乔布斯传 第513期:白鲸的白(1)

 The Whiteness of the Whale 白鲸的白

Jony Ive had been playing with the foam¹ model of the iPod and trying to conceive what the finished product should look like 乔尼·艾弗一直在摆弄iPod的泡沫模型，反复设想成品的样子，

when an idea occurred to him on a morning drive from his San Francisco home to Cupertino. 一天早上，在他开车从旧金山的家里到库比蒂诺的路上，一个想法突然跳了出来。

Its face should be pure white, he told his colleague in the car, 他在路上打电话告诉他的同事：iPod的正面要用纯白色外壳，

and it should connect seamlessly to a polished stainless² steel back. 然后与背面光滑的不镑钢壳进行无缝连接。

"Most small consumer products have this disposable feel to them," said Ive. 艾弗说："很多小型消费类产品给人的感觉都是‘用后即弃’的。

"There is no cultural gravity to them. 他们缺少文化内涵。

The thing I'm proudest of about the iPod is that there is something about it that makes it feel significant, not disposable." 关于iPod，我最得意的地方就是其中有一些元素为它赋予了意义，让它历久弥新。"

The white would be not just white, but pure white. 白色不是简单的白色，而是"纯净"的白色。

"Not only the device, but the headphones and the wires and even the power block," he recalled. "Pure white." 他回忆道："不只是机身，耳机、连接线，甚至是电源适配器也要是白色的，‘纯净’的白色。"

Others kept arguing that the headphones, of course, should be black, like all headphones. 但其他人都认为耳机当然应该是黑色的，和其他耳机一样。

"But Steve got it immediately, and embraced white," said Ive. "There would be a purity to it." 艾弗说："但是史蒂夫立刻就决定要用白色。这给产品增加了‘纯度’"。

The sinuous³ flow of the white earbud wires helped make the iPod an icon⁴. 蜿蜒的白色耳塞线使iPod成为了一个标志。

As Ive described it: There was something very significant and nondisposable about it, 艾弗是这样描述的：iPod包含着一些非常有意义且不易被丢弃的元素，

yet there was also something very quiet and very restrained. 但是也有一些非常安静和内敛的部分。

It wasn't wagging its tail in your face. It was restrained, but it was also crazy, with those flowing headphones. 它不会搔首弄姿，它是内敛的，但那平滑的耳机又是个疯狂的创意。

That's why I like white. White isn't just a neutral color. 这就是我喜欢白色的原因。白色并不仅仅是一种中性的色彩。

It is so pure and quiet. Bold and conspicuous⁵ and yet so inconspicuous as well. 它既纯净又安静，醒目、出挑但又不张扬。

 

1 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

2 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

3 sinuous   

adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的

参考例句：

• The river wound its sinuous way across the plain.这条河蜿蜒曲折地流过平原。
• We moved along the sinuous gravel walks,with the great concourse of girls and boys.我们沿着曲折的石径,随着男孩女孩汇成的巨流一路走去。

4 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

5 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。