乔布斯传 第138期:我们当海盗吧!(6)

 Jobs and Belleville, along with Apple veteran Rod Holt (the guy Jobs enlisted¹ to design the first power supply for the Apple II), flew to Japan to figure out what to do.

乔布斯和贝尔维尔，以及苹果的资深员工罗德·霍尔特（帮乔布斯设计AppleII第一款电源的人）一起飞到了日本，寻求解决问题的办法。

They took the bullet train from Tokyo to visit the Alps facility.

他们从东京乘坐高速列车前往阿尔卑斯电子公司的工厂。

The engineers there didn't even have a working prototype, just a crude model.

那里的工程师甚至连一件可以使用的样机都没有，只有一个未完工的模型。

Jobs thought it was great, but Belleville was appalled².

乔布斯觉得不错，但贝尔维尔对这种状况感到震惊。

There was no way, he thought, that Alps could have it ready for the Mac within a year.

他认为，阿尔卑斯电子公司绝不可能在一年之内将它准备就绪，然后应用到Mac上。

As they proceeded to visit other Japanese companies, Jobs was on his worst behavior.

他们又接着参观了另外几家日本公司，乔布斯的举止十分粗鲁。

He wore jeans and sneakers to meetings with Japanese managers in dark suits.

他穿着牛仔裤和运动鞋去跟那些穿深色西装的日本经理会面。

When they formally handed him little gifts, as was the custom,

他们会按照惯例，郑重地递给乔布斯一些小礼物，

he often left them behind, and he never reciprocated³ with gifts of his own.

但这些礼物经常被乔布斯丢在一边，他也从没有回赠礼物给对方。

He would sneer⁴ when rows of engineers lined up to greet him, bow, and politely offer their products for inspection⁵.

成排的工程师们列队欢迎他，对他鞠躬，然后恭敬地送上自己的产品供他检查，他只会冷笑一声。

Jobs hated both the devices and the obsequiousness⁶.

乔布斯既讨厌他们的产品，又讨厌他们的谄媚。

"What are you showing me this for?" he snapped at one stop.

“你绘我看这个干什么？”他在一家工厂的时候厉声问道，

"This is a piece of crap! Anybody could build a better drive than this."

“这就是一块垃圾！随便找个人做出来的驱动器都比这个好。”

Although most of his hosts were appalled, some seemed amused.

虽然接待方的大多数人都会对他的举止感到震惊，但有一些人似乎被他逗乐了。

They had heard tales of his obnoxious⁷ style and brash behavior, and now they were getting to see it in full display.

他们事先听说过关于他令人讨厌的作风和鲁莽行为的故事，现在亲眼见到了。

The final stop was the Sony factory, located in a drab suburb of Tokyo.

参观的最后一站是坐落在东京一处死气沉沉的郊区的索尼工厂。

To Jobs, it looked messy and inelegant. A lot of the work was done by hand.

在乔布斯看来，这家工厂很杂乱，要价也很髙，很多工作都是手工完成的。

He hated it. Back at the hotel, Belleville argued for going with the Sony disk drive. It was ready to use.

他痛恨这些。回到酒店后，贝尔维尔主张使用索尼的磁盘驱动器，因为它们已经可以直接用到Mac上了。

Jobs disagreed. He decided⁸ that they would work with Alps to produce their own drive,

乔布斯不同意，他决定跟阿尔卑斯电子公司合作，生产他们自己的驱动器，

and he ordered Belleville to cease all work with Sony.

同时命令贝尔维尔停止与索尼的一切合作。

Belleville decided it was best to partially⁹ ignore Jobs,

贝尔维尔认为最好在一定程度上忽略掉布斯。

and he asked a Sony executive to get its disk drive ready for use in the Macintosh.

他要求索尼的一名管理人员，让他们的磁盘驱动器准备好应用于麦金塔电脑上。

If and when it became clear that Alps could not deliver on time, Apple would switch to Sony.

万一阿尔卑斯电子公司无法按时供货，苹果公司就会转用索尼的产品。

So Sony sent over the engineer who had developed the drive,

于是索尼把开发这款驱动器的工程师派到了苹果公司，

Hidetoshi Komoto, a Purdue graduate who fortunately possessed¹⁰ a good sense of humor about his clandestine¹¹ task.

他就是嘉本秀年，毕业于普渡大学，幸运的是，他对于这项秘密任务充满了幽默感。

1 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 reciprocated   

v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动

参考例句：

• Her passion for him was not reciprocated. 她对他的热情没有得到回应。
• Their attraction to each other as friends is reciprocated. 作为朋友，他们相互吸引着对方。 来自辞典例句

4 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。

5 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

6 obsequiousness   

媚骨

参考例句：

• He became rebarbative and prickly and spiteful; I find his obsequiousness repellent. 他变得令人讨厌、易发怒，怀有恶意；我发现他的奉承令人厌恶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was free from all sycophancy or obsequiousness in the face of the reactionary ruling class. 他在反动统治阶级面前没有丝毫的奴颜与媚骨。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 obnoxious   

adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的

参考例句：

• These fires produce really obnoxious fumes and smoke.这些火炉冒出来的烟气确实很难闻。
• He is the most obnoxious man I know.他是我认识的最可憎的人。

8 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。

9 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

10 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

11 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。