乔布斯传 第183期:出埃及记(3)

 　　But the biggest news that month was the departure from Apple, yet again, of its cofounder, Steve Wozniak.

　　不过，当月最轰动的新闻还是苹果公司创始人之一史蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克的离开。

　　Wozniak was then quietly working as a midlevel engineer in the Apple II division,当时，沃兹尼亚克低调地在Apple II部门做中级工程师，serving as a humble¹ mascot² of the roots of the company and staying as far away from management and corporate³ politics as he could.

　　作为公司谦卑的招牌人物而存在，并尽可能地远离管理和公司政治。

　　He felt, with justification⁴, that Jobs was not appreciative⁵ of the Apple II,在他看来，有理由相信乔布斯并不欣赏Apple IIwhich remained the cash cow of the company and accounted for 70% of its sales at Christmas 1984.

　　而Apple II电脑仍然是苹果公司的摇钱树，而且1984年圣诞期间，其销量就占公司产品销量的70%。

　　"People in the Apple II group were being treated as very unimportant by the rest of the company," he later said.

　　“公司里其他人也认为Apple II团队的成员不重要，”他后来说道，"This was despite the fact that the Apple II was by far the largest-selling product in our company for ages, and would be for years to come."“尽管在当时，Apple II是我们公司多年来销量最大的产品，而且未来几年它仍然可能是最畅销的机型。”

　　He even roused himself to do something out of character;沃兹尼亚克甚至强迫自己去做一些不合自己性格的事；he picked up the phone one day and called Sculley,有一天，他拿起电话打给斯卡利，

　　berating⁶ him for lavishing⁷ so much attention on Jobs and the Macintosh division.

　　痛斥他在乔布斯和麦金塔部门浪费了太多注意力。

　　双语有声读物 乔布斯传

　　Frustrated⁸, Wozniak decided⁹ to leave quietly to start a new company that would make a universal remote control device he had invented.

　　沮丧万分的沃兹尼亚克决定悄然离去，创办一家新公司，制造自己发明的万能遥控器。

　　It would control your television, stereo,有了这个装置，用户只需通过几个简单的按钮，and other electronic devices with a simple set of buttons that you could easily program.

　　就能控制家里的电视机、立体声音响和其他电子设备。

　　He informed the head of engineering at the Apple II division,他将自己的想法告诉了Apple II部门的工程师主管，but he didn't feel he was important enough to go out of channels and tell Jobs or Markkula.

　　但觉得自己并不那么重要，没必要通知别的部门，也没必要告诉乔布斯和马库拉。

　　So Jobs first heard about it when the news leaked in the Wall Street Journal.

　　因此，直到看到《华尔街日报》报道，乔布斯才第一次得知此事。

　　In his earnest way, Wozniak had openly answered the reporter's questions when he called.

　　当记者致电时，沃兹尼亚克真诚坦率地回答了记者的问题。

　　Yes, he said, he felt that Apple had been giving short shrift to the Apple II division.

　　他说，是的，自己觉得苹果公司怠慢了Apple II部门。

　　"Apple's direction has been horrendously¹⁰ wrong for five years," he said.

　　“苹果的发展方向已经严重错误，并持续5年了。”他表示。

　　Less than two weeks later Wozniak and Jobs traveled together to the White House,不到两周后，沃兹尼亚克和乔布斯共同前往白宫，where Ronald Reagan presented them with the first National Medal of Technology.

　　时任美国总统的罗纳德·里根授予他们首届国家技术奖章。

　　The president quoted what President Rutherford Hayes had said when first shown a telephone里根引用第19任总统拉瑟福德·海斯初次见到电话时所说的一句话"An amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one?"“惊人的发明，但是谁想要用这个东西呢？”

　　and then quipped, "I thought at the time that he might be mistaken."然后打趣道：“我觉得，他当时可能弄错了。”

　　Because of the awkward situation surrounding Wozniak's departure, Apple did not throw a celebratory dinner.

　　鉴于沃兹尼亚克离开苹果公司的尷尬情形，苹果公司之后并未举行庆祝晚宴。

　　So Jobs and Wozniak went for a walk afterward¹¹ and ate at a sandwich shop.

　　乔布斯和沃兹尼亚克在领奖之后一起出去散步，在一家三明治店吃了些东西。

　　They chatted amiably¹², Wozniak recalled, and avoided any discussion of their disagreements.

　　沃兹尼亚克回忆说，他们亲切地聊了聊，避开了任何关于分歧的讨论。

 

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

5 appreciative   

adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的

参考例句：

• She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
• We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。

6 berating   

v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He deserved the berating that the coach gave him. 他活该受到教练的严厉训斥。 来自互联网
• The boss is berating those who were late for work. 老板正在呵斥那些上班迟到的员工。 来自互联网

7 lavishing   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• With the private sector sitting on its hands, Western governments are lavishing subsidies on CCS. 只有一些私营部门使用碳截存技术，西方政府在这项技术上挥霍了不少的津贴。 来自互联网
• We were lavishing a little respect on China, which always works well with China. 我们给予中国一点尊重，而这样做对中国来说，通常都很受用。 来自互联网

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 horrendously   

参考例句：

• Speedy they may be, but chipped ID cards are horrendously insecure. 芯片身份证也许便捷，但却极不安全。 来自互联网

11 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

12 amiably   

adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地

参考例句：

• She grinned amiably at us. 她咧着嘴向我们亲切地微笑。
• Atheists and theists live together peacefully and amiably in this country. 无神论者和有神论者在该国和睦相处。 来自《简明英汉词典》