“Altogether, the collection was challenging to curate, which may go some way in reflecting an otherwise challenging year,”
歲近年末，所以國家地理雜誌選出了30張過去一年當中最震撼人心的照片；上面那句是照片簡介的小結。我不懂的是”an otherwise challenging year”是什麼意思？按照我對otherwise的用法， “an otherwise challenging year”意思就是這一年「實際上並不challenging」。但這樣的話又跟上下文不符了（文章後面有繼續說 “It's been a difficult year for many people," says National Geographic photo editor Jehan Jillani. "But while selecting these photos, I was reminded of how beautiful and complex our world is.”）
謝謝指點！