乔布斯传 第64期:苹果二代风暴(2)

 In September Chuck Peddle¹ of the Commodore computer company came by the Jobs house to get a demo.

9月，康懋达电脑公司的查克·佩德尔来到乔布斯家中观看他的演示。

"We'd opened Steve's garage to the sunlight, and he came in wearing a suit and a cowboy hat," Wozniak recalled.

“我们打开了史蒂夫家的车库门，让阳光照射进来，查克走了进来，穿着西装，戴着牛仔帽。”沃兹回忆道。

Peddle loved the Apple II, and he arranged a presentation for his top brass² a few weeks later at Commodore headquarters.

佩德尔非常喜欢Apple II，他于数周后在公司总部为高层人员安排了一场演示。

"You might want to buy us for a few hundred thousand dollars," Jobs said when they got there.

“你也许有兴趣花几十万买下我们公司。”乔布斯到那儿后说了这样一句话。

Wozniak was stunned³ by this "ridiculous" suggestion, but Jobs persisted.

沃兹尼亚克记得当时自己被这个“荒唐的”建议惊得目瞪口呆，但乔布斯坚持要这么做。

The Commodore honchos called a few days later to say they had decided⁴ it would be cheaper to build their own machine.

几天之后，康懋达公司打来电话说，他们认为研发自己的电脑更加省钱。

Jobs was not upset.

乔布斯并不沮丧，

He had checked out Commodore and decided that its leadership was "sleazy."

他全面考察了康懋达公司后，认为该公司的管理层太“卑劣”了。

Wozniak did not rue⁵ the lost money,

沃兹尼亚克对于失去了这笔投资并不感到遗憾，

but his engineering sensibilities were offended when the company came out with the Commodore PET nine months later.

但是当99个月后，该公司推出了他们自己的电脑“Commodore PET”的时候，他作为一名工程师，在感情上受到了极大的伤害。

"It kind of sickened me. They made a real crappy product by doing it so quick.

“那玩意儿让我觉得恶心，”他说，“他们太急于求成了，所以做出这么一个蹩脚的产品。

They could have had Apple."

他们本来可以拥有苹果的。”

The Commodore flirtation⁶ brought to the surface a potential conflict between Jobs and Wozniak:

对康懋达公司的这次出售未果也让一直暗藏在乔布斯与沃兹尼亚克间的冲突浮出水面：

Were they truly equal in what they contributed to Apple and what they should get out of it?

他们对苹果公司的贡献真的一样多吗？他们之间的利益又该如何分配？

Jerry Wozniak, who exalted⁷ the value of engineers over mere⁸ entrepreneurs and marketers,

杰里·沃兹尼亚克一直都认为工程师的价值要远超过企业家和营销人员，

thought most of the money should be going to his son.

他觉得大多数钱都应该归他儿子所有。

He confronted Jobs personally when he came by the Wozniak house.

乔布斯来家里作客时，杰里当面向他提出了自己的不满。

"You don't deserve shit," he told Jobs.

“你不配得到这么多”，他告诉乔布斯，

"You haven't produced anything." Jobs began to cry, which was not unusual.

“你没有做出过任何产品。”乔布斯哭了起来，这在他身上是很常见的事情。

He had never been, and would never be, adept⁹ at containing his emotions.

他一直都不擅长控制自己的情绪--以后也不会擅长。

He told Steve Wozniak that he was willing to call off the partnership¹⁰.

乔布斯告诉沃兹尼亚克，愿意停止他们的合作关系。

"If we're not fifty-fifty," he said to his friend,

“如果我们不能对半分账的话，”他对自己的朋友说，

"you can have the whole thing."

“你可以全部收为己有。”

Wozniak, however, understood better than his father the symbiosis¹¹ they had.

然而，沃兹尼亚克比自己的父亲更加了解自己与乔布斯之间的共生关系。

If it had not been for Jobs, he might

如果不是乔布斯的话，

still be handing out schematics of his boards for free at the back of Homebrew meetings.

