精美英文欣赏:最璀璨的创新天堂

Part 4 The Brightest Heaven of Invention

第四部分 最璀璨的创新天堂

The saga¹ of Steve Jobs is the Silicon² Valley creation myth writ³ large: launching a startup in his parents，garage and building it into the world's most valuable company. He didn't invent many things outright⁴, but he was a master at putting together ideas, art, and technology in ways that invented the future. He designed the Mac after appreciating the power of graphical interfaces⁵ in a way that Xerox⁶ was unable to do, and he created the iPod after grasping the joy of having a thousand songs in your pocket in a way that Sony, which had all the assets and heritage, never could accomplish. Some leaders push innovations by being good at the big picture. Others do so by mastering details. Jobs did both, relentlessly⁷. As a result he launched a series of products over three decades that transformed whole industries:

史蒂夫·乔布斯的传奇壮大了硅谷的创新神话，他在父母的车库里开始创业，建立了苹果公司，继而将之发展成世界上最有价值的公司。他没有发明很多东西，但他是一个将概念、艺术和技术融为一体，开创未来的大师。意识到图形界面具有的强大力量，他设计了麦金塔电脑，而这是施乐公司无法做到的。能将一千首歌曲置入囊中的欣喜又使他创造了MP3播放器iPod,即使是拥有雄厚资产和悠久传统的索尼公司也绝不可能实现。为了推动创新，一些领导者从大处着眼，一些则着重落实细节，而乔布斯坚持不懈地要两者兼顾。结果，在30年的时间里，他推出了一系列产品，改变了整个产业：

The Apple II，which took Wozniak's circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.

苹果Ⅱ,这是借助沃兹尼亚克的电路板创造而成的首款不是仅面向电脑爱好者的个人电脑。

The Macintosh, which begat the home computer revolution and popularized graphical use rinter faces.

麦金塔电脑，带来了家庭电脑的革命，使图形用户界面普及化。

Toy Story and other Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.

《玩具总动员》和其他皮克斯动画电影，开启了数码想象的奇迹。

Apple stores, which reinvented the role of a store in defining a brand.

苹果商店，创新地确立了商店对建立品牌的作用。

The iPod, which changed the way we consume music.

MP3播放器iPod,改变了我们消费音乐的方式。

The iTunes Store, which saved the music industry.

iTunes音乐商店，挽救了音乐产业。

The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, email, and web devices.

iPhone,使手机集音乐、摄影、视频、电子邮件和网络设备为一体。

The App Store, which spawned⁸ a new content-creation industry.

App应用商店，催生了一个新的内容创作产业。

The iPad, which launched tablet computing⁹ and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books, and videos.

Pad平板电脑，提供了一个数字报纸、杂志、书籍和视频的平台。

iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.

iCloud云端服务，计算机不再是管理内容的核心设备，而是让我们的所有设备实现同步无缝对接。

And Apple itself, which Jobs considered his greatest creation, a place where imagination was nurtured，applied, and executed in ways so creative that it became the most valuable company on earth.

以及苹果公司本身，乔布斯认为这是他最伟大的创造，这是一个培育、应用和施展想象力的场所，瑰丽的想象和奇特的创意使它成为世界上最具价值的公司。

Was he smart? No, not exceptionally. Instead, he was a genius. His imaginative leaps were instinctive¹⁰, unexpected, and at times magical. He was, indeed, an example of what the mathematician¹¹ Mark Kac called a magician genius, someone whose insights come out of the blue and require intuition more than mere¹² mental processing power. Like a pathfinder, he could absorb information, sniff¹³ the winds, and sense what lay ahead.

他聪明吗？不，不是格外聪明。然而，他却是个天才。他富于想象力的跳跃都是本能的、不可预见的，有时是充满魔力的。他真是数学家马克·卡克所说的那种魔术师天才，他的洞见会不期而至，更多地依靠直觉而非大脑的处理能力。他像个探路者一样，可以吸收信息，嗅到风中的气味，对未来先知先觉。

Steve Jobs thus became the greatest business executive of our era, the one most certain to be remembered a century from now. History will place him in the pantheon right next to Edison and Ford¹⁴. More than anyone else of his time, he made products that were completely innovative¹⁵, combining the power of poetry and processors. With a ferocity that could make working with him as unsettling as it was inspiring, he also built the world's most creative company. And he was able to infuse into its DNA¹⁶ the design sensibilities，perfectionism, and imagination that make it likely to be, even decades from now, the company that thrives best at the intersection¹⁷ of artistry and technology.

史蒂夫·乔布斯就这样成为我们这个时代最伟大的商业决策者，一个世纪以后他也一定能被世人记得。在历史的万神殿里，他的位置就在爱迪生和福特的身旁。在他的时代，他超越众人，创造了极具创新性的产品，把诗歌和处理器的力量完美结合。他的粗暴使得和他共事既让人不安又令人振奋，而他借此打造了世界上最具创造力的公司。他能够在苹果的DNA中融入设计的敏感、完美主义和想象力，使之很可能，甚至此后几十年，都是在艺术与科技的交汇处成长得最茁壮的公司。

1 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

4 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

5 interfaces   

界面( interface的名词复数 )； 接口（连接两装置的电路，可使数据从一种代码转换成另一种代码）； 交界； 联系

参考例句：

• If the class needs to be reprogrammed, new interfaces are created. 如果class需要重新程序设计，新的interfaces创建。
• Interfaces solve this problem of evolving code. Interfaces解决了代码升级的问题。

6 xerox   

n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印

参考例句：

• Xerox and Lucent are two more high-tech companies run by women.施乐和朗讯是另外两家由女性经营的大科技公司。
• You cannot take it home,but you can xerox it.你不能把它带回家，但可以复印。

7 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

8 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

9 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

10 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

11 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

14 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

15 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

16 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。

17 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。