乔布斯传 第151期:真正的艺术家总能完成作品(2)

 That put all the more pressure on the Macintosh, due out in January 1984, three months away, to save the day against IBM.

这一切都令将于3个月后（即1984年1月）发布的麦金塔电脑压力更大，它将成为扭转败局的关键。

At the sales conference Jobs decided¹ to play the showdown to the hilt.

在销售会议上，乔布斯决定全力以赴，一决髙下。

He took the stage and chronicled all the missteps made by IBM since 1958,

他走上台，历数IBM自1958年以来的所有失误，

and then in ominous² tones described how it was now trying to take over the market for personal computers:

然后他的声音里带着可怖的意味开始描述IBM正如何试图主宰整个个人电脑市场:

"Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age? Was George Orwell right about 1984?"

“我们能让IBM主宰整个电脑产业吗？我们能让IBM控制整个信息时代吗？乔治·奥威尔在《1984》中的描述会成真吗？”

At that moment a screen came down from the ceiling and showed a preview of an upcoming sixty-second television ad for the Macintosh.

话音刚落，一块屏幕徐徐落下，播放了一段专为麦金塔电脑制作的广告片，这则即将推出的60秒广告有点儿科幻电影的意味。

In a few months it was destined³ to make advertising⁴ history,

在数月之后，这则广告注定要名垂史册。

but in the meantime it served its purpose of rallying Apple's demoralized sales force.

但当时，它凝聚了苹果公司销售人员低落的士气。

Jobs had always been able to draw energy by imagining himself as a rebel pitted against the forces of darkness.

一直以来，乔布斯都将自己想象成一个抗击黑暗势力的反叛者，并从中获取能量。

Now he was able to energize⁵ his troops with the same vision.

现在，他也这样激发自己的团队。

双语有声读物 乔布斯传

There was one more hurdle⁶: Hertzfeld and the other wizards had to finish writing the code for the Macintosh.

不过当时还有一个障碍。赫茨菲尔德和其他工程师必须完成麦金塔电脑的编程工作，

It was due to start shipping⁷ on Monday, January 16.

而程序已定于1月16日（周一）交付运行，

One week before that, the engineers concluded they could not make that deadline.

距离交付日只剩一周的时候，工程师们认为他们无法按时完成工作。

Jobs was at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan, preparing for the press previews,

当时，乔布斯正在曼哈顿的君悦酒店为媒体沟通会作准备，

so a Sunday morning conference call was scheduled.

因此，同工程师的电话会议就定在周日上午进行。

The software manager calmly explained the situation to Jobs,

软件经理镇定地向乔布斯说明了情况，

while Hertzfeld and the others huddled⁸ around the speakerphone holding their breath.

赫茨菲尔德和其他人都围着电话，屏息凝神。

All they needed was an extra two weeks.

他们只要求将期限延长两周，

The initial shipments to the dealers⁹ could have a version of the software labeled "demo,"

公司可以先给经销商一个“演示版”软件，

and these could be replaced as soon as the new code was finished at the end of the month.

只要新程序在这个月底完成，就能马上进行替换。

There was a pause. Jobs did not get angry; instead he spoke¹⁰ in cold, somber¹¹ tones.

片刻沉默之后，乔布斯并没有生气。相反，而是用冷静低沉的语调

He told them they were really great. So great, in fact, that he knew they could get this done.

他告诉工程师们他们真的很棒。事实上，这些人的确非常棒，乔布斯相信他们能够搞定。

"There's no way we're slipping!" he declared. There was a collective gasp¹² in the Bandley building work space.

“我们决不会推迟！”他郑重声明。电话另一头，班德利大楼工作间里的工程师们都倒吸了一口气。

"You guys have been working on this stuff for months now, another couple weeks isn't going to make that much of a difference.

“这个东西你们已经做了好几个月了，再多两个星期也不会有很大差别。

You may as well get it over with. I'm going to ship the code a week from Monday, with your names on it."

你们还是赶快把它做完。我会在一周后将你们的程序交付运行，上面会标有你们的名字。”

"Well, we've got to finish it," Steve Capps said. And so they did.

“好吧，我们得完成它。”史蒂夫·卡普斯说道。他们做到了。

Once again, Jobs's reality distortion field pushed them to do what they had thought impossible.

又一次，乔布斯用自己的现实扭曲力场让团队成员完成了自认为不可能完成的任务。

On Friday Randy Wigginton brought in a huge bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans for the final three all-nighters.

周五，为熬过最后三个通宵，兰迪·威金顿带来了一大包浓缩咖啡巧克力豆。

When Jobs arrived at work at 8:30 a.m. that Monday, he found Hertzfeld sprawled¹³ nearly comatose¹⁴ on the couch.

1月16日周一早晨8点半，乔布斯来到公司，发现赫茨菲尔德趴在沙发上，几近昏睡。

They talked for a few minutes about a remaining tiny glitch¹⁵, and Jobs decreed that it wasn't a problem.

他们聊了些剩下的一些细微毛病，乔布斯认为这不成问题。

Hertzfeld dragged himself to his blue Volkswagen Rabbit (license plate: MACWIZ) and drove home to bed.

赫茨菲尔德拖着疲惫的身子钻进自己的蓝色大众髙尔夫（车牌MACWIZ)，开车回家睡觉。

A short while later Apple's Fremont factory began to roll out boxes emblazoned with the colorful line drawings of the Macintosh.

过了一会儿，苹果公司位于弗雷蒙的工厂开始生产印有彩色条纹苹果标志的盒子。

Real artists ship, Jobs had declared, and now the Macintosh team had.

乔布斯曾称，真正的艺术家总能完成作品，现在他们名副其实。

1 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。

2 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

3 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

4 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

5 energize   

vt.给予(某人或某物)精力、能量

参考例句：

• It is used to energize the city.它的作用是为城市供给能量。
• This is a great way to energize yourself and give yourself more power!这种方法非常棒，可以激活你的能量，让你有更多的活力！

6 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

8 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

9 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

12 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

13 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

14 comatose   

adj.昏睡的，昏迷不醒的

参考例句：

• Those in extreme fear can be put into a comatose type state.那些极端恐惧的人可能会被安放进一种昏迷状态。
• The doctors revived the comatose man.这个医生使这个昏睡的苏醒了。

15 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。