乔布斯传 第254期:NeXT发布会(8)

 　　When the hype died down, the reaction to the NeXT computer was muted, especially since it was not yet commercially available.

　　当宣传炒作平息下来后，市场对NeXT电脑的反应平淡，尤其是它还未上市销售。

　　Bill Joy, the brilliant and wry¹ chief scientist at rival Sun Microsystems,

　　比尔·乔伊是竞争对手Sim公司的首席科学家，聪明幽默，

　　called it "the first Yuppie workstation," which was not an unalloyed compliment.

　　他称NeXT为“第一款雅皮士终端”，这应该是有保留的恭维。

　　Bill Gates, as might be expected, continued to be publicly dismissive.

　　比尔·盖茨一如既往地对NeXT进行公开批驳。

　　"Frankly², I'm disappointed," he told the Wall Street Journal.

　　“坦白地说，我很失望。”他告诉《华尔街日报》，

　　"Back in 1981, we were truly excited by the Macintosh when Steve showed it to us,

　　“1981年，当乔布斯向我们展示麦金塔的时候，我们真的因此而激动，

　　because when you put it side-by-side with another computer, it was unlike anything anybody had ever seen before."

　　因为当你把它和别的电脑放在一起时，它不同于以往任何机器。”

　　The NeXT machine was not like that.

　　NeXT电脑不是这样。

　　"In the grand scope of things, most of these features are truly trivial."

　　“整体来看，它的大部分功能都真的无足轻重。”

　　He said that Microsoft would continue its plans not to write software for the NeXT.

　　他说，微软将继续其计划，不为NeXT编写软件。

　　Right after the announcement event, Gates wrote a parody³ email to his staff.

　　在NeXT的发布会后，盖茨给自己的员工写了一封诙谐的邮件。

　　"All reality has been completely suspended," it began.

　　“所有现实都被完全搁置。”邮件开头写道。

　　Looking back at it, Gates laughs that it may have been "the best email I ever wrote."

　　回想起这封邮件，盖茨笑着说这可能是“我写过的最好的邮件”。

　　When the NeXT computer finally went on sale in mid-1989, the factory was primed to churn out ten thousand units a month.

　　1989年中，NeXT电脑终于开始销售了，工厂已经准备好每月生产10000台

　　As it turned out, sales were about four hundred a month.

　　结果这款电脑每月的销量只有约400台。

　　The beautiful factory robots, so nicely painted, remained mostly idle, and NeXT continued to hemorrhage cash.

　　漂亮的工厂机器人被喷刷得很好，却只能闲置着，而NeXT还在继续烧钱。

1 wry   

adj.讽刺的；扭曲的

参考例句：

• He made a wry face and attempted to wash the taste away with coffee.他做了个鬼脸，打算用咖啡把那怪味地冲下去。
• Bethune released Tung's horse and made a wry mouth.白求恩放开了董的马，噘了噘嘴。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。