乔布斯传 第173期:春风得意(3)

 When Jobs decided¹ to build a state-of-the-art factory in Fremont to manufacture the Macintosh,

乔布斯决定在弗雷蒙建一家最先进的工厂，用以生产麦金塔，

his aesthetic² passions and controlling nature kicked into high gear.

这时他的审美激情和控制天性越发达到极致。

He wanted the machinery³ to be painted in bright hues⁴, like the Apple logo,

他想要把机械设备也涂成明亮的色调，就像苹果的彩虹标志一样。

but he spent so much time going over paint chips that Apple's manufacturing director, Matt Carter,

但是，他在颜色选择上花了太多时间，以至于苹果公司的生产总监马特·卡特

finally just installed them in their usual beige and gray.

最后决定就用原本的米色或灰色。

When Jobs took a tour, he ordered that the machines be repainted in the bright colors he wanted.

乔布斯去工厂参观时，又下令把机器重新喷刷成他想要的鲜艳色彩。

Carter objected; this was precision equipment, and repainting the machines could cause problems.

卡特反对，他认为这都是些精密设备，重新喷刷可能会造成问题。

He turned out to be right.

卡特说的没错。

One of the most expensive machines, which got painted bright blue,

一台最贵的机器被喷成亮蓝色后就再也无法正常工作了，

ended up not working properly and was dubbed⁵ "Steve's folly⁶."

它被人戏称为“史蒂夫的愚作”。

Finally Carter quit.

最后，卡特辞职了。

"It took so much energy to fight him,

“跟他抗争太费精力了，

and it was usually over something so pointless that finally I had enough," he recalled.

而且常常是为一些毫无意义的东西，我受够了。”他回忆道。

Jobs tapped as a replacement⁷ Debi Coleman, the spunky but good-natured Macintosh financial officer

乔布斯找来麦金塔团队的财务主管黛比·科尔曼接任卡特的职位。科尔曼精力充沛、为人和善，

who had once won the team's annual award for the person who best stood up to Jobs.

麦金塔团队有一个对抗乔布斯最佳人物年度大奖，科尔曼曾赢得该奖。

But she knew how to cater⁸ to his whims⁹ when necessary.

但她也知道如何在必要的时候迎合乔布斯的奇想。

When Apple's art director, Clement¹⁰ Mok, informed her that Jobs wanted the walls to be pure white,

苹果公司的艺术总监克莱门特·莫克通知科尔曼说，乔布斯想把墙都刷成纯白色，

she protested, "You can't paint a factory pure white. There's going to be dust and stuff all over."

她反对说：“工厂不能刷成纯白色，那样到处都会是灰尘和脏东西。”

Mok replied, "There's no white that's too white for Steve." She ended up going along.

莫克的回复是：“对乔布斯来说，多白都不过分。”科尔曼最后只好随他去了。

With its pure white walls and its bright blue, yellow, and red machines,

纯白色的墙壁，亮蓝色、黄色或红色的机器，

the factory floor "looked like an Alexander Calder showcase," said Coleman.

整个工厂车间“看上去就像亚历山大·考尔德的作品展”。科尔曼这样描述。

When asked about his obsessive¹¹ concern over the look of the factory,

当被问及为何对工厂的外观如此重视时，

Jobs said it was a way to ensure a passion for perfection:

乔布斯说，这是保证对完美的激情的一种方式：

I'd go out to the factory, and I'd put on a white glove to check for dust.

我会到工厂去，戴上一只白色手套检查灰尘。

I'd find it everywhere--on machines, on the tops of the racks, on the floor.

我发现到处都是灰尘--机器上、机架顶部、地板上，

And I'd ask Debi to get it cleaned.

然后就叫黛比清理。

I told her I thought we should be able to eat off the floor of the factory.

我跟她说，我们要一尘不染，

Well, this drove Debi up the wall. She didn't understand why.

这让黛比非常恼火，她不明白，为什么要这么干净?

And I couldn't articulate it back then.

而我当时也无法说明这个原因。

See, I'd been very influenced by what I'd seen in Japan.

明白吗？在日本所看到的东西对我影响非常大。

Part of what I greatly admired there--and part of what we were lacking in our factory--was a sense of teamwork and discipline.

我十分钦佩日本的一部分原因就在于他们的团队精神和纪律意识，而这也是我们的工厂所缺少的东西。

If we didn't have the discipline to keep that place spotless,

如果我们连保持工厂一尘不染都做不到，

then we weren't going to have the discipline to keep all these machines running.

那么也无法让所有机器都保证运转。

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 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

3 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

4 hues   

色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点

参考例句：

• When the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it. 太阳一出，更把它映得千变万化、异彩缤纷。
• Where maple trees grow, the leaves are often several brilliant hues of red. 在枫树生长的地方，枫叶常常呈现出数种光彩夺目的红色。

5 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

7 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

8 cater   

vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务

参考例句：

• I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
• Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。

9 WHIMS   

虚妄，禅病

参考例句：

• The mate observed regretfully that he could not account for that young fellow's whims. 那位伙伴很遗憾地说他不能说出那年轻人产生怪念头的原因。
• The rest she had for food and her own whims. 剩下的钱她用来吃饭和买一些自己喜欢的东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

10 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

11 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。