《名人传记》之乔布斯如何改变世界7:身陷窘境 进退维谷

 　　And he tells people that they are pirates

　　他告诉大家 他们是海盗

　　the rest of Apple was the navi,

　　公司中其他的人则是海军

　　and they literally¹ fly the pirate flag.

　　而他们还真升起了海盗旗

　　He could rip into people and be tough to work for.

　　他对员工不留情面 为他工作绝非易事

　　But he was so charismatic,

　　但是他太有魅力了

　　and people at Apple put up with this incredibly demanding culture.

　　而难以置信的是 苹果公司的成员都能忍受这一点

　　Because they knew working for him was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

　　因为他们知道 为他工作是个千载难逢的机遇

　　Steve was perfectly² content to continue the work 100-hour weeks to get this done.

　　史蒂夫能每周工作一百小时并完美地完成工作

　　But his team could not.

　　但是他的团队却不能

　　There was a lot of friction³,

　　他们之间有许多摩擦

　　there was a lot of tension.

　　关系也很紧张

　　And there was inside Apple

　　在苹果公司内部

　　a feeling that Steve was not ready to manage a division

　　大家都感觉史蒂夫并未准备好经营管理一个部门

　　or to be a high-ranking official inside the company.

　　或担任公司高管人员

　　When the Mac is released in early 1984,

　　1984年初 Mac首次登台亮相

　　sales are underwhelming.

　　其销售成绩却令人大失所望

　　Ssteve Jobs hits the wall, hard.

　　史蒂夫·乔布斯身陷窘境 进退维谷

　　And the Macintosh is a flop⁴.

　　Mac电脑实属败笔

　　And his stock within Apple is diminished

　　他在苹果公司的股票迅速缩水

　　because he's focused on creating this new machine that has failed.

　　因为他全力研发的新机器遭遇惨败

　　Eventually, things get better for the Mac,

　　终于 Mac的销量有所好转

　　but they get a whole lot worse between Jobs and Scully.

　　但乔布斯和斯考利之间的关系却逐步恶化

　　By early 1985, the two aren't even talking.

　　1985年初 二人甚至互不搭理

　　I got them together to try to resolve the issue.

　　我把他们叫到一起 试着让他们和解

　　At that meeting Steve got very emotional,

　　那次会议上 史蒂夫情绪波动很大

　　he actually started crying and I started to look at Scully,

　　几度落泪 而我发现斯考利

　　sort of steel eyes that he saw weakness in Steve that he probably would use against him.

　　却冷眼看穿史蒂夫的弱点 并利用这些弱点对付他

　　And I believe he went to the board and said,

　　我想他肯定告诉董事会

　　this guy is unstable⁵ and so we need to take action here.

　　史蒂夫靠不住 应该采取一些措施

　　Sooner or later, titans are going to clash.

　　二虎相争 必有一伤

　　Something's got to give,

　　肯定会出现牺牲品

　　and what gave was Steve Jobs.

　　而被丢弃的正是史蒂夫·乔布斯

　　Out the window he went.

　　他退出了苹果的舞台

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

4 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

5 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。