乔布斯传 第345期:万物解体(1)

 　　Things Fall Apart 万物解体

　　When Jobs unveiled the NeXT computer in 1988, there was a burst of excitement. 当乔布斯1988年首度推出NeXT计算机时，引起了热烈反响。

　　That fizzled when the computer finally went on sale the following year. 可是到第二年计算机最终上市时，市场热情却退去了。

　　Jobs's ability to dazzle, intimidate¹, and spin the press began to fail him, and there was a series of stories on the company's woes². 乔布斯那种让媒体眼花缭乱、心生敬畏、趋之若鹜的才能开始失效，负面新闻也层出不穷。

　　"NeXT is incompatible³ with other computers at a time when the industry is moving toward interchangeable systems," “NeXT跟其他计算机不兼容，而当时，这个行业正向操作系统可互换的方向发展，”

　　Bart Ziegler of Associated Press reported.  美联社记者巴特·齐格勒报道说，

　　"Because relatively⁴ little software exists to run on NeXT, it has a hard time attracting customers." “因为相对来说，可以在NeXT上使用的现有软件很少，所以它很难吸引消费者。”

　　NeXT tried to reposition itself as the leader in a new category, personal workstations, NeXT试图将自己重新定位为一个新产品类型--个人工作站的领跑者，

　　for people who wanted the power of a workstation and the friendliness⁵ of a personal computer. 目标用户是那些希望兼顾工作站的强大功能与个人计算机的友好性的人。

　　But those customers were by now buying them from fast-growing Sun Microsystems. 但是这类消费者当时已经从快速发展的Sim公司买到了这样的产品。

　　Revenues for NeXT in 1990 were $28 million; Sun made $2.5 billion that year. NeXT在1990年的收入是2800万美元，而同年Sun公司的收入是25亿美元。

　　IBM abandoned its deal to license⁶ the NeXT software, so Jobs was forced to do something against his nature: IBM放弃了向NeXT授权软件的协议，所以乔布斯被迫做了一件违背他本性的事情：

　　Despite his ingrained belief that hardware and software should be integrally linked, 虽然他根深蒂固地认为硬件和软件应该是一个不可分割的整体，

　　he agreed in January 1992 to license the NeXTSTEP operating system to run on other computers. 但是在1992年1月，他同意授权NeXTSTEP操作系统在其他品牌的计算机上运行。

1 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

2 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

3 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 friendliness   

n.友谊，亲切，亲密

参考例句：

• Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面，我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
• His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。