比尔·盖茨与他的微软帝国

 　　Before Microsoft came along, there really was no software industry was just a few companies selling very high-priced software only to companies, big companies. The idea of  low-cost software that would be empowering for individuals and that them could be literally¹ around the world hundreds of thousands of these successful companies-that was part of the Microsoft dream. And in fact, the software industry is 10,000 times bigger because of the work we do. The vast majority of all the revenue in the software business is because Microsoft has a uniform platform that has gotten out to go around the world. And so in every country we've helped companies grow up, create jobs, pay taxes around the software world. The main competitors who don't like us are actually hardware companies who have been used to charging very high prices for the hardware and the PCs changed that.

　　微软成立之前并没有真正的软件业,只有几家公司向另外一些大公司以高昂价格销售软件而已。低成本软件的意念适用于个人,并在世界上拥有无数家成功的公司一一那是微软的部分梦想。事实上,经过我们的努力,软件业的规模已经扩大了一万倍。软件业的收益如此巨大是因为微软有一个标准的平台应用于全世界。所以在每一个国家,我们都在软件业中帮助公司发展、创造就业机会、交纳税款。和我们想法不一样的主要竞争者——实际上是硬件公司，他们习惯于高价销售硬件,而个人电脑改变了这种现象。

　　It's hard to think of a business that's had a more positive effect for customers than the PC business. The rate of product improvement, the kind of empowerment it provides, its ability to create and stay in touch. You known the closest comparison is when publishing came along and people had books. Of course books created a problem. You know, the people wanted to control things didn't like books, the people who wanted to sell high-priced hand written things didn't like the printing press. But overwhelming it was something that people knew really that it was very positive. The same thing's happened with the PC. There's no company that in terms of our work has gotten as positive feedback and you how has gotten as broad a set of users. Those users are always telling us what they'd like to see us make better, and that's partly why it's a fun business because we get to make new versions of the software all the time.

　　很难想出有哪个行业能比个人电脑行业对客户产生更积极的影响。产品的升级换代频率使得创造力跟上社会的步伐。你知道,打个最贴切的比喻说吧,有了出版后,人们拥有了书。当然有书就产生了问题。当时人们想要控制书本,想高价出卖手写体的人不喜欢印刷品。但不可避免的是,人们发现印刷品确实是积极有用的东西。个人电脑也一样。在我们这一行,没有哪家公司得到过积极的反馈且拥有大量用户。那些用户总会告诉我们,他们想看到我们做得更好,那就是为什么它是一个有趣行业的部分原因,因为我们一直在出产新版软件。

　　Well, the vision of Microsoft is about information as you want it, any time, anywhere, any place. And this is an overall strategy about making it easier to write software, easier to share data, revolutionizing user interface² with the speech and handwriting. And making reading off the computer as good or better than paper and so today we're as radical³ as ever in seeing that the horizons for software will let us get so much more than even what we have now.

　　微软的想法是,让人们得到想要的信息,无论何时、何地都能得到。这是一个总体战略,使得编写软件更容易,共享数据更容易,使用户界面的言语和书写革命化。使得电脑阅读与书面阅读一样好,甚至更好,所以我们今天跟以往一样很激动地看到,软件的界面将会注我们得到比现在所拥有的更多东西。

　　The digital future includes lots of specialized⁴ devices. If all you want to do is make a voice call, you will have a device for that, if all you want to do is take a photo, you'll have a device for that. The PC of course will be the device whenever you want to see a full-size screen to do anything with documents or web browsing⁵ or planning, you'll use that. Now sometimes these devices will be combined together and we have enough partners who make these devices that every possible combination will be tried. You know putting the phone and the camera together, bringing the wristwatch a camera together, and it'll be completely up to the market to decide exactly how they'd like to see these things packaged. But no doubt, the photos will go digital, movies will go digital, music will go digital, and so the ability of the user to share and enrichen these things will be dramatically better than it's been without digital.

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

5 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》