乔布斯并不喜欢这个箱子。

He wanted a simple and elegant design,

他想要的是筒单又精致的设计，

which he hoped would set Apple apart from the other machines, with their clunky gray metal cases.

可以让苹果电脑从那些配有笨重的灰色金属箱的电脑中脱颖而出。

While haunting the appliance aisles at Macy's,

有一次他在梅西百货的家用电器通道闲逛时，

he was struck by the Cuisinart food processors and decided that he wanted a sleek case made of light molded plastic.

厨艺公司的食品加工机触发了他的灵感，他决定要一个光滑的机箱，

At a Homebrew meeting, he offered a local consultant, Jerry Manock, $1,500 to produce such a design.

由轻便的模制塑料制成。在一次家酿计算机俱乐部的会议上，他出价1500美元，请一名当地的技术顾问杰里·马诺克将这个设计制造出来。

Manock, dubious about Jobs's appearance, asked for the money up front.

乔布斯的着装形象让马诺克有些半信半疑，他要求乔布斯预支报酬。

Jobs refused, but Manock took the job anyway.

乔布斯拒绝了，但马诺克还是接受了这份工作。

Within weeks he had produced a simple foam-molded plastic case that was uncluttered and exuded friendliness.

几个星期后，他就做出了一个简单的发泡成型的塑料箱，整齐简洁5看上去很友好。

Jobs was thrilled.

乔布斯十分激动。

Next came the power supply.

接下来是电源的问题。

Digital geeks like Wozniak paid little attention to something so analog and mundane,

像沃兹尼亚克这样的数字极客是不大会关注电源这种不起眼的部分的，

but Jobs decided it was a key component.

但乔布斯认为这是一个关键部件。

In particular he wanted—as he would his entire career—to provide power in a way that avoided the need for a fan.

具体地说，他想要的——也是他整个职业生涯一直追求的——是在不使用风扇的情况下供电。

Fans inside computers were not Zen-like; they distracted.

计算机内部的风扇有悖于禅意，它们的噪音会让人无法集中精神。

He dropped by Atari to consult with Alcorn, who knew old-fashioned electrical engineering.

乔布斯去雅达利公司咨询奥尔康，他了解老式的电气工程。

"Al turned me on to this brilliant guy named Rod Holt,

“奥尔康把一个叫罗德·霍尔特的聪明家伙介绍给我，

who was a chain-smoking Marxist who had been through many marriages and was an expert on everything," Jobs recalled.

这是个烟不离手的马克思主义者，结过多次婚，精通所有事物。”乔布斯回忆。

Like Manock and others meeting Jobs for the first time, Holt took a look at him and was skeptical.

和马诺克以及其他第一次见到乔布斯的人一样，霍尔特打量了他一番，满腹狐疑。

"I'm expensive," Holt said.

“我收费很髙的。”霍尔特说。

Jobs sensed he was worth it and said that cost was no problem.

乔布斯感觉到此人一定物有所值，于是说钱不是问题。

"He just conned me into working," said Holt, who ended up joining Apple full-time.

“他就这么说服我为他工作了。”霍尔特说，他后来加入苹果公司，成为了一名全职员工。

Instead of a conventional linear power supply, Holt built one like those used in oscilloscopes.

霍尔特并没有使用传统的线性电源，而是制造了一个与示波器等仪器上使用的相类似的开关电源。

It switched the power on and off not sixty times per second, but thousands of times;

这就意味着，在一秒钟之内，通断电的次数不是60次，而是上千次，

this allowed it to store the power for far less time, and thus throw off less heat.

这样电源存储电能的时间就大大减少，散热量也随之减少。

重点讲解：

1.apart from 除……之外；除...外；除去

例句：And, apart from all that, where he gave free-kick in the wrong place.

而且，除此之外，他给的任意球罚球位置也是错误的。

2.dubious about 对...怀疑

例句：I remain dubious about his motives.

我对他的动机心存疑虑。

3.up front 预先

例句：It takes courage to trust that concrete feedback along the way is better than trying to know everything up front.

相信开发过程中的具体反馈比预先知道每件事更有价值，需要一定的勇气。

4.consult with 商量；商议；与…商量

例句："I shall consult with Mr. Gordon about this, " said Mr. Greenough, becoming joss-like again.

“我会和戈登先生商讨，”格里诺先生说，一副菩萨心肠。