乔布斯传 第158期:麦金塔的宣传发布

 January 24, 1984

1984年1月24日

On the morning that he and his teammates completed the software for the Macintosh,

和同事完成麦金塔软件的那个早晨，

Andy Hertzfeld had gone home exhausted¹ and expected to stay in bed for at least a day.

安迪·赫茨菲尔德到家时已筋疲力尽，他想，自己或许会在床上至少躺上一天。

But that afternoon, after only six hours of sleep, he drove back to the office.

但是当天下午，仅仅睡了6个小时后，他就开车回到了办公室。

He wanted to check in to see if there had been any problems, and most of his colleagues had done the same.

他想要确认软件是否存在任何问题，而大多数同事也和他一样。

They were lounging around, dazed but excited, when Jobs walked in.

乔布斯走进来时，他们正躺在地板上，昏昏沉沉但又兴奋不已。

"Hey, pick yourselves up off the floor, you're not done yet!" he announced. "We need a demo for the intro!"

“嘿，赶紧起来，还没完呢！”他说道，“我们需要为麦金塔电脑做一个演示！”

His plan was to dramatically unveil the Macintosh in front of a large audience

乔布斯计划在一大群观众面前戏剧性地掲开麦金的面纱，

and have it show off some of its features to the inspirational theme from Chariots of Fire.

并且想在电影《烈火战车》鼓舞人心的主题曲中，向人们展示机器的特性。

麦金塔的宣传发布

"It needs to be done by the weekend, to be ready for the rehearsals," he added.

“这周末就要完成，为预演作好准备。”他补充道。

They all groaned³, Hertzfeld recalled, "but as we talked we realized that it would be fun to cook up something impressive."

赫茨菲尔德回忆说，办公室里的人听了他的话都呻吟起来，“但是我们讨论了一阵子就意识到，如果能做出令人印象深刻的东西，肯定很有意思。”

The launch event was scheduled for the Apple annual stockholders' meeting on January 24-- eight days away--at the Flint Auditorium⁴ of De Anza Community College.

麦金塔的发布仪式定在8天之后的1月24日，与苹果年度股东大会同期举行，地点在迪安扎社区学院的弗林特礼堂。

The television ad and the frenzy⁵ of press preview stories were the first two components⁷

除了电视广告和疯狂的媒体预热，发布仪式也是其新产品发布的一个组成部分

in what would become the Steve Jobs playbook for making the introduction of a new product seem like an epochal moment in world history.

乔布斯能将新消费产品的发布变成具有划时代意义的时刻，

The third component⁶ was the public unveiling of the product itself, amid fanfare⁸ and flourishes,

产品在一片热闹与喧嚣中正式掲晓，

in front of an audience of adoring faithful mixed with journalists who were primed to be swept up in the excitement.

观众推崇备至，记者也被兴奋席卷。

Hertzfeld pulled off the remarkable⁹ feat² of writing a music player in two days so that the computer could play the Chariots of Fire theme.

赫茨菲尔德完成了一个了不起的壮举--在两天时间内编了一个音乐播放器程序，让电脑能够播放《烈火战车》的主题曲。

But when Jobs heard it, he judged it lousy, so they decided¹⁰ to use a recording¹¹ instead.

但乔布斯听过后觉得很糟糕，于是他们决定用录音代替。

At the same time, Jobs was thrilled with a speech generator¹² that turned text into spoken words with a charming electronic accent,

另一方面，乔布斯完全被语音发生器所折服，这个程序能够将文本转变为迷人的电子语音。

and he decided to make it part of the demo.

他决定以此作为演示的一部分:

"I want the Macintosh to be the first computer to introduce itself!" he insisted.

“我要麦金塔成为第一台可以自我介绍的电脑！”

1 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

2 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

3 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

5 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

6 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

7 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

8 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

9 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。

10 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。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。