乔布斯传 第479期:苹果样板店(1)

 The Prototype 苹果样板店

When Jobs finally presented the idea, the board was not thrilled. 当乔布斯说出他开苹果零售店的设想时，董事会成员并未露出喜悦之情。

Gateway¹ Computers was going down in flames after opening suburban² stores, 他们促出，捷威计算机在开了郊区的零售店之后就走向了衰落，

and Jobs's argument that his would do better because they would be in more expensive locations was not, on its face, reassuring³. 但是乔布斯认为他能够做得更好，因为苹果零售店将开在地段更昂贵的购物中心里，不过他的分析看来并没让董事会放心。

"Think different" and "Here's to the crazy ones" made for good advertising⁴ slogans, “非同凡想”和“致疯狂的人”可以拿来做不错的广告词，

but the board was hesitant to make them guidelines for corporate⁵ strategy. 但是董事会却在犹豫是否该把它们当成公司的战略方针。

"I'm scratching my head and thinking this is crazy," “我当时挠着头想，这点子可真够疯狂的。”

recalled Art Levinson, the CEO of Genentech who joined the Apple board in 2000. 亚瑟·莱文森回忆说，他在2000年被乔布斯邀请加入董事会，此前他是基因泰克公司的CEO。

"We are a small company, a marginal player. I said that I'm not sure I can support something like this." “我们是一家小公司，还比较边缘化。我说，我不敢确定自己会支持这种做法。”

Ed Woolard was also dubious⁶. 埃德·伍拉德当时也对此表示怀疑。

"Gateway has tried this and failed, while Dell is selling direct to consumers without stores and succeeding," he argued. 他表示：“捷威就作过这样的尝试，最后失败了，而戴尔并没开零售店，通过直销也取得了成功。”

Jobs was not appreciative⁷ of too much pushback from the board. 乔布斯没有把董事会的阻挠放在心上。

The last time that happened, he had replaced most of the members. 最后一次讨论时，乔布斯已经换掉了董事会中的大部分成员。

This time, for personal reasons as well as being tired of playing tug-of-war with Jobs, Woolard decided⁸ to step down. 这一次，既是出于个人原因，也是因为不想再和乔布斯玩这种“拔河比赛”，伍拉德决定辞职。

But before he did, the board approved a trial run of four Apple stores. 不过在他辞职之前，董事会已经批准了开设4家苹果零售店，进行试运营。

 

1 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

2 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

3 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

4 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

7 appreciative   

adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的

参考例句：

• She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
• We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。

8 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。