乔布斯传 第165期:盖茨与乔布斯(3)

 When the Macintosh was first being developed, Jobs went up to visit Gates at his office near Seattle.

当苹果开始着手研发麦金塔电脑时，乔布斯前去拜访盖茨。

Microsoft had written some applications for the Apple II, including a spreadsheet program called Multiplan,

微软曾为苹果的Apple II电脑编写过一些应用程序，其中包括名为“Multiplan”的电子表格程序。

and Jobs wanted to excite Gates and Co. about doing even more for the forthcoming Macintosh.

这一次，乔布斯想鼓动盖茨和微软为其即将推出的麦金塔电脑编写更多程序。

Sitting in Gates's conference room, Jobs spun¹ an enticing² vision of a computer for the masses,

坐在盖茨位于西雅图华盛顿湖边的会议室中，乔布斯勾画出一幅诱人的图景，

with a friendly interface³, which would be churned out by the millions in an automated⁴ California factory.

加利福尼亚的某家自动化工厂将会大批量生产界面友好的大众电脑。

His description of the dream factory sucking in the California silicon⁵ components⁶

在他的描述中，硅元件被送进工厂，完整的麦金塔电脑鱼贯而出。

and turning out finished Macintoshes caused the Microsoft team to code-name the project "Sand."

微软团队因此给该项目取了个代号，叫“沙”。

They even reverse-engineered it into an acronym⁷, for "Steve's amazing new device."

他们甚至又把它演绎成了一句话的缩略词：史蒂夫的神奇新机器

乔布斯传 比尔盖茨

Gates had launched Microsoft by writing a version of BASIC, a programming language, for the Altair.

盖茨创立微软，是源于为阿尔泰计算机编写BASIC语言版本。

Jobs wanted Microsoft to write a version of BASIC for the Macintosh,

乔布斯希望微软为麦金塔电脑编写BASIC程序

because Wozniak--despite much prodding⁸ by Jobs--had never enhanced his version of the Apple II's BASIC to handle floating-point numbers.

因为尽管乔布斯多次敦促，沃兹尼亚克从未改进Apple II的BASIC语言版本以提髙处理浮点数的能力。

In addition, Jobs wanted Microsoft to write application software--such as word processing and spreadsheet programs--for the Macintosh.

此外，乔布斯还希望微软能为麦金塔电脑编写一些应用软件，如文字处理软件、图表和电子表格程序。

At the time, Jobs was a king and Gates still a courtier:

当时，乔布斯已功成名就，盖茨还只是个跟班：

In 1982 Apple's annual sales were $1 billion, while Microsoft's were a mere⁹ $32 million.

1982年，苹果公司的年销售额达10亿美元，而微软只有3200万美元。

Gates signed on to do graphical versions of a new spreadsheet called Excel, a word-processing program called Word, and BASIC.

盖茨签下了合同，除BASIC程序外，还为苹果公司开发图形界面版本的软件--文字处理程序Word和全新的电子表格软件Excel。

Gates frequently went to Cupertino for demonstrations¹⁰ of the Macintosh operating system, and he was not very impressed.

盖茨经常去库比蒂诺观看麦金塔操作系统的演示，但是并没有多大触动。

"I remember the first time we went down, Steve had this app where it was just things bouncing around on the screen," he said.

“我记得第一次去的时候，史蒂夫运行了一个应用程序，不过就是一些东西在屏幕上跳来跳去，”他回忆说，

"That was the only app that ran."

“这是唯一能够在他们机器上运行的应用程序。”

Gates was also put off by Jobs's attitude.

此外，乔布斯的态度也令盖茨反感。

"It was kind of a weird¹¹ seduction visit, where Steve was saying,

“我们此行有点儿被诱骟的诡异感觉。史蒂夫说，

'We don't really need you and we're doing this great thing, and it's under the cover.'

我们也不是真的需要你们，我们正在做的这个东西很伟大，它还处于保密之中。

He's in his Steve Jobs sales mode, but kind of the sales mode that also says, 'I don't need you, but I might let you be involved.'"

这是他自己惯用的销售方式，潜台词是'我不需要你，但可能会让你参与进来。'”

The Macintosh pirates found Gates hard to take.

麦金塔团队的“海盗们”也觉得盖茨令人难以忍受。

"You could tell that Bill Gates was not a very good listener.

“你会发现，比尔·盖茨不是个很好的听众

He couldn't bear to have anyone explain how something worked to him

他不接受任何人向自己解释某个东西如何运作，

he had to leap ahead instead and guess about how he thought it would work," Hertzfeld recalled.

他要抢在别人前面提出他对这个东西如何运转的推断，猜想他觉得这个是怎么运作的。”赫茨菲尔德回忆道。

They showed him how the Macintosh's cursor moved smoothly¹² across the screen without flickering¹³.

他们向盖茨展示麦金塔电脑的光标如何不闪烁而能在屏幕上流畅地移动。

"What kind of hardware do you use to draw the cursor?" Gates asked.

盖茨发问“你们用什么硬件来绘制光标？”盖茨发问“你们用什么硬件来绘制光标？”

Hertzfeld, who took great pride that they could achieve their functionality solely¹⁴ using software, replied,

赫茨菲尔德感到非常自豪，因为他们只依靠软件就实现了这个功能。他回答说：

"We don't have any special hardware for it!"

“我们没有用任何特殊的硬件！”

Gates insisted that it was necessary to have special hardware to move the cursor that way.

盖茨不信，坚持认为必须有某种特殊硬件的支持，光标才会出现这样的移动效果。

"So what do you say to somebody like that?" Bruce Horn, one of the Macintosh engineers, later said.

麦金塔团队的一位工程师布鲁斯·霍恩后来说：“你还能跟这样的人说什么呢？

"It made it clear to me that Gates was not the kind of person that would understand or appreciate the elegance¹⁵ of a Macintosh."

这件事让我明白，盖茨不是那种能够理解或欣赏麦金塔电脑优雅之处的人。”

1 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

2 enticing   

adj.迷人的；诱人的

参考例句：

• The offer was too enticing to refuse. 这提议太有诱惑力，使人难以拒绝。
• Her neck was short but rounded and her arms plump and enticing. 她的脖子短，但浑圆可爱；两臂丰腴，也很动人。

3 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

4 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 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。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

8 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 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。

10 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

11 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

12 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

13 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

14 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

15 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。