乔布斯传 第5期:童年,被遗弃和被选择(1)

 　　The Adoption¹

　　领养

　　When Paul Jobs was mustered² out of the Coast Guard after World War II, he made a wager³ with his crewmates.

　　第二次世界大战后，保罗·乔布斯从海岸警卫队退伍时，与他的队员们打了一个赌。

　　They had arrived in San Francisco, where their ship was decommissioned, and Paul bet that he would find himself a wife within two weeks.

　　他们到达旧金山，在这里，他们的舰船退役了，保罗打赌说他要在两周之内给自己找到一个妻子。

　　He was a taut⁴, tattooed⁵ engine mechanic, six feet tall, with a passing resemblance to James Dean.

　　他是个肌肉发达、有着文身的引擎机械师，6英尺高，长相酷似詹姆斯·迪恩（James Dean)。

　　But it wasn't his looks that got him a date with Clara Hagopian, a sweet-humored daughter of Armenian immigrants.

　　他约到了克拉拉·哈戈皮安 （Clara Hagopian),一个出身亚美尼亚移民家庭的甜美风趣的女孩子。

　　It was the fact that he and his friends had a car, unlike the group she had originally planned to go out with that evening.

　　女孩看上的并不是他的容貌，而是他和他的朋友们可以使用一辆轿车，这是她当晚原计划的出行对象们做不到的。

　　Ten days later, in March 1946, Paul got engaged to Clara and won his wager.

　　10 天以后，1946年3月，保罗与克拉拉订婚，同时也赢得了他的赌注。

　　It would turn out to be a happy marriage, one that lasted until death parted them more than forty years later.

　　事实证明这是一段幸福的婚姻，两人厮守了 40 多年，直至死亡将他们分开。

　　Paul Reinhold Jobs had been raised on a dairy farm in Germantown, Wisconsin.

　　保罗·莱因霍尔德·乔布斯（Paul Rdnhold Jobs )在威斯康星州日耳曼敦的一家奶牛场长大。

　　Even though his father was an alcoholic⁶ and sometimes abusive, Paul ended up with a gentle and calm disposition⁷ under his leathery exterior⁸.

　　尽管父亲是个酒鬼，有时候还会虐待他，但在保罗粗犷的外表下还是有着一颗温柔宁静的心。

　　After dropping out of high school, he wandered through the Midwest picking up work as a mechanic until,

　　髙中退学后，他穿梭于中西部地区，做着机械师的工作，

　　at age nineteen, he joined the Coast Guard, even though he didn't know how to swim.

　　直到 19 岁那年加入海岸警卫队,虽然他并不会游泳。

　　He was deployed⁹ on the USS General M. C. Meigs and spent much of the war ferrying troops to Italy for General Patton.

　　他被安排在美国海军的梅格斯号运兵船（USS M.C. Meigs) 上，战争中的大多数时间都在为巴顿将军向意大利运输部队。

　　His talent as a machinist and fireman earned him commendations, but he occasionally found himself in minor¹⁰ trouble and never rose above the rank of seaman¹¹.

　　他作为一名机械师和锅炉工的天赋为他赢得了不少奖励，但他偶尔也会惹上一点儿小麻烦，所以军衔从来没有高过一等兵。

　　Clara was born in New Jersey¹², where her parents had landed after fleeing the Turks in Armenia,

　　克拉拉出生在新泽西州，这里也是她的父母逃离土耳其控制下的亚美尼亚之后落脚的地方。

　　and they moved to the Mission District of San Francisco when she was a child.

　　在她童年时，全家搬到了旧金山的米申区。

　　She had a secret that she rarely mentioned to anyone: She had been married before,but her husband had been killed in the war.

　　她有一个很少对外提及的秘密：她曾经结过婚，但她的丈夫在战争中身亡了。

　　So when she met Paul Jobs on that first date, she was primed to start a new life.

　　所以当她第一次和保罗约会时，心中已经准备好迎接崭新的生活了。

　　Like many who lived through the war, they had experienced enough excitement that, when it was over,

　　如同许多经历过战争的人一样，他们已经经历了太多的刺激，所以当战争结束之后，

　　they desired simply to settle down, raise a family, and lead a less eventful life.

　　他们渴望安定下来，生儿育女，过平静的生活。

　　They had little money, so they moved to Wisconsin and lived with Paul's parents for a few years, then headed for Indiana,

　　他们没有多少钱，所以搬到威斯康星州与保罗的父母一起居住了几年，然后又去了印第安纳州，

　　where he got a job as a machinist for International Harvester.

　　在那里，保罗找到了一份工作——在国际收割机公司（International Harvester)做机械师。

　　His passion was tinkering with old cars, and he made money in his spare time buying, restoring, and selling them.

　　他喜欢修理汽车，业余时间他靠买下旧车，修好后再卖出去赚钱。

　　Eventually he quit his day job to become a full-time¹³ used car salesman.

　　最终，他辞去了工作，成了一名全职的二手车商人。

　　Clara, however, loved San Francisco, and in 1952 she convinced her husband to move back there.

　　然而，克拉拉深爱着旧金山。1952 年，她终于说服丈夫，全家搬回了旧金山。

　　They got an apartment in the Sunset District facing the Pacific, just south of Golden Gate Park,

　　他们在日落区买下了一套公寓，地处金门公园南端，面朝太平洋。

　　and he took a job working for a finance company as a "repo man," picking the locks of cars whose owners hadn't paid their loans and repossessing them.

　　保罗在一家信贷公司找到了一份 “回收人” 的工作----撬开不能偿还贷款的车主的车锁，将车拖回，重新处置。

　　He also bought, repaired, and sold some of the cars, making a decent enough living in the process.

　　有时候他也会买下这样的车，修好后出售，靠赚到的钱过着小康生活。

　　There was, however, something missing in their lives.

　　但他们的生活中却始终缺少一样东西。

　　They wanted children, but Clara had suffered an ectopic pregnancy¹⁴, in which the fertilized¹⁵ egg was implanted in a fallopian tube rather than the uterus, and she had been unable to have any.

　　他们想要孩子，但克拉拉经历过一次宫外孕而丧失了生育能力。

　　So by 1955, after nine years of marriage, they were looking to adopt a child.

　　到1955年，在结婚9年后，他们开始寻求领养一个孩子。

1 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

2 mustered   

v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发

参考例句：

• We mustered what support we could for the plan. 我们极尽所能为这项计划寻求支持。
• The troops mustered on the square. 部队已在广场上集合。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wager   

n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌

参考例句：

• They laid a wager on the result of the race.他们以竞赛的结果打赌。
• I made a wager that our team would win.我打赌我们的队会赢。

4 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

5 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

7 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

8 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

9 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

11 seaman   

n.海员，水手，水兵

参考例句：

• That young man is a experienced seaman.那个年轻人是一个经验丰富的水手。
• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。

12 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

14 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

15 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。