乔布斯传 第108期:现实扭曲力场

 Playing by His Own Set of Rules

以自己的游戏规则行事

When Andy Hertzfeld joined the Macintosh team, he got a briefing from Bud Tribble,

安迪·赫茨菲尔德加入Mac团队后，另一名软件设计师巴德·特里布尔

the other software designer, about the huge amount of work that still needed to be done.

给他介绍了项目的基本情况，让他知道了还有大量工作尚未完成

Jobs wanted it finished by January 1982, less than a year away.

乔布斯希望项目能在1982年1月之前完工，也就是说只有不到一年时间。

"That's crazy," Hertzfeld said. "There's no way."

“这太疯狂了，”赫茨菲尔德指出，“不可能的。”

Tribble said that Jobs would not accept any contrary facts.

特里布尔说，乔布斯是不能接受违背自己意愿的事情发生的。

"The best way to describe the situation is a term from Star Trek¹," Tribble explained.

“能最好地形容这种情况的就是《星际迷航》里的一个术语”，特里布尔解释道，

"Steve has a reality distortion field."

“史蒂夫拥有现实扭曲力场。”

When Hertzfeld looked puzzled, Tribble elaborated.

赫茨菲尔德有些疑惑，特里布尔便进一步解释道：

"In his presence, reality is malleable². He can convince anyone of practically anything.

“有他在的时候，现实都是可塑的。他能让任何人相信几乎任何事情。

It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules."

等他不在的时候，这种力场就会逐渐消失，但这种力场让我们很难作出符合实际的计划。”

Tribble recalled that he adopted the phrase from the "Menagerie" episodes of Star Trek,

特里布尔回忆说，自己是从《星际迷航》中著名的一集——“宇宙动物园”中学来的这个短语，

"in which the aliens create their own new world through sheer mental force."

“在那一集中，外星人通过极致的精神力量建造了新世界。”

He meant the phrase to be a compliment as well as a caution:

他说他使用这个短语既是一种称赞，也是一种警示。

"It was dangerous to get caught in Steve's distortion field,

“陷入史蒂夫的扭曲力场中是一件很危险的事情，

but it was what led him to actually be able to change reality."

但也正是这种力场让他可以真正地改变现实。”

At first Hertzfeld thought that Tribble was exaggerating,

起初，赫茨菲尔德认为特里布尔一定是夸张了。

but after two weeks of working with Jobs, he became a keen observer of the phenomenon.

但在对乔布斯进行了两个星期的观察后，他有了切身感受。

"The reality distortion field was a confounding melange³ of a charismatic rhetorical style,

“现实扭曲力场是几种因素的混合物，其中包含了极富魅力的措辞风格、

indomitable will, and eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand," he said.

不屈的意志和让现实屈从于自己意图的热切渴望，”他说，

There was little that could shield you from the force, Hertzfeld discovered.

赫茨菲尔德还发现，没有人可以避开这股力量的影响。

"Amazingly, the reality distortion field seemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it.

“让人惊奇的是，即使你敏锐地意识到了现实扭曲力场，它还是可以在你身上产生作用，”他说，

We would often discuss potential techniques for grounding it,

“我们经常讨论有没有方法可以屏蔽这个力场，

but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force of nature."

但一段时间之后，大多数人都放弃了，只能认为它是一种自然力量。”

After Jobs decreed that the sodas⁴ in the office refrigerator be replaced by Odwalla organic orange and carrot juices,

有一次乔布斯宣布，办公室冰箱里的苏打水都会被替换成奥德瓦拉牌的有机橙汁和胡萝卜汁，

someone on the team had T-shirts made.

之后团队里就有人制作了一批T恤，

"Reality Distortion Field," they said on the front, and on the back, "It's in the juice!"

前面写着“现实扭曲力场'背后写着“它藏在果汁里！”

1 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

2 malleable   

adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的

参考例句：

• Silver is the most malleable of all metals.银是延展性最好的金属。
• Scientists are finding that the adult human brain is far more malleable than they once thought.科学家发现成人大脑的可塑性远超过他们之前认识到的。

3 melange   

n.混合物；大杂烩

参考例句：

• Usa is a cultural melange.美国是个文化大熔炉。
• That aong is a successful melange of music styles,from soul and rhythm and blues to rap.那首歌是从灵乐、节奏布鲁斯到说唱等各种音乐风格的成功组合。

4 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句