乔布斯传 第609期:蛤、冰块和向日葵(4)

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Jobs went home early that day to mull over the problem, then called Ive to come by.

当天，乔布斯早早回到家，开始仔细考虑这个问题，并把艾弗也叫来了。

They wandered into the garden, which Jobs's wife had planted with a profusion¹ of sunflowers.

他们漫步走进花园，乔布斯的妻子在花园里种了许多向日葵。

"Every year I do something wild with the garden,

“每年我都在花园里做些疯狂的事儿，

and that time it involved masses of sunflowers, with a sunflower house for the kids," she recalled.

当时就是种了很多向日葵，给孩子们一个满是向日葵的家。”她回忆道，

"Jony and Steve were riffing on their design problem,

“乔尼和史蒂夫当时正在思考产品的设计问题，

then Jony asked, 'What if the screen was separated from the base like a sunflower?'

然后乔尼问，‘把屏幕像向日葵那样和底座分离开来怎样？’

He got excited and started sketching²."

他感到很兴奋，并开始画起了草图。”

Ive liked his designs to suggest a narrative³,

他很喜欢用自己的设计来表达一个故事，

and he realized that a sunflower shape would convey that the flat screen was so fluid and responsive that it could reach for the sun.

他意识到，向日葵造型能传达出纯平显示器的流畅性和出色的响应能力，仿佛随时可以迎着太阳转动。

In Ive's new design, the Mac's screen was attached to a movable chrome neck,

在艾弗的新设计中，Mac的屏幕连着一个铬合金活动支颈，

so that it looked not only like a sunflower but also like a cheeky Luxo lamp.

这样整个显示器不仅看上去像向日葵，还看上去像《顽皮跳跳灯》。

Indeed it evoked⁴ the playful personality of Luxo Jr. in the first short film that John Lasseter had made at Pixar.

该动画片是约翰·拉塞特为皮克斯制作的第一部短片，让人联想到了小台灯的俏皮个性。

Apple took out many patents for the design, most crediting Ive, but on one of them,

苹果为这一设计申请了许多专利，大多数都计入艾弗名下，但就其中一项设计，

for "a computer system having a movable assembly attached to a flat panel display," Jobs listed himself as the primary inventor.

“平板显示器和底座之间由一个活动组件连接”，乔布斯将自己列为主要发明者。

In hindsight, some of Apple's Macintosh designs may seem a bit too cute.

现在回想起来，苹果麦金塔的一些设计似乎有点儿太过可爱了。

But other computer makers⁵ were at the other extreme.

然而其他电脑制造商处于另一个极端。

It was an industry that you'd expect to be innovative⁶, but instead it was dominated by cheaply designed generic⁷ boxes.

人们以为计算机行业应该充满创新，但实际上，这一行业充斥着设计粗糙的通用型电脑。

After a few ill-conceived stabs at painting on blue colors and trying new shapes,

在贸然地尝试过新造型并把电脑喷涂成蓝色之后

companies such as Dell, Compaq, and HP commoditized computers by outsourcing manufacturing and competing on price.

戴尔、康柏和惠普这些公司，后来也都将电脑制造外包出去，并展开价格竞争。

With its spunky designs and its pathbreaking applications like iTunes and iMovie, Apple was about the only place innovating⁸.

苹果凭借大胆的设计和开创性的应用，如iTunes和iMovie，成为唯一有所创新的企业。

1 profusion   

n.挥霍；丰富

参考例句：

• He is liberal to profusion.他挥霍无度。
• The leaves are falling in profusion.落叶纷纷。

2 sketching   

n.草图

参考例句：

• They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

3 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

4 evoked   

[医]诱发的

参考例句：

• The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
• Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

7 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

8 innovating   

v.改革，创新( innovate的现在分词 )；引入（新事物、思想或方法），

参考例句：

• In this new century, the company keeps innovating and developing new products. 新世纪伊始，公司全面实施形象工程及整合营销，不断改革创新，开发高新产品。 来自互联网
• Beijing is backward most prime cause is innovating at system lack. 北京落后的最根本原因在于制度缺乏创新。 来自互联网