乔布斯传 第73期:惊艳亮相

 The First Launch Event

首次盛大的产品发布会

The introduction of the Apple II was scheduled to coincide with the first West Coast Computer Faire,

Apple II 的发布时间被设定为与首届西海岸电脑展览会同步。

to be held in April 1977 in San Francisco, organized by a Homebrew stalwart, Jim Warren.

该展会将于1977年4月在旧金山举办。展会的组织者是一名家酿计算机俱乐部的中坚会员--吉姆·沃伦，

Jobs signed Apple up for a booth as soon as he got the information packet.

乔布斯在得到展会的信息之后立刻为苹果公司预定了一个展位。

He wanted to secure a location right at the front of the hall as a dramatic way to launch the Apple II, and so he shocked Wozniak by paying $5,000 in advance.

他想确保得到展厅最前端的位置，这样就可以用最盛大的方式来发布Apple II ，于是他预先支付了5000 美元，这让沃兹大感震惊。

"Steve decided¹ that this was our big launch," said Wozniak.

"史蒂夫认为这是我们的重要发布，"沃兹尼亚克说，

"We would show the world we had a great machine and a great company."

"我们要让全世界知道，我们有很棒的电脑，我们是一家很棒的公司。"

It was an application of Markkula's admonition that it was important to "impute²" your greatness by making a memorable³ impression on people, especially when launching a new product.

这是马库拉的营销准则的一次实际应用：通过给人们留下深刻的印象从而把你和产品的卓越品质 "灌输 " 给他们，这是至关重要的一点，尤其是发布新产品的时候。

That was reflected in the care that Jobs took with Apple's display area.

这也反映在了乔布斯对苹果公司的展示区域所下的工夫上。

Other exhibitors had card tables and poster board signs.

其他的参展商用的都是普通的桌子和硬纸板做的牌子。

Apple had a counter draped in black velvet⁴ and a large pane⁵ of backlit Plexiglas with Janoff's new logo.

苹果则用上了盖着黑色天鹅绒的柜台，和一大块背光式的有机玻璃，上面印着雅诺夫新设计的标识。

They put on display the only three Apple IIs that had been finished, but empty boxes were piled up to give the impression that there were many more on hand.

他们展示的是仅有的三台 Apple II成品，但在周围堆满了空的包装箱，这样就显得他们拥有充足的存货。

Jobs was furious that the computer cases had arrived with tiny blemishes⁶ on them, so he had his handful of employees sand and polish them.

送到展会的电脑箱子上都有细小的污点，这让乔布斯大为光火，他让为数不多的几名员工把这些污点都打磨掉。

The imputing⁷ even extended to gussying up Jobs and Wozniak.

"灌输"工作甚至还扩展到了给乔布斯和沃兹尼亚克穿衣打扮上。

Markkula sent them to a San Francisco tailor for three-piece suits, which looked faintly ridiculous on them, like tuxes on teenagers.

马库拉让他们去见一个旧金山的裁缝，定做了三件套西装，但他们穿上之后显得很滑稽，就好像小孩子穿着晚礼服一样。

"Markkula explained how we would all have to dress up nicely, how we should appear and look, how we should act," Wozniak recalled.

"马库拉解释了我们必须怎样盛装打扮，以怎样的形象登台亮相，以及怎样举手投足。"沃兹尼亚克回忆说。

It was worth the effort.

这些努力是值得的。

The Apple II looked solid yet friendly in its sleek⁸ beige case, unlike the intimidating⁹ metal-clad machines and naked boards on the other tables.

置于漂亮的米黄色箱子内的 Apple II显得既牢固结实又亲切友好，完全不像其他展台上那些镀着金属的丑陋机器或者干脆裸露的电路板。

Apple got three hundred orders at the show, and Jobs met a Japanese textile maker¹⁰, Mizushima Satoshi, who became Apple's first dealer¹¹ in Japan.

苹果在这次展会上接到了300份订单，乔布斯还遇到了一个日本的纺织品制造商水岛聪，后来这个人成为了苹果在日本的第一位经销商。

The fancy clothes and Markkula's injunctions could not, however, stop the irrepressible Wozniak from playing some practical jokes.

然而，华丽的服装和马库拉的谆谆教导都无法阻止闲不住的沃兹槁些恶作剧。他

One program that he displayed tried to guess people's nationality from their last name and then produced the relevant ethnic¹² jokes.

展示的一个程序，会根据人们的姓氏来猜测国籍，然后冒出一些跟种族有关的笑话。

He also created and distributed a hoax¹³ brochure for a new computer called the "Zaltair,"

他还自己印制并分发恶作剧的小册子，介绍一种新型的名叫扎尔泰的电脑，

with all sorts of fake ad-copy superlatives like "Imagine a car with five wheels."

附上了各种从别的广告上抄来的夸张言辞，诸如"想象一辆有5个轮子的汽车 ……"

Jobs briefly¹⁴ fell for the joke and even took pride that the Apple II stacked up well against the Zaltair in the comparison chart.

乔布斯轻易地信以为真，甚至还因为Apple II在和扎尔泰的对比中不相上下而颇感自豪。

He didn't realize who had pulled the prank¹⁵ until eight years later, when Woz gave him a framed copy of the brochure as a birthday gift.

直到8年后，沃兹将一份镶了框的宣传册送给乔布斯做生日礼物，他才意识到当年是谁制造了这场闹剧。

重点讲解：

1.coincide with 与…一致

例句：The new goal is not always coincide with recent policy.

新目标不总是与现有政策相一致。

2.sign up for 预定；注册；参加

例句：Her teacher encouraged her to sign up for the English speech contest.

老师鼓励她参加英语演讲比赛。

3.pile up 堆起来

例句：Casually¹⁶ for a few code into a pile up to see whether the same size .

随便取几块码成一摞，看看大小是否一样。

4.gussy up 打扮

例句：She is well turned out, while I have been known to use a kitchen sponge to gussy up my pants for work.

她穿的很漂亮，而我是出了名的会用厨房的海绵来打理工作时穿的裤子。

1 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。

2 impute   

v.归咎于

参考例句：

• I impute his failure to laziness.我把他的失败归咎于他的懒惰。
• It is grossly unfair to impute blame to the United Nations.把责任归咎于联合国极其不公。

3 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

4 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

5 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

6 blemishes   

n.（身体的）瘢点( blemish的名词复数 )；伤疤；瑕疵；污点

参考例句：

• make-up to cover blemishes 遮盖霜
• The blemishes of ancestors appear. 祖先的各种瑕疵都渐渐显露出来。 来自辞典例句

7 imputing   

v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的现在分词 )

参考例句：

8 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

9 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

10 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

11 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

12 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。

13 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

14 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

15 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

16 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。