乔布斯传 第150期:真正的艺术家总能完成作品

 Real Artists Ship

真正的艺术家总能完成作品

The high point of the October 1983 Apple sales conference in Hawaii was a skit¹ based on a TV show called The Dating Game.

1983年10月，苹果公司在夏威夷举行销售会议，乔布斯上演了一出根据电视节目《约会游戏》改编的小品剧，掀起了会议的髙潮。

Jobs played emcee, and his three contestants², whom he had convinced to fly to Hawaii,

乔布斯扮演主持人，三位“单身汉嘉宾”

were Bill Gates and two other software executives, Mitch Kapor and Fred Gibbons.

分别是比尔·盖茨和另外两位软件领域的高管--米切尔·卡普尔与弗雷德·吉本斯。

As the show's jingly³ theme song played, the three took their stools.

开场音乐演奏完毕，三位嘉宾就座并进行自我介绍。

Gates, looking like a high school sophomore⁴, got wild applause from the 750 Apple salesmen when he said,

盖茨看上去就像个髙二的学生，他的言论使得台下750名苹果销售人员对他的话报以热烈掌声。

"During 1984, Microsoft expects to get half of its revenues from software for the Macintosh."

“微软期望1984年全年收入的一半都来自为麦金塔电脑研发的软件”。

Jobs, clean-shaven and bouncy, gave a toothy smile

乔布斯胡子刮得很干净，精神饱满，

and asked if he thought that the Macintosh's new operating system would become one of the industry's new standards.

他笑着问盖茨是否认为麦金塔电脑的新操作系统会成为行业的新标准之一。

双语有声读物 乔布斯传

Gates answered, "To create a new standard takes not just making something that's a little bit different,

盖茨答道：“要创建新标准并非只做出一点不同的东西就够了，

it takes something that's really new and captures people's imagination.

而是需要真正全新且能抓住人们想象力的东西。

And the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard."

在我见过的所有机器中，只有麦金塔电脑符合这一标准。”

But even as Gates was speaking, Microsoft was edging away from being primarily a collaborator⁵ with Apple to being more of a competitor.

尽管盖茨当时如此表示，但是微软正逐渐褪去苹果主要合作者的身份，而更多地以竞争对手的姿态出现。

It would continue to make application software, like Microsoft Word, for Apple,

微软仍将继续为苹果公司编写应用软件，如Word，

but a rapidly increasing share of its revenue would come from the operating system it had written for the IBM personal computer.

但是其快速增长的那部分收入则来自为IBM个人电脑所编写的操作系统。

The year before, 279,000 Apple IIs were sold, compared to 240,000 IBM PCs and its clones.

1982年，苹果个人电脑Apple II的销量为27.9万台，IBM个人电脑及其同类产品共售出24万台。

But the figures for 1983 were coming in starkly⁶ different: 420,000 Apple IIs versus⁷ 1.3 million IBMs and its clones.

1983年的数据则呈现了大逆转：Apple II电脑销量42万台，IBM个人电脑及其同类产品销量130万台，

And both the Apple III and the Lisa were dead in the water.

而Apple III电脑和丽萨电脑都彻底失败。

Just when the Apple sales force was arriving in Hawaii, this shift was hammered home on the cover of Business Week.

就在苹果销售人员抵达夏威夷参加销售会议时，《商业周刊》当期的封面报道凸显了这一形势转变，

Its headline: "Personal Computers: And the Winner Is...IBM."

其标题为：“个人电脑：赢家是……IBM”。

The story inside detailed⁸ the rise of the IBM PC.

文章详细介绍了IBM个人电脑的崛起。

"The battle for market supremacy⁹ is already over," the magazine declared.

“对市场主导杈的争夺已经结束，”《商业周刊》宣布，

"In a stunning¹⁰ blitz, IBM has taken more than 26% of the market in two years,

“通过惊人的闪电出击，IBM用两年的时间获取了超过26%的个人电脑市场份额。

and is expected to account for half the world market by 1985.

同时预计到1985年，该公司将占领全球一半的市场。

An additional 25% of the market will be turning out IBM-compatible machines."

IBM兼容机则将占据25%的市场份额。”

1 skit   

n.滑稽短剧；一群

参考例句：

• The comic skIt sent up the foolishness of young men in love.那幅画把沉溺于热恋中的青年男子的痴态勾勒得滑稽可笑。
• They performed a skit to amuse the crowd.他们表演了一个幽默小品来娱乐观众。

2 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jingly   

叮玲响的

参考例句：

• Raindrops click jingly on the vent-pipes, beating cracklingly the roof of the yard. 雨点把排气管敲得叮叮当当，把院子顶棚打得噼噼啪啪。

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 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

6 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

10 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。