乔布斯传 第251期:NeXT发布会(5)

 　　After the applause, he used the quotations¹ book to make a more subtle point, about his reality distortion field.

　　掌声过后，他用《牛津引语词典》展示了更巧妙的一点，关于他的现实扭曲力场观点。

　　The quote he chose was from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.

　　他选用的引语来自刘易斯·卡洛尔的《爱丽丝镜中奇遇记》。

　　After Alice laments² that no matter how hard she tries she can't believe impossible things,

　　当爱丽丝感叹，不管自己多么努力尝试，都无法相信不可能的事情。

　　the White Queen retorts, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

　　白皇后反驳道：“为什么，有时我都来得及在早餐前想通六件不可能的事。”

　　Especially from the front rows, there was a roar of knowing laughter.

　　又是一阵会意的笑声，尤其是前排的观众。

　　All of the good cheer served to sugarcoat, or distract attention from, the bad news.

　　这些欢呼声都是糖衣炮弹，为了转移观众对于坏消息的注意力。

　　乔布斯传

　　When it came time to announce the price of the new machine,

　　当宣布新机器的价格时，

　　Jobs did what he would often do in product demonstrations³:

　　乔布斯采用了自己在产品演示中的常用伎俩：

　　reel off the features, describe them as being "worth thousands and thousands of dollars,"

　　一口气说出产品众多的特点，将它们描述成“价值成千上万美元”的东西，

　　and get the audience to imagine how expensive it really should be.

　　让观众想象这个产品真的该有多贵。

　　Then he announced what he hoped would seem like a low price:

　　随后他就开始宣布定好的价格，让产品的真实价格看起来比较低。

　　"We're going to be charging higher education a single price of $6,500."

　　“我们打算以每台6500美元的价格卖给髙等教育人士。”

　　From the faithful, there was scattered⁴ applause.

　　大厅里晌起了稀稀拉拉的掌声，来自忠实的追随者。

　　But his panel of academic advisors⁵ had long pushed to keep the price to between $2,000 and $3,000,

　　但是，他的学术顾问小组一直在努力将价格维持在2000~3000美元；

　　and they thought that Jobs had promised to do so. Some of them were appalled⁶.

　　而且他们认为乔布斯也承诺过。他们中有些人震惊了。

　　This was especially true once they discovered that the optional printer would cost another $2,000,

　　一旦他们发现可供选购的打印机又得花2000美元，

　　and the slowness of the optical disk would make the purchase of a $2,500 external hard disk advisable.

　　并且，由于光驱速度缓慢，最好再配一个外部硬盘，这又需要2500美元时，大家会更吃惊的。

1 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 laments   

n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the poem he laments the destruction of the countryside. 在那首诗里他对乡村遭到的破坏流露出悲哀。
• In this book he laments the slight interest shown in his writings. 在该书中他慨叹人们对他的著作兴趣微弱。 来自辞典例句

3 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

6 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》