乔布斯传 第14期:上学(2)

 　　She reciprocated¹ by getting him a hobby kit² for grinding a lens and making a camera.

　　她会帮他弄到一些小工具，让他可以做些打磨镜头、制作相机之类的事情。

　　“I learned more from her than any other teacher, and if it hadn’t been for her I’m sure I would have gone to jail.”

　　“我从她身上学到的东西比从其他任何老师那儿学到的都要多，如果没有她的话，我一定会坐牢的。”

　　It reinforced, once again, the idea that he was special.

　　这再一次印证了乔布斯是个特殊的孩子。

　　“In my class, it was just me she cared about. She saw something in me.”

　　“在我们班，她只关心我一个人。她在我身上看到了一些东西。”

　　It was not merely intelligence that she saw. Years later she liked to show off a picture of that year’s class on Hawaii Day.

　　她看到的不仅是乔布斯的智慧。多年后，她很喜欢展示当年的班级在“夏威夷日”拍的一张照片。

　　Jobs had shown up without the suggested Hawaiian shirt, but in the picture he is front and center wearing one.

　　那天乔布斯出现的时候没有按要求穿夏威夷衫，但在照片中，他穿着一件夏威夷衫坐在前排中央。

　　He had, literally³, been able to talk the shirt off another kid’s back. Near the end of fourth grade, Mrs. Hill had Jobs tested.

　　原来，他成功说服另一个孩子把自己的衣服脱下来给了他。四年级快结束时，希尔夫人给乔布斯作了测试。

　　“I scored at the high school sophomore⁴ level,” he recalled.

　　“我的得分是髙中二年级水平。”他回忆说。

　　Now that it was clear, not only to himself and his parents but also to his teachers, that he was intellectually special,

　　不光是他自己和他的父母，连老师们也发现了，他在智力上真的是非常特别，

　　the school made the remarkable⁵ proposal that he skip two grades and go right into seventh; it would be the easiest way to keep him challenged and stimulated⁶.

　　学校允许他连跳两级，直接升入七年级。这也是可以让他挑战自我并受到激励最简单的方法了。

　　His parents decided⁷, more sensibly, to have him skip only one grade.

　　他的父母明智地决定让他只跳一级。

　　The transition was wrenching⁸. He was a socially awkward loner who found himself with kids a year older.

　　这样一种过渡有些突然。这个有点儿社交障碍的不合群的孩子发现自己身处一群比自己大一岁的人中间。

　　Worse yet, the sixth grade was in a different school, Crittenden Middle.

　　更糟糕的是，他读六年级的地方是另一所学校：克里滕登中学。

　　It was only eight blocks from Monta Loma Elementary, but in many ways it was a world apart, located in a neighborhood filled with ethnic⁹ gangs.

　　这所学校离原来的蒙塔·洛马小学不过八条街之隔，但在很多方面这里就像另一个世界，这所学校地处一个充斥着少数族裔帮派的社区。

　　“Fights were a daily occurrence; as were shakedowns in bathrooms,” wrote the Silicon¹⁰ Valley journalist Michael S. Malone.

　　“打架几乎天天发生，厕所里的敲诈也是如此，”硅谷记者迈克尔·S·马隆（Michael S.Malone)这样写道，

　　“Knives were regularly brought to school as a show of macho.”

　　“学生们经常把刀带到学校来展现自己的男子气概。”

　　Around the time that Jobs arrived, a group of students were jailed for a gang rape¹¹,

　　乔布斯到这里的时候，一群学生刚因为轮奸而被监禁，

　　and the bus of a neighboring school was destroyed after its team beat Crittenden’s in a wrestling match.

　　隔壁学校因为在一场摔跤比赛中打败了克里滕登而导致己方的校车被毁。

　　Jobs was often bullied¹², and in the middle of seventh grade he gave his parents an ultimatum¹³.

　　乔布斯经常被欺负，到七年级上到一半的时候，他给父母下达了最后通牒。

　　“I insisted they put me in a different school,” he recalled. Financially this was a tough demand.

　　“我坚持要他们送我去别的学校。”他回忆说。这在经济上对他的父母来说是个艰难的挑战。

　　His parents were barely making ends meet, but by this point there was little doubt that they would eventually bend to his will.

　　当时他们家勉强能够收支平衡。但那样的时刻，毫无疑问，父母最终一定会满足他的意愿。

　　“When they resisted, I told them I would just quit going to school if I had to go back to Crittenden.

　　“他们一开始反对，我就告诉他们，如果要我回到克里滕登的话，我就再也不上学了。

　　So they researched where the best schools were and scraped together every dime¹⁴ and bought a house for $21,000 in a nicer district.”

　　所以他们就调查了一下最好的学校在哪里，然后倾尽所有，在一个更好的地区，花21 000美元买下了一座房子。”

　　The move was only three miles to the south, to a former apricot orchard¹⁵ in Los Altos that had been turned into a subdivision of cookie-cutter tract¹⁶ homes.

　　这趟搬家仅仅是向南移了3英里，来到了南洛斯阿尔托斯(South Los Altos)一处由杏树果园改造成的毫无特色的居民区。

　　Their house, at 2066 Crist Drive, was one story with three bedrooms and an all-important attached garage with a roll-down door facing the street.

　　他们的新家位于克莱斯特路2066号，是一栋平房，有三间卧室，以及一个面朝马路、带卷帘门、设施齐全的车库。

1 reciprocated   

v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动

参考例句：

• Her passion for him was not reciprocated. 她对他的热情没有得到回应。
• Their attraction to each other as friends is reciprocated. 作为朋友，他们相互吸引着对方。 来自辞典例句

2 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

3 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。

4 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 wrenching   

n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• China has been through a wrenching series of changes and experiments. 中国经历了一系列艰苦的变革和试验。 来自辞典例句
• A cold gust swept across her exposed breast, wrenching her back to reality. 一股寒气打击她的敞开的胸膛，把她从梦幻的境地中带了回来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

11 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

12 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

14 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

15 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

16 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。