乔布斯传 第285期:失散的父亲(4)

 　　Simpson turned her search for Jandali into a basis for her second novel, The Lost Father, published in 1992.

　　辛普森用她寻找钱德里的故事作为第二本小说的蓝本，名为《失散的父亲》，1992年出版。

　　(Jobs convinced Paul Rand, the designer who did the NeXT logo, to design the cover,

　　（乔布斯说服NeXT标识的设计师保罗·兰德为这本书设计封面，

　　but according to Simpson, "It was God-awful and we never used it.")

　　可是按照辛普森的说法，“简直糟透了，我们根本没用它。”）

　　She also tracked down various members of the Jandali family, in Homs and in America,

　　她还找到了在美国和在叙利亚霍姆斯的多名钱德里家族成员的下落，

　　and in 2011 was writing a novel about her Syrian roots.

　　并于2011年开始写一部关于她叙利亚家族起源的小说。

　　The Syrian ambassador in Washington threw a dinner for her

　　驻华盛顿的叙利亚大使为她举行了一次晚宴，

　　that included a cousin and his wife who then lived in Florida and had flown up for the occasion.

　　她住在佛罗里达的表兄夫妇也专程飞来参加。

　　Simpson assumed that Jobs would eventually meet Jandali, but as time went on he showed even less interest.

　　辛普森以为乔布斯迟早会去见钱德里，但是随着时间的推移，他却越发对此不感兴趣。

　　In 2010, when Jobs and his son, Reed, went to a birthday dinner for Simpson at her Los Angeles house,

　　2010年，乔布斯和儿子里德来辛普森在洛杉矶的家里参加她的生日晚宴，

　　Reed spent some time looking at pictures of his biological grandfather, but Jobs ignored them.

　　里德还花了些时间看他亲生祖父的照片，但是乔布斯却视而不见。

　　Nor did he seem to care about his Syrian heritage.

　　他似乎也不在乎自己的叙利亚血统。

　　When the Middle East would come up in conversation, the topic did not engage him or evoke¹ his typical strong opinions,

　　每当中东问题在谈话中出现，这个话题好像他既不感兴趣也不会如往常一样提出很鲜明的看法，

　　even after Syria was swept up in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

　　即使叙利亚在2011年阿拉伯之春运动中受到波及，他的态度也没什么两样。

　　"I don't think anybody really knows what we should be doing over there,"

　　“我觉得没有人真正知道我们到底该在那里做些什么，”

　　he said when I asked whether the Obama administration should be intervening more in Egypt, Libya, and Syria.

　　当我问他，奧巴马政府是否应该在埃及、利比亚和叙利亚进行更多千预时，他这样说。

　　"You're fucked if you do and you're fucked if you don't."

　　“你干预也是完蛋，不干预也是完蛋。”

　　Jobs did retain a friendly relationship with his biological mother, Joanne Simpson.

　　另一方面，乔布斯跟他的生母乔安妮·辛普森却保持着友好的关系。

　　Over the years she and Mona would often spend Christmas at Jobs's house.

　　多年来，她和莫娜常常飞过来，在乔布斯家过圣诞节。

　　The visits could be sweet, but also emotionally draining.

　　那些时刻很温馨，但也很耗感情。

　　Joanne would sometimes break into tears, say how much she had loved him, and apologize for giving him up.

　　乔安妮常常会流泪，反复诉说她是多么爱他，很抱歉当初放弃他。

　　It turned out all right, Jobs would reassure² her.

　　乔布斯会安慰她说没关系。

　　As he told her one Christmas, "Don't worry. I had a great childhood. I turned out okay."

　　有一个圣诞节他曾跟她说，“别担心，我的童年很棒。我好好地长大了。”

1 evoke   

vt.唤起，引起，使人想起

参考例句：

• These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
• Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。

2 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。