乔布斯传 第231期:NeXT计算机

 　　The Computer

　　NeXT计算机

　　During the early months of NeXT, Jobs and Dan'l Lewin went on the road,

　　NeXT公司成立的最初几个月，乔布斯和丹·卢因四处奔波，

　　often accompanied by a few colleagues, to visit campuses and solicit¹ opinions.

　　常常和其他一些同事一起走访校园，征求意见。

　　At Harvard they met with Mitch Kapor, the chairman of Lotus software, over dinner at Harvest restaurant.

　　在哈佛大学，他们遇见了正在Harvest餐厅就餐的莲花软件公司董事长米切尔·卡普尔。

　　When Kapor began slathering butter on his bread, Jobs asked him, "Have you ever heard of serum² cholesterol³?"

　　卡普尔正往面包上涂黄油，乔布斯看着他问道：“你听说过血清胆固醇吗？”

　　Kapor responded, "I'll make you a deal. You stay away from commenting on my dietary habits,

　　卡普尔回答说：“我们来作个交易，你别评论我的饮食习惯，

　　and I will stay away from the subject of your personality."

　　我也不谈论你的性格。”

　　乔布斯传

　　It was meant humorously, but as Kapor later commented, "Human relationships were not his strong suit."

　　这是卡普尔的小幽默，但是正如卡普尔后来评论的那样：“人际关系不是他的长项。”

　　Lotus agreed to write a spreadsheet program for the NeXT operating system.

　　莲花公司同意为NeXT操作系统编写电子表格程序

　　Jobs wanted to bundle useful content with the machine,

　　乔布斯想要在机器中预装出色的内容，

　　so Michael Hawley, one of the engineers, developed a digital dictionary.

　　于是工程师迈克尔·霍利开发了一部电子词典。

　　He learned that a friend of his at Oxford⁴ University Press had been involved in the typesetting of a new edition of Shakespeare's works.

　　一天，他买了新版的莎士比亚作品集，翻阅时发现自己有位朋友在牛津大学出版社并参与了这本书的新版。

　　That meant that there was probably a computer tape he could get his hands on and, if so, incorporate it into the NeXT's memory.

　　这意味着，霍利或许可以拿到他们的排版，而且如果对方同意，就能把这本书存入NeXT。

　　"So I called up Steve, and he said that would be awesome⁵, and we flew over to Oxford together."

　　“于是，我打电话给史蒂夫。他说这主意很棒，我们就一起飞到牛津。”

1 solicit   

vi.勾引；乞求；vt.请求，乞求；招揽(生意)

参考例句：

• Beggars are not allowed to solicit in public places.乞丐不得在公共场所乞讨。
• We should often solicit opinions from the masses.我们应该经常征求群众意见。

2 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

3 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.