Michael Spindler, the German-born chief of Apple's European operations who had replaced Sculley as CEO in 1993, 1993年取代斯卡利担任苹果CEO的迈克尔·斯平德勒，

　　tried to sell the company to Sun, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. 试图把公司卖给太阳微系统、IBM和惠普。

　　That failed, and he was ousted in February 1996 and replaced by Gil Amelio, a research engineer who was CEO of National Semiconductor. 失败后，斯平德勒在1996年2月被吉尔·阿梅里奥取代，吉尔是一位研发工程师，曾任国家半导体公司的CEO。

　　During his first year the company lost $1 billion, 在他任期的第一年，苹果公司亏损了10亿美元，

　　and the stock price, which had been $70 in 1991, fell to $14, even as the tech bubble was pushing other stocks into the stratosphere. 股票价格从1991年时的70美元暴跌到14美元，而当时，高科技泡沫正把其他股票的价格推向史无前例的高点。

　　Amelio was not a fan of Jobs. Their first meeting had been in 1994, just after Amelio was elected to the Apple board. 阿梅里奥并不是乔布斯的粉丝。他们第一次见面是在1994年，当时阿梅里奥刚刚被选入苹果的董事会。

　　Jobs had called him and announced, "I want to come over and see you." 乔布斯给他打电话说，“我想过去见你。”

　　Amelio invited him over to his office at National Semiconductor, 阿梅里奥于是邀请他到国家半导体公司的办公室，

　　and he later recalled watching through the glass wall of his office as Jobs arrived. 后来阿梅里奥回忆了当时透过办公室的玻璃墙看着乔布斯到来的情景。

　　He looked "rather like a boxer, aggressive and elusively graceful, or like an elegant jungle cat ready to spring at its prey." 他看起来“像个拳击手，富有攻击性又带着难以捉摸的优雅，或者说像一只高贵的丛林猫，时刻准备扑向猎物”。

　　After a few minutes of pleasantries -- far more than Jobs usually engaged in -- he abruptly announced the reason for his visit. 他们寒暄了几分钟--这已经远远超过了乔布斯习惯的长度，然后乔布斯突然宣布了他的来意。