乔布斯传 第373期:在幕后彷徨(9)

 　　That month Amelio had to face the annual stockholders meeting 当月，阿梅里奥必须面对一年一度的股东大会，

　　and explain why the results for the final quarter of 1996 showed a 30% plummet¹ in sales from the year before. 并解释为什么1996财年最后一个季度的销售量比上年同期暴跌了30%。

　　Shareholders² lined up at the microphones to vent³ their anger. 股东们在麦克风前排着队发泄他们的愤怒。

　　Amelio was clueless about how poorly he handled the meeting. 阿梅里奥完全不知道自己把会议开得多么糟糕。

　　"The presentation was regarded as one of the best I had ever given," he later wrote. “这是我做过的最好的一次演讲。”他后来写道。

　　But Ed Woolard, the former CEO of DuPont who was now the chair of the Apple board (Markkula had been demoted to vice⁴ chair), was appalled⁵.  然而苹果董事会主席、杜邦公司前CEO埃德·伍拉德（马库拉当时已降职为副主席）却听得大惊失色。

　　"This is a disaster," his wife whispered to him in the midst of the session. Woolard agreed. “这真是场灾难。”他妻子听到一半时在他耳边说。伍拉德也这么认为。

　　"Gil came dressed real cool, but he looked and sounded silly," he recalled. “吉尔穿得很酷，可他无论看起来还是听起来都很愚蠢。”他回忆说，

　　"He couldn't answer the questions, didn't know what he was talking about, and didn't inspire any confidence." “他无法回答问题，不知道他自己在说什么，也没有鼓舞起大家的信心。”

　　Woolard picked up the phone and called Jobs, whom he'd never met. 伍拉德拿起电话打给乔布斯，他们还从未见过面。

　　The pretext⁶ was to invite him to Delaware to speak to DuPont executives. 他借口说想邀请他去特拉华州给杜邦公司的高管演讲。

　　Jobs declined, but as Woolard recalled, "the request was a ruse⁷ in order to talk to him about Gil." 乔布斯婉拒了，但是伍拉德回忆，“那次邀请是个小伎俩，是为了能跟他讨论吉尔的问题。”

　　He steered⁸ the phone call in that direction and asked Jobs point-blank what his impression of Amelio was. 他把谈话引向那个方向，然后直截了当地问乔布斯对阿梅里奥是什么印象。

1 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

2 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

3 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 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》

6 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

7 ruse   

n.诡计，计策；诡计

参考例句：

• The children thought of a clever ruse to get their mother to leave the house so they could get ready for her surprise.孩子们想出一个聪明的办法使妈妈离家，以便他们能准备给她一个惊喜。It is now clear that this was a ruse to divide them.现在已清楚这是一个离间他们的诡计。

8 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》