Hillbilly Elegy - Jan 27

And ________(when the results are seen) — when bankruptcy hits or a family member ________(将我们从愚蠢中解救出来)— there’s nothing left over.

Our kids go to ________(寄养) but never stay for long.

These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the ________(认知失调/内心冲突) — the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach.

We talk to our children about responsibility, but we never ________(做得到).

Our eating and exercise habits seem designed to ________(让我们英年早逝), and it’s working: In certain parts of Kentucky, local ________(预期寿命) is sixty - seven, a full decade and a half below what it is in nearby Virginia.

There were (and remain) many who ________(用祖辈的守则生活).

The young woman who grew up with my mom, who returned to the neighborhood every day to help her mother ________(度过老年生活).

I say this not to romanticize my grandparents’ way of life — which, as I’ve observed, was ________(充斥着问题) — but to note that many in our community may have struggled but did so successfully.

________(我横跨在两个世界中间).

But if you want the sort of work where you can spend the weekends with your family, you’ve got to go to college and ________(你要有所成就).

Reams of social science ________(证明/证实) the positive effect of a loving and stable home.

And by that time Chip was ________(常客) in our home, though he never lived with us.

Not long ago, I noticed that a Facebook friend (an acquaintance from high school with similarly deep hillbilly roots) was constantly changing boyfriends — ________(在一段段恋爱关系中进进出出), posting pictures of one guy one week and another three weeks later, fighting on social media with her ________(新的恋爱) until the relationship publicly imploded.

During my last year of high school, I ________(参加选拔) the varsity golf team.

Though wise in her own way, Mamaw knew little about ________(做生意的习惯) of rich people, and I told her as much.

By the time ________(高尔夫选拔) rolled around, I had mastered enough of ________(高尔夫球挥杆) not to embarrass myself.

On my first day of golf practice, I showed up in ________(皮鞋), thinking that was what golf shoes were.

I ________(在内心深处知道) that decisions ________(关乎我的未来).

She promised that if she ________(看到我和黑名单上的任何人在一起), she would run him over with her car.

We ________(对着表格无从下手) for hours before concluding that I could purchase a decent home in Middletown with the debt I’d incur to go to college.

My high school record ________(远不能让人满意): dozens of absences and tardy arrivals, and no school activities to speak of. I was undoubtedly ________(处于上升的趋势), but even toward the end of high school, C’s in easy classes revealed a kid unprepared for ________(高等教育的严格要求).

________(他们会把你打得屁滚尿流).

Rachael was Uncle Jimmy’s oldest daughter, and thus ________(头儿) of our generation of grandchildren.

All of us, even Lindsay, ________(尊重) Rachael, so ________(她的建议非常重要).

And I knew that if I waited too long, I’d ________(说服自己放弃参军).

You’re a fucking idiot; ________(他们会把你嚼碎了再吐出来).