乔布斯传 第40期:加盟雅达利(2)

 Lang and others wanted to let Jobs go, but Bushnell worked out a solution.

朗和其他人想赶走乔布斯，但布什内尔想出了一个解决方案。

"The smell and behavior wasn't an issue with me," he said. "Steve was prickly, but I kind of liked him.

“他的体味和行为举止对我来说并不是问题，”他说，“史蒂夫是很麻烦，但我挺喜欢他。

So I asked him to go on the night shift. It was a way to save him."

所以我让他上夜班。这样就可以把他留下了。”

Jobs would come in after Lang and others had left and work through most of the night.

乔布斯会在朗和其他人下班之后过来上班，工作一整晚。

Even thus isolated¹, he became known for his brashness.

即便已经隔绝到如此地步，他还是因为自己的鲁莽无礼出了名。

On those occasions when he happened to interact with others, he was prone² to informing them that they were "dumb shits."

在一些碰巧跟人交流的场合，他会肆无忌惮地称别人为“蠢货”。

In retrospect³, he stands by that judgment⁴. "The only reason I shone was that everyone else was so bad," Jobs recalled.

现在回想起来，他依然坚持自己的评判。“我那么耀眼的唯一原因就是，其他人都太糟糕了。”乔布斯回忆说。

Despite his arrogance⁵ (or perhaps because of it) he was able to charm Atari's boss.

尽管他很傲慢---或者正是因为他的傲慢---他获得了雅达利公司老板的青睐。

"He was more philosophical⁶ than the other people I worked with," Bushnell recalled.

“他比其他与我共事过的人更加有哲学气质，”布什内尔回忆道，

"We used to discuss free will versus⁷ determinism. I tended to believe that things were much more determined⁸, that we were programmed.

“我们曾经讨论过自由意志和宿命论的比较。我倾向于认为事情都是命中注定的，我们的人生都是被规划好的。

If we had perfect information, we could predict people's actions. Steve felt the opposite."

如果有足够的信息的话，我们可以预知一个人的行动。史蒂夫的观点与我正相反。”

That outlook accorded with his faith in the power of the will to bend reality.

这一观点与他“意志的力量可以改变现实”的信念是一致的。

Jobs helped improve some of the games by pushing the chips to produce fun designs,

他通过改进芯片，作出了更有趣的设计和更人性化的人机交互，进而完善了公司的一些游戏。

and Bushnell's inspiring willingness to play by his own rules rubbed off on him.

布什内尔夸大事实的本事以及按自己规则办事的意愿影响了乔布斯。

In addition, he intuitively appreciated the simplicity⁹ of Atari's games.

除此之外，乔布斯还很欣赏雅达利开发的游戏的简单性。

They came with no manual and needed to be uncomplicated enough that a stoned freshman¹⁰ could figure them out.

游戏没有使用手册，简单到即便是一个喝醉酒的初学者也能很快上手。

The only instructions for Atari's Star Trek¹¹ game were "1. Insert quarter. 2. Avoid Klingons."

雅达利的《星际迷航》游戏仅有的说明就是：“1.投入硬币；2.躲开克林贡人。

Not all of his coworkers shunned¹² Jobs.

并不是所有同事都讨厌乔布斯。

He became friends with Ron Wayne, a draftsman at Atari, who had earlier started a company that built slot machines.

他与一个叫做罗恩·韦恩（Rem Wayne)的绘图员成了朋友，此人之前经营着自己的公司，生产老虎机，

It subsequently failed, but Jobs became fascinated with the idea that it was possible to start your own company.

但之后生意失败了。然而乔布斯觉得开一家自己的公司这主意很吸引人。

"Ron was an amazing guy," said Jobs. "He started companies. I had never met anybody like that."

“罗恩是个很了不起的人乔布斯说，“他开过公司。我从没有遇到过他这样的人。”

He proposed to Wayne that they go into business together; Jobs said he could borrow $50,000, and they could design and market a slot machine.

乔布斯向罗恩·韦恩提议两人一起做生意；他说自己可以借来50000美元，然后他们可以设计并销售老虎机。

But Wayne had already been burned in business, so he declined.

但是韦恩曾经在生意场上吃过苦头，所以拒绝了。

"I said that was the quickest way to lose $50,000," Wayne recalled,

“我说那是损失50000美元最快的方法，”韦恩回忆说，

"but I admired the fact that he had a burning drive to start his own business."

“但我很佩服他，他有很迫切的欲望去开始自己的事业。”

One weekend Jobs was visiting Wayne at his apartment, engaging as they often did in philosophical discussions,

一个周末，乔布斯到韦恩的公寓拜访，像往常一样讨论哲学问題。

when Wayne said that there was something he needed to tell him.

这时韦恩说有些事情要吿诉乔布斯。

"Yeah, I think I know what it is," Jobs replied.

“我想我知道你要说什么，”乔布斯回答，

"I think you like men." Wayne said yes.

“我觉得你喜欢男人。”韦恩承认了。

"It was my first encounter with someone who I knew was gay," Jobs recalled.

“那是我第一次遇到熟人中有同性恋，”乔布斯回忆，

"He planted the right perspective of it for me." Jobs grilled¹³ him: "When you see a beautiful woman, what do you feel?"

“他给我灌输了关于同性恋的正确观点。”乔布斯追问他：“你看到一个漂亮的女人会有什么感觉？”

Wayne replied, "It's like when you look at a beautiful horse.

韦恩答道：“就好像你看到一匹漂亮的马，

You can appreciate it, but you don't want to sleep with it. You appreciate beauty for what it is."

你欣赏它，但你不想和它上床。你只是纯粹欣赏它的美。”

Wayne said that it is a testament¹⁴ to Jobs that he felt like revealing this to him.

韦恩说自己就是想把这个告诉乔布斯。

"Nobody at Atari knew, and I could count on my toes and fingers the number of people I told in my whole life.

“雅达利公司没人知道，在我的一生中知道这件事的人也屈指可数，”韦恩说，

But I guess it just felt right to tell him, that he would understand, and it didn't have any effect on our relationship."

“但我觉得告诉他没有任何问题，他会理解的，而且这也不会影响到我们的关系。”

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

4 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

5 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

6 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

10 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

11 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

12 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

14 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。