乔布斯传 第702期:出版和新闻(4)

Jobs was particularly interested in striking¹ a deal with the New York Times,

乔布斯尤其想要和《纽约时报》达成交易，

which he felt was a great newspaper in danger of declining² because it had not figured out how to charge for digital content.

他认为《纽约时报》是一份伟大的报纸，但由于不知道如何对数字内容进行收费而陷入衰退的危险之中。

"One of my personal projects this year, I've decided³, is to try to help -- whether they want it or not -- the Times," he told me early in 2010.

2010年初，他对我说：“我已经决定，今年的个人项目之一就是帮助《纽约时报》，不管他们愿不愿意。

"I think it's important to the country for them to figure it out."

我认为，他们搞清楚如何对数字内容进行收费，这对整个美国都很重要。”

During his New York trip, he went to dinner with fifty top Times executives⁴ in the cellar⁵ private dining room at Pranna, an Asian restaurant.

纽约之行期间，他同50名时报集团高管在一家亚洲餐厅普拉娜的包房里共进晚餐。

He ordered a mango smoothie and a plain vegan pasta, neither of which was on the menu.

他点了一杯芒果奶昔和纯素意大利面，这两样在菜单上都没有。

There he showed off the iPad and explained how important it was to find a modest price point for digital content that consumers would accept.

他在包房里展示了iPad，并解释为数码内容制定出消费者愿意接受的适中价格有多重要。

He drew a chart of possible prices and volume.

他画了一个图表，列出可能的价格和相应的销售量。

How many readers would they have if the Times were free?

如果《纽约时报》免费，会有多少订阅量？

They already knew the answer to that extreme on the chart,

图表上已经标明了这个极端数字，

because they were giving it away for free on the web already and had about twenty million regular visitors.

因为《纽约时报》已经通过网站免费提供电子版内容，并有约2000万定期访问者。

And if they made it really expensive?

如果他们定价非常高呢？

They had data on that too; they charged print subscribers more than $300 a year and had about a million of them.

这个数据也有；印刷版订阅者年费超过300美元，约有100万订阅者。

"You should go after the midpoint, which is about ten million digital subscribers," he told them.

“你们应该找到一个中间点，能达到1000万电子版订阅者，”乔布斯对他们说。

"And that means your digital subs should be very cheap and simple, one click and $5 a month at most."

“这意味着，你们的电子版应该非常便宜、订阅非常简单，每月最多5美元。”

1 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

2 declining   

adj.下降的，衰落的

参考例句：

• The nub of the matter is that business is declining. 事情的实质是工商业在萎缩。
• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining. 从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 executives   

（公司或机构的）经理( executive的名词复数 )； （统称公司或机构的）行政领导； （政府的）行政部门； [the Executive][美国英语]（美国政府的）行政当局

参考例句：

• They have taken measures to equate the salaries of higher civil servants to those of business executives. 他们采取措施使高级文职人员的工资和企业管理干部的工资相等。
• He disregarded the advice of his executives. 他对主管层的建议置若罔闻。

5 cellar   

n.地窖，地下室，酒窖

参考例句：

• He took a bottle of wine from the cellar.他从酒窖里拿出一瓶酒。
• The little girl hid away in the cellar.小姑娘藏在地下室里。