乔布斯传 第175期:春风得意(5)

 His wife, Joanna Hoffman, saw the same thing when she accompanied Jobs to Europe a few months after the Macintosh was launched.

在麦金塔电脑发布几个月后，罗斯曼的妻子乔安娜·霍夫曼陪同乔布斯前往欧洲，她见识到了同样的情形。

"He was just completely obnoxious¹ and thinking he could get away with anything," she recalled.

“他非常令人讨厌，觉得自己可以不受任何事情的束缚。”她回忆说。

In Paris she had arranged a formal dinner with French software developers,

在巴黎的时候，她已经安排好同法国的软件开发商们进行正式晚宴，

but Jobs suddenly decided² he didn't want to go.

结果乔布斯突然决定不想去了。

Instead he shut the car door on Hoffman and told her he was going to see the poster artist Folon instead.

他扔下霍夫曼独自上车，说自己要去拜访艺术家福隆。

"The developers were so pissed off they wouldn't shake our hands," she said.

“结果他的缺席让开发商们很生气，都不愿意跟我们握手。”她说道。

双语有声读物 乔布斯传

In Italy, he took an instant dislike to Apple's general manager,

在意大利的时候，乔布斯打一见面就不喜欢苹果公司在当地的总经理

a soft rotund guy who had come from a conventional business.

一位肉乎乎圆嘟嘟的男士，他以前在传统行业工作。

Jobs told him bluntly that he was not impressed with his team or his sales strategy.

乔布斯直截了当地对他说，自己对其团队及销售策略都不以为然。

"You don't deserve to be able to sell the Mac," Jobs said coldly.

“你不配销售Mac。”乔布斯冷冷地说。

But that was mild compared to his reaction to the restaurant the hapless manager had chosen.

不过，这位倒霉的经理受到的对待还算是好的了，他挑选的餐厅更惨。

Jobs demanded a vegan meal, but the waiter very elaborately proceeded to dish out a sauce filled with sour cream.

乔布斯点了一份素食，但服务员还是煞费苦心地往他的盘子里倒上了含有酸奶油的酱料。

Jobs got so nasty that Hoffman had to threaten him.

乔布斯的反应令人讨厌至极，以至于霍夫曼不得不靠威胁来阻止他。

She whispered that if he didn't calm down, she was going to pour her hot coffee on his lap.

她低声对乔布斯说，如果他再不冷静下来，就把自己的热咖啡倒在他腿上。

The most substantive³ disagreements Jobs had on the European trip concerned sales forecasts.

欧洲之行中，最根本的分歧集中在销售预测上。

Using his reality distortion field, Jobs was always pushing his team to come up with higher projections⁴.

在其现实扭曲力场的影响下，乔布斯总是让自己的团队作出更髙的预测。

He kept threatening the European managers that he wouldn't give them any allocations unless they projected bigger forecasts.

他不停地威胁欧洲的经理们，只有拿出更髙的预测数据，才能得到他的拨款。

They insisted on being realistic, and Hoffmann had to referee⁵.

经理们坚持实事求是，霍夫曼不得不从中进行调和。

"By the end of the trip, my whole body was shaking uncontrollably," Hoffman recalled.

“行程最后，我整个身子都不自主地颤抖。”霍夫曼回忆道。

It was on this trip that Jobs first got to know Jean-Louis Gassee, Apple's manager in France.

此次欧洲之行，他第一次见到了让-路易·加西--苹果公司的法国经理。

Gassee was among the few to stand up successfully to Jobs on the trip.

加西是少数几个成功对抗乔布斯的人。

"He has his own way with the truth," Gassee later remarked.

“他对事实有自己的见解，”加西后来评论道，

"The only way to deal with him was to out-bully him."

“对付他的唯一方法就是反过来更狠地威胁他。”

When Jobs made his usual threat about cutting down on France's allocations if Gassee didn't jack⁶ up sales projections, Gassee got angry.

当乔布斯像通常一样，威胁说如果不调高销售预测，他就会削减对法国公司的拨款，加西彻底怒了。

"I remember grabbing his lapel and telling him to stop, and then he backed down.

“我记得自己当时抓住他的衣领，叫他少来这套，然后他就退缩了。”

I used to be an angry man myself. I am a recovering assaholic. So I could recognize that in Steve."

“我以前也是个火气大的人，是个浑球。所以我也能看出史蒂夫身上的这种性格。”

Gassee was impressed, however, at how Jobs could turn on the charm when he wanted to.

不过，乔布斯能游刃有余地收放自己的个人魅力，这让加西印象深刻。

Francois Mitterrand had been preaching the gospel of informatique pour tous—computing for all

密特朗发起了 “大众信息技术计划”--宣扬普及大众电脑，

and various academic experts in technology, such as Marvin Minsky and Nicholas Negroponte, came over to sing in the choir⁷.

技术领域的各种学术专家都前来参与其中，如马文·明斯基和尼古拉斯·尼葛洛庞帝。

Jobs gave a talk to the group at the Hotel Bristol

在法国时，乔布斯在布里斯托酒店面向该计划的参与者发表了讲话，

and painted a picture of how France could move ahead if it put computers in all of its schools.

向人们描绘了一幅图景--如果法国所有的学校都配备电脑，这个国家将会出现多大的进步。

Paris also brought out the romantic in him.

巴黎也唤醒了乔布斯的浪漫心情。

Both Gassee and Negroponte tell tales of him pining over women while there.

加西和尼葛洛庞帝都曾讲过乔布斯在那里为伊人憔悴的故事。

1 obnoxious   

adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的

参考例句：

• These fires produce really obnoxious fumes and smoke.这些火炉冒出来的烟气确实很难闻。
• He is the most obnoxious man I know.他是我认识的最可憎的人。

2 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。

3 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

4 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

5 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。