乔布斯传 第185期:1985年春的摊牌

 　　Showdown, Spring 1985

　　摊牌，1985年春

　　There were many reasons for the rift¹ between Jobs and Sculley in the spring of 1985.

　　1985年春，乔布斯和斯卡利之间出现了裂痕。原因是多方面的。

　　Some weremerely business disagreements,

　　有些只是业务上的分歧，

　　such as Sculley's attempt to maximize profits by keeping the Macintosh price high譬如，斯卡利意图维持麦金塔的髙价来达到利润最大化，when Jobs wanted to make it more affordable².

　　而乔布斯则想要让它的价格更实惠。

　　Others were weirdly³ psychological and stemmed from the torrid and unlikely infatuation they initially⁴ had with each other.

　　另一些就是奇怪的心理因素，源自他们最初对彼此的狂热和不现实的迷恋。

　　Sculley had painfully craved⁵ Jobs's affection,斯卡利苦苦渴求乔布斯的喜爱，

　　Jobs had eagerly sought a father figure and mentor,而乔布斯则渴望在斯卡利身上获得父亲和良师益友般的感觉。

　　and when the ardor⁶ began to cool there was an emotional backwash.

　　当两人的热情开始降温时，就产生了情绪上的反弹。

　　乔布斯传

　　But at its core, the growing breach⁷ had two fundamental causes, one on each side.

　　但是，造成两人之间裂痕日益加深的根本原因仍在他们自己身上。

　　For Jobs, the problem was that Sculley never became a product person.

　　对乔布斯来说，问题在于斯卡利从来都没有成为一个懂产品的人。

　　He didn't make the effort, or show the capacity, to understand the fine points of what they were making.

　　他没有努力，也没有显示出自己有能力理解苹果公司所做产品的精妙之处。

　　On the contrary, he found Jobs's passion for tiny technical tweaks and design details to be obsessive⁸ and counterproductive.

　　相反，斯卡利觉得乔布斯太过沉迷于细微的技术调整和设计细节，没有效率。

　　He had spent his career selling sodas⁹ and snacks whose recipes were largely irrelevant¹⁰ to him.

　　他过去做的工作是销售汽水和零食，产品的配方在很大程度上与自己无关。

　　He wasn't naturally passionate¹¹ about products,他对产品也没有天生的热情，

　　which was among the most damning sins that Jobs could imagine.

　　而这正是乔布斯所能想象的最深重的罪孽之一。

　　"I tried to educate him about the details of engineering," Jobs recalled,“我试图教会他工程上的细节，”乔布斯后来回忆说，"but he had no idea how products are created, and after a while it just turned into arguments.

　　“但是，他不知道产品是怎样创造出来的，一段时间以后，这种培养变成了争论。

　　But I learned that my perspective was right. Products are everything."但我知道，我的观点是正确的。产品就是一切。”

　　He came to see Sculley as clueless,

　　他觉得斯卡利很愚蠢。

　　and his contempt was exacerbated¹² by Sculley's hunger for his affection and delusions¹³ that they were very similar.

　　但斯卡利渴望得到乔布斯的喜爱，并且产生了自己和他很相似的幻觉，这更加剧了乔布斯对他的蔑视。

　　For Sculley, the problem was that Jobs,

　　而斯卡利觉得问题出在乔布斯身上，

　　when he was no longer in courtship or manipulative mode,当乔布斯不再处于“求爱期”或有所图时，

　　was frequently obnoxious¹⁴, rude, selfish, and nasty to other people.

　　就常常很令人讨厌、粗鲁、自私并且对其他人脾气不好。

　　He found Jobs's boorish¹⁵ behavior as despicable as Jobs found Sculley's lack of passion for product details.

　　他觉得乔布斯的行为粗鲁可鄙，这程度就和乔布斯鄙视他对产品细节缺乏激情一样。

　　Sculley was kind, caring, and polite to a fault.

　　斯卡利能和善、关切、彬彬有礼地对待错误，

　　At one point they were planning to meet with Xerox's vice¹⁶ chair Bill Glavin, and Sculley begged Jobs to behave.

　　有一回，他们计划与施乐公司董事会副主席比尔·格拉文会面，斯卡利乞求乔布斯到时候不要失礼。

　　But as soon as they sat down, Jobs told Glavin,然而，刚一就座，乔布斯就跟格拉文说：

　　"You guys don't have any clue what you're doing," and the meeting broke up.

　　“你们这些家伙完全不知道自己在做什么。”会面不欢而散。

　　"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself," Jobs told Sculley.

　　“对不起，但我控制不住自己。”乔布斯告诉斯卡利。

　　It was one of many such cases.

　　这只是许多类似情况中的一例。

　　As Atari's Al Alcorn later observed,

　　正如雅达利公司的阿尔·奥尔康后来评论的，

　　"Sculley believed in keeping people happy and worrying about relationships.

　　“斯卡利想让别人高兴，并会顾及人际关系。

　　Steve didn't give a shit about that.

　　史蒂夫对此则不屑一顾。

　　But he did care about the product in a way that Sculley never could,但他对产品的关注又是斯卡利永远达不到的，

　　and he was able to avoid having too many bozos working at Apple by insulting anyone who wasn' t an A player."而且乔布斯会侮辱任何一个算不上一流队员的人，以避免苹果出现太多的笨蛋。”

 

1 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

6 ardor   

n.热情，狂热

参考例句：

• His political ardor led him into many arguments.他的政治狂热使他多次卷入争论中。
• He took up his pursuit with ardor.他满腔热忱地从事工作。

7 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

8 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

9 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句

10 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

11 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

12 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 delusions   

n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想

参考例句：

• the delusions of the mentally ill 精神病患者的妄想
• She wants to travel first-class: she must have delusions of grandeur. 她想坐头等舱旅行，她一定自以为很了不起。 来自辞典例句

14 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。

15 boorish   

adj.粗野的，乡巴佬的

参考例句：

• His manner seemed rather boorish.他的举止看上去很俗气。
• He disgusted many with his boorish behaviour.他的粗野行为让很多人都讨厌他。

16 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。