乔布斯传 第521期:华纳音乐(2)

 It was not an easy meeting. 会议进行得并不顺利。

Vidich had a cold and was losing his voice, so his deputy, Kevin Gage¹, began the presentation. 维迪奇因为感冒喉咙嘶哑，所以他让助理凯文·凯奇来作介绍。

Jobs, sitting at the head of the conference table, fidgeted and looked annoyed. 乔布斯坐在会议桌的主导位置，不耐烦地晃来晃去，看起来还有些愤怒。

After four slides, he waved his hand and broke in. 凯奇讲了4页幻灯片之后，乔布斯摆手打断了他：

"You have your heads up your asses," he pointed² out. “你们可以自己解决的！”他说道。

Everyone turned to Vidich, who struggled to get his voice working. 所有人都转过头来看维迪奇。维迪奇努力地清了清嗓子：

"You're right," he said after a long pause. "We don't know what to do. You need to help us figure it out." “没错。”停顿了很久之后他又说：“但我们不知道该做什么。你要帮助我们找到方向。”

Jobs later recalled being slightly taken aback, and he agreed that Apple would work with the Warner-Sony effort. 乔布斯后来回忆，他当时确实有点儿吃惊。不过他最后同意了让苹果公司和华纳及索尼合作。

If the music companies had been able to agree on a standardized³ encoding method for protecting music files, 如果音乐公司达成了一致，为了实现音乐文件保护而开发一个标准化的编码解码器，

then multiple online stores could have proliferated⁴. 那么各种网上商店就会激增。

That would have made it hard for Jobs to create an iTunes Store that allowed Apple to control how online sales were handled. 这样的话，乔布斯要建立一个用来控制网上销售的iTunes商店就难了。

Sony, however, handed Jobs that opportunity when it decided⁵, after the January 2002 Cupertino meeting, 不过，索尼公司给了乔布斯这个机会。在2002年1月的库比蒂诺会议之后，

to pull out of the talks because it favored its own proprietary⁶ format⁷, from which it would get royalties⁸. 索尼公司决定退出上述计划，因为它希望拥有自己专有的格式，并可以从中获得版税收益。

 

1 gage   

n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge]

参考例句：

• Can you gage what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gage one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

4 proliferated   

激增( proliferate的过去式和过去分词 )； （迅速）繁殖； 增生； 扩散

参考例句：

• Books and articles on the subject have proliferated over the last year. 过去一年以来，论及这一问题的书和文章大量涌现。
• Influenza proliferated throughout the country. 流感在全国蔓延。

5 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。

6 proprietary   

n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主

参考例句：

• We had to take action to protect the proprietary technology.我们必须采取措施保护专利技术。
• Proprietary right is the foundation of jus rerem.所有权是物权法之根基。

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分