乔布斯传 第371期:在幕后彷徨(7)

 　　Jobs did not come into the office regularly, but he was on the phone to Amelio often. 乔布斯不经常来办公室，但是他经常给阿梅里奥打电话。

　　Once he had succeeded in making sure that Tevanian, Rubinstein, and others he trusted were given top positions, 一旦他成功地把泰瓦尼安、鲁宾斯坦等他信任的人安插在髙管位置上后，

　　he turned his focus onto the sprawling¹ product line. 他就把注意力转向了杂七杂八的产品线。

　　One of his pet peeves² was Newton, the handheld personal digital assistant that boasted handwriting recognition capability³. 他的眼中钉之一就是牛顿，这是一款手持个人电子设备，宣称有很好的手写识别率。

　　It was not quite as bad as the jokes and Doonesbury comic strip made it seem, but Jobs hated it. 其实它也并非如大家玩笑中的以及《杜斯别里家族》连环画里说得那么糟糕，但是乔布斯讨厌它。

　　He disdained⁴ the idea of having a stylus or pen for writing on a screen. 他很鄙视用手写笔在屏幕上写字的想法。

　　"God gave us ten styluses," he would say, waving his fingers. "Let's not invent another." “上帝给了我们十支手写笔，”他会挥舞着他的手指说，“我们不要再多发明一个了。”

　　In addition, he viewed Newton as John Sculley's one major innovation, his pet project. 再加上，乔布斯把牛顿看做是约翰·斯卡利的主要发明，是斯卡利最喜爱的项目。

　　That alone doomed⁵ it in Jobs's eyes. "You ought to kill Newton," he told Amelio one day by phone. 仅这一点，就足以让它在乔布斯的眼里永无出头之日。“你应该把牛顿砍掉。”一天他打电话给阿梅里奥说。

　　It was a suggestion out of the blue, and Amelio pushed back. 这是个毫无来由的建议，阿梅里奥难以接受。

　　"What do you mean, kill it?" he said. "Steve, do you have any idea how expensive that would be?" “什么意思，砍掉？”他说,“史蒂夫，你有没有概念，那得要花多少钱？”

　　"Shut it down, write it off, get rid of it," said Jobs. "It doesn't matter what it costs. “停产，核销，处理掉。”乔布斯说。“花多少钱不重要。

　　People will cheer you if you got rid of it." 如果你把它处理掉，人们会为你喝彩。”

　　"I've looked into Newton and it's going to be a moneymaker," Amelio declared. "I don't support getting rid of it." “我仔细研究了牛顿，它是能赚钱的。”阿梅里奥说，“我不支持把它处理掉。”

　　By May, however, he announced plans to spin off the Newton division, the beginning of its yearlong stutter-step march to the grave. 然而，到5月份，他宣布了分拆牛顿部门的计划。之后经过长达一年磕磕绊绊的跋涉，它的生命走向终结。

1 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

2 peeves   

n.麻烦的事物，怨恨，触怒( peeve的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It peeves me to be ordered out of my own house. 命令我从自己的家中出去，真太气人了。 来自辞典例句
• Write down two of your pet peeves about home or any other situation. 写下两个你厌烦的家务事或其他的情况。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

3 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

4 disdained   

鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做

参考例句：

• I disdained to answer his rude remarks. 我不屑回答他的粗话。
• Jackie disdained the servants that her millions could buy. 杰姬鄙视那些她用钱就可以收买的奴仆。

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。