离开他的餐厅。

Fegan manages to stay at the French Laundry for another three hours; throughout, Keller’s power intrudes in ways subtle (“apology truffles”) and not.

费根设法在法国洗衣店又呆了三个小时；自始至终，凯勒的力量都以微妙的方式（“道歉松露”）而不是方式侵入。

—BF

—BF

## 7.

## 7.

The House on West Clay Street

西克莱街的房子

Ian Frisch | New York | January 9, 2025 | 6,878 words

伊恩·弗里施 |纽约 | 2025 年 1 月 9 日 | 6,878 字

To Tabatha Pope, an apartment in a house outside downtown Houston seemed too good to be true after living in a $35-a-night motel for the past nine months.

对于塔巴莎·波普 (Tabatha Pope) 来说，在过去 9 个月住在每晚 35 美元的汽车旅馆里之后，休斯敦市中心郊外一栋房子里的一套公寓似乎好得令人难以置信。

All she and her boyfriend had to do was spruce the place up according to Pamela Merritt, a woman who was also renting in the building.

租用该大楼的帕梅拉·梅里特 (Pamela Merritt) 表示，她和男友所要做的就是把这个地方打扮得漂漂亮亮的。

Merritt’s explanation for the horrific stench that wafted out when she was about to show Pope the work to be done on the second floor seemed dubious.

当梅里特准备向波普展示二楼要做的工作时，梅里特对飘出的可怕恶臭的解释似乎很可疑。

And where exactly was Colin, the landlord who lived on the third floor?

而住在三楼的房东科林到底在哪里？

Little did Pope know she was stepping into a house of horrors.

波普几乎不知道她正在走进一座恐怖的房子。

—KS

—KS

## 8.

## 8.

It Was Already One of Texas’s Strangest Cold Cases.

这已经是德克萨斯州最奇怪的悬案之一。

Then a Secretive Figure Appeared.

随后，一道神秘的身影出现了。

Peter Holley | Texas Monthly | June 24, 2025 | 13,526 words

彼得·霍利 |德克萨斯月刊| 2025 年 6 月 24 日 | 13,526 字

In this piece, Peter Holley provides an exhaustive account of the disappearance of Texas student Jason Landry.

在这篇文章中，彼得·霍利对德克萨斯州学生杰森·兰德里的失踪进行了详尽的描述。

But this is more than just a narrative of the event—Holley also explores the fanaticism of the online sleuths who have spent years trying to solve this case.

但这不仅仅是对这一事件的叙述——霍利还探讨了多年来试图侦破此案的网络侦探的狂热。

In doing so, Holley edges into the fanatical himself.

在这样做的过程中，霍利自己也陷入了狂热之中。

A study of both a tragedy and a true crime obsession.

对悲剧和真正的犯罪痴迷的研究。

—CW

—CW

## 9.

## 9.

Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t.

玛丽患有精神分裂症，但突然间她没有了。

Rachel Aviv | The New Yorker | July 21, 2025 | 8,226 words

雷切尔·阿维夫 |纽约客 | 2025 年 7 月 21 日 | 8,226 字

Two sisters grew up with a mother lost in delusions.

两姐妹在母亲迷失幻觉的陪伴下长大。

She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent years in and out of psychiatric facilities.

她被诊断患有精神分裂症，并在精神病院进出数年。

Then, after undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, she regained her sanity.

然后，在接受淋巴瘤化疗后，她恢复了理智。

Rachel Aviv asks how this happened and what the answer presages for the future of psychiatry.

雷切尔·阿维夫询问这是如何发生的，以及这个答案对精神病学的未来预示着什么。

She also considers, with great compassion, how a family rebuilds from a such a profound experience.

她还怀着极大的同情心思考一个家庭如何从如此深刻的经历中重建。

—SD

—SD

## 10.

## 10.

My Scammer

我的骗子

Alexander Sammon | Slate | August 4, 2025 | 4, 537 words

亚历山大·萨蒙 |板岩| 2025 年 8 月 4 日 | 4、537字

How far would you go along with a scammer in the name of research?

你会以研究的名义与骗子合作到什么程度？

Upon receiving a recruitment text, Alexander Sammon took on a job, made a “friend,” and attempted to get paid.

收到招聘短信后，亚历山大·萨蒙接受了一份工作，交了一个“朋友”，并试图获得报酬。

While it may be something you would never do, I bet you have always wondered about what would happen if you did.

虽然这可能是你永远不会做的事情，但我敢打赌你一直想知道如果你这样做会发生什么。

So let Sammon take you on this wild ride into the world of scammers .

那么，就让 Sammon 带您进入骗子的世界吧。

.

。

.

。

or is it even a scam?

或者这根本就是一个骗局？

—CW

—CW