乔布斯传 第641期:可以打电话的iPod(1)

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An iPod That Makes Calls

可以打电话的iPod

By 2005 iPod sales were skyrocketing.

至2005年，iPod销量暴涨。

An astonishing twenty million were sold that year, quadruple the number of the year before.

当年售出2000万台，数量惊人，是2004年销量的4倍。

The product was becoming more important to the company's bottom line, accounting¹ for 45% of the revenue that year,

该产品对于苹果公司的营收越发重要，占当年收入的45%。

and it was also burnishing² the hipness³ of the company's image in a way that drove sales of Macs. That is why Jobs was worried.

同时，iPod还带动了Mac系列产品的销售，为苹果公司塑造出时髦的企业形象。而这也是乔布斯担忧的地方。

"He was always obsessing⁴ about what could mess us up," board member Art Levinson recalled.

“他总在担心有什么会让我们陷入困境，”苹果公司董事会成员亚瑟·莱文森回忆道。

The conclusion he had come to: "The device that can eat our lunch is the cell phone."

乔布斯得出结论：“能抢我们饭碗的设备是手机。”

As he explained to the board, the digital camera market was being decimated now that phones were equipped with cameras.

他向董事会说明，手机都开始配备摄像头，数码相机市场正急剧萎缩。

The same could happen to the iPod, if phone manufacturers started to build music players into them.

同样的情况也可能发生在iPod身上，如果手机制造商开始在手机中内置音乐播放器。

"Everyone carries a phone, so that could render the iPod unnecessary."

“每个人都随身带着手机，就没必要买iPod了。”

His first strategy was to do something that he had admitted in front of Bill Gates was not in his DNA⁵: to partner with another company.

乔布斯曾当着比尔·盖茨的面承认自己天生不善于合作，而此刻，他的第一个策略就是与另一家公司合作。

He began talking to Ed Zander, the new CEO of Motorola, about making a companion to Motorola's popular RAZR,

摩托罗拉公司新任CEO埃德·赞德和他是朋友，于是，乔布斯开始商议与摩托罗拉的畅销手机刀锋系列合作，

which was a cell phone and digital camera, that would have an iPod built in. Thus was born the ROKR.

该系列手机配有摄像头，双方准备合作，在其中内置iPod。摩托罗拉ROKR手机就此诞生。

1 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

2 burnishing   

n.磨光，抛光，擦亮v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的现在分词 )；被擦亮，磨光

参考例句：

• Taps, reamers, drills, saws, milling cutters, burnishing tools, and so on, have all been successfully plated. 丝锥、铰刀、钻头、锯片、铣切刀具、磨光工具以及其它等等，所有这些方面的片镀都是很成功的。 来自辞典例句
• Pure white was obtained by entirely effacing burnishing the plate. 光白部份则把芒刺激完全磨去。 来自互联网

3 hipness   

n.hip（使知晓，使了解）的变形

参考例句：

• But across Europe, it's the fun and hipness quotient of the new scooters that matters most. 然而在欧洲，人们更看重新型踏板车带来的欢乐时尚感。 来自互联网

4 obsessing   

v.时刻困扰( obsess的现在分词 )；缠住；使痴迷；使迷恋

参考例句：

• Why is everyone obsessing over system specs right now? 为啥现在人人都对系统配置情有独钟？ 来自互联网
• A nitpicker, obsessing over dimes, is too stiff to place orders. 一个连一毛钱都舍不得亏的人，因太过拘谨而不能下单。 来自互联网

5 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。