他可能还在家酿计算机俱乐部的会议上免费发放自己设计的电路板的原理图，

It was Jobs who had turned his ingenious designs into a budding business, just as he had with the Blue Box.

是乔布斯将他的技术工程天赋转化成了蓬勃发展的生意，正如当年的蓝盒子一样。

He agreed they should remain partners.

他同意继续保持合作关系。

It was a smart call.

这是个明智的决定。

To make the Apple II successful required more than just Wozniak's awesome¹² circuit design.

要想让Apple II取得成功，需要的不仅仅是沃兹尼亚克杰出的电路设计能力。

It would need to be packaged into a fully¹³ integrated consumer product,

Apple II需要成为一台完整的全功能消费产品，

and that was Jobs's role.

这就需要乔布斯施展拳脚了。

He began by asking their erstwhile partner Ron Wayne to design a case.

他第一步便是请以前的合伙人罗恩·韦恩设计一个箱子。

"I assumed they had no money,

“我想他们没什么钱，

so I did one that didn't require any tooling and could be fabricated in a standard metal shop," he said.

于是我就做了一款不需要使用工具加工的箱子，普通的五金商店就能制造出来。”他说。

His design called for a Plexiglas cover attached by metal straps¹⁴ and a rolltop door that slid down over the keyboard.

他的设计结果出来了：一个有机玻璃制成的壳子，附带有金属条以及一扇可以盖住键盘的卷门。

重点讲解：

1.top brass 领导层

例句：Apparently¹⁵, all the company's top brass, from Lord Stokes downwards¹⁶, agreed.

很明显，该公司的所有高级官员，以斯托克斯勋爵为首，一直往下，全都同意。

2.be stunned by 惊叹于;被吓呆

例句：We, the generation brought up under the Red Bannet, being too simple to be riotous¹⁷, are stunned by the bizarre and motel today.

我们红旗下长大的一代人不乏单纯，缺少斑斓，面对当今的光怪陆离，不免愕然。

3.come out with 提出；出版

例句：They are going to come out with a great, new, dictionary next year.

明年他们将出版一本大型的新词典。

4.adept at 熟练于；善于；擅长

例句：The child is adept at appeasing¹⁸ her parents' anger with a joke or compliment.

这孩子善于以一个玩笑或赞美来平息父母的怒气。

1 peddle   

vt.(沿街)叫卖，兜售；宣传，散播

参考例句：

• She loves to peddle gossip round the village.她喜欢在村里到处说闲话。
• Street vendors peddle their goods along the sidewalk.街头摊贩沿著人行道兜售他们的商品。

2 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

3 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

4 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。

5 rue   

n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔

参考例句：

• You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
• You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。

6 flirtation   

n.调情，调戏，挑逗

参考例句：

• a brief and unsuccessful flirtation with the property market 对房地产市场一时兴起、并不成功的介入
• At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction. 课间休息的时候，汤姆继续和艾美逗乐，一副得意洋洋、心满意足的样子。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

7 exalted   

adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

参考例句：

• Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
• He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。

8 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

9 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 symbiosis   

n.共生（关系），共栖

参考例句：

• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing.他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。
• The symbiosis between social values and political structure has produced extraordinary achievement.社会价值观念和政治结构的共生现象带来了非凡的成就。

12 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

16 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

17 riotous   

adj.骚乱的；狂欢的

参考例句：

• Summer is in riotous profusion.盛夏的大地热闹纷繁。
• We spent a riotous night at Christmas.我们度过了一个狂欢之夜。

18 appeasing   

安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• Mr. Chamberlain had cherished the hope of appeasing and reforming him and leading him to grace. 张伯伦先生则满心想安抚他，感化他，教他温文知礼。
• A pleasing preacher is too often an appeasing preacher. 一昧讨好的传道人通常是姑息妥协的传道人。