乔布斯传 第230期:靠自己(9)

 　　He is full of mannerisms. He bites his nails.

　　他有很多怪癖，包括咬指甲，

　　He stares with unnerving earnestness at whoever is speaking.

　　还有用他那令人胆怯的认真劲儿盯着说话的人。

　　His hands, which are slightly and inexplicably¹ yellow, are in constant motion.

　　他的手有些莫名的发黄，不断在动。

　　What particularly struck Nocera was Jobs's "almost willful lack of tact²."

　　最让诺切拉震惊的是乔布斯的“几乎故意的人际交往技巧缺乏”。

　　It was more than just an inability to hide his opinions when others said something he thought dumb;

　　当别人说出乔布斯认为愚蠢的意见时，他无法隐藏自己的观点

　　it was a conscious readiness, even a perverse³ eagerness, to put people down, humiliate⁴ them, show he was smarter.

　　他似乎早有准备，急迫地想要贬低、羞辱他人，以显示自己更聪明。

　　When Dan'l Lewin handed out an organization chart, for example, Jobs rolled his eyes.

　　例如，当丹·卢因拿出一份组织结构图时，乔布斯转了转眼珠。

　　"These charts are bullshit," he interjected. Yet his moods still swung wildly, as at Apple.

　　“这些东西狗屁不是。”他最终插话道。不过，他的情绪仍然喜怒无常，就像在苹果公司时一样。

　　乔布斯传

　　A finance person came into the meeting and Jobs lavished⁵ praise on him for a "really, really great job on this";

　　一位财务人员来到会议室，乔布斯慷慨地称赞他“在这个项目上的工作非常非常出色”；

　　the previous day Jobs had told him, "This deal is crap."

　　但是前一天，乔布斯才对他说过：“这笔交易跟垃圾没什么两样。”

　　One of NeXT's first ten employees was an interior designer for the company's first headquarters, in Palo Alto.

　　NeXT最初的十名员工中，就有一位是室内设计师，负责帕洛奧图总部的设计，这是NeXT公司的第一个总部。

　　Even though Jobs had leased a building that was new and nicely designed, he had it completely gutted⁶ and rebuilt.

　　虽然乔布斯租下的大楼是新建的，设计也漂亮，但他将内部设施全部拆毁重建。

　　Walls were replaced by glass, the carpets were replaced by light hardwood flooring.

　　墙壁换成了玻璃，地毯换成了浅色的硬木地板。

　　The process was repeated when NeXT moved to a bigger space in Redwood City in 1989.

　　1989年，NeXT公司搬到雷德伍德一个更大的地方时，这一过程再次上演。

　　Even though the building was brand-new, Jobs insisted that the elevators be moved so that the entrance lobby would be more dramatic.

　　尽管大楼是全新的，但是乔布斯坚持要将电梯挪走，让大堂显得更为恢弘。

　　As a centerpiece, Jobs commissioned I. M. Pei to design a grand staircase that seemed to float in the air.

　　在大堂的中心，乔布斯委托贝聿铭设计了一段宏伟的楼梯，看上去就像飘浮在空中一样。

　　The contractor⁷ said it couldn't be built. Jobs said it could, and it was.

　　承建商表示这个设计没法实现，乔布斯坚持能够做到，最终也确实建成了。

　　Years later Jobs would make such staircases a feature at Apple's signature stores.

　　多年后，乔布斯把这款楼梯变成了苹果专卖店的特色。

1 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

2 tact   

n.机敏，圆滑，得体

参考例句：

• She showed great tact in dealing with a tricky situation.她处理棘手的局面表现得十分老练。
• Tact is a valuable commodity.圆滑老练是很有用处的。

3 perverse   

adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的

参考例句：

• It would be perverse to stop this healthy trend.阻止这种健康发展的趋势是没有道理的。
• She gets a perverse satisfaction from making other people embarrassed.她有一种不正常的心态，以使别人难堪来取乐。

4 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

5 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

6 gutted   

adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏

参考例句：

• Disappointed? I was gutted! 失望？我是伤心透了！
• The invaders gutted the historic building. 侵略者们将那幢历史上有名的建筑洗劫一空。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。