乔布斯传 第174期:春风得意(4)

 One Sunday morning Jobs brought his father to see the factory.

一个周日的早晨，乔布斯把自己的父亲带到了工厂。

Paul Jobs had always been fastidious about making sure that his craftsmanship¹ was exacting² and his tools in order,

保罗·乔布斯一向很讲究，要确保自己的工艺严格，工具摆放整齐；

and his son was proud to show that he could do the same.

史蒂夫很自豪地向父亲展示，自己也能做到这样。

Coleman came along to give the tour. "Steve was, like, beaming," she recalled.

科尔曼当时也陪同参观。“史蒂夫当时高兴得不得了，”她回忆说，

"He was so proud to show his father this creation."

“他很自豪地向他父亲展示自己的这一创造。”

Jobs explained how everything worked, and his father seemed truly admiring.

乔布斯向父亲解释工厂的运作方式，保罗似乎很欣赏。

"He kept looking at his father, who touched everything and loved how clean and perfect everything looked."

“他触摸了每一样东西，非常欣赏这一切干净和完美的程度，乔布斯则一直看着他。”

Things were not quite as sweet when Danielle Mitterrand toured the factory.

不过，当达妮埃尔·密特朗来工厂参观时，气氛就不那么融洽了。

The Cuba-admiring wife of France's socialist³ president Francois Mitterrand asked a lot of questions,

弗朗索瓦·密特朗总统的夫人达妮埃尔对古巴很欣赏，

through her translator, about the working conditions,

通过自己的翻译人员，就工厂的工作条件问了很多问题，

while Jobs, who had grabbed Alain Rossmann to serve as his translator,

而乔布斯却抓来阿兰·罗斯曼来做翻译

kept trying to explain the advanced robotics and technology.

一直在解释自己先进的机器人和技术。

After Jobs talked about the just-in-time production schedules, she asked about overtime⁴ pay.

乔布斯谈论了准时生产制计划后，密特朗夫人却开始询问工人的加班工资。

He was annoyed, so he described how automation helped him keep down labor⁵ costs, a subject he knew would not delight her.

他很恼火，于是开始描述自动化如何帮助自己压低了劳动成本，他知道这个话题会让她不高兴。

"Is it hard work?" she asked. "How much vacation time do they get?"

“工人的活儿很重吗？ ”她问道，“他们有多少休假时间？”

Jobs couldn't contain himself.

乔布斯按捺不住了。

"If she's so interested in their welfare," he said to her translator,

“如果她对工人的福利这么感兴趣，”他对密特朗夫人的翻译说，

"tell her she can come work here any time."

“告诉她，随时欢迎她来这儿工作。”

The translator turned pale and said nothing.

翻译听了脸色苍白，什么都没说。

After a moment Rossmann stepped in to say, in French,

过了一会儿，罗斯曼介入进来，用法语说：

"Mr.Jobs says he thanks you for your visit and your interest in the factory."

“夫人，乔布斯说，感谢您的到访及您对工厂的兴趣。”

Neither Jobs nor Madame Mitterrand knew what happened, Rossmann recalled, but her translator looked very relieved.

乔布斯和密特朗夫人都不知道到底发生了什么，而那位翻译顿时感到彻底解脱。

Afterward⁶, as he sped his Mercedes down the freeway toward Cupertino,

事后，乔布斯开着奔驰车驶上高速公路，准备回库比蒂诺，

Jobs fumed⁷ to Rossmann about Madame Mitterrand's attitude.

一路上依然对密待朗夫人的态度感到很生气。

At one point he was going just over 100 miles per hour when a policeman stopped him and began writing a ticket.

他的车速在超过每小时100英里后，一个警察拦下了车，准备开票。

After a few minutes, as the officer scribbled⁸ away, Jobs honked⁹.

几分钟后，警察正潦草地书写罚单，乔布斯按起了喇叭。

"Excuse me?" the policeman said.

“有什么问题吗？ ”警察问道。

Jobs replied, "I'm in a hurry."

乔布斯回答说：“我赶时间。”

Amazingly, the officer didn't get mad.

令人惊讶的是，那位警察并没有生气，

He simply finished writing the ticket and warned that if Jobs was caught going over 55 again he would be sent to jail.

而只是照常开完罚单，并警吿，如果乔布斯的车速再超过每小时55英里并被抓住，就要进监狱。

As soon as the policeman left, Jobs got back on the road and accelerated to 100.

结果警察刚离开，乔布斯就重新回到高速路上，再次加速到每小时100英里。

"He absolutely believed that the normal rules didn't apply to him," Rossmann marveled.

“他肯定认为常规对自己无效。”罗斯曼对此惊叹不已。

1 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。

2 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

3 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

4 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

7 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

8 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

9 honked   

v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I drove up in front of the house and honked. 我将车开到屋子前面然后按喇叭。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He honked his horn as he went past. 他经过时按响了汽车喇叭。 来自《简明英汉词典》