像保时捷那样

Jef Raskin's vision for the Macintosh was that it would be like a boxy carry-on suitcase,

杰夫·拉斯金设想中的麦金塔电脑就像一只四四方方的手提箱，

which would be closed by flipping up the keyboard over the front screen.

可以将键盘翻起来盖住屏幕从而合上电脑箱。

When Jobs took over the project,

乔布斯接管项目之后，

he decided to sacrifice portability for a distinctive design that wouldn't take up much space on a desk.

他决定牺牲便携性，改用一个不会占用太多桌面空间的独特设计。

He plopped down a phone book and declared, to the horror of the engineers,

他把一本电话簿扔到众人面前，然后宣布，

that it shouldn't have a footprint larger than that.

电脑占用的桌面面积不能超过这本电话簿，这让一群工程师吓傻了眼。

So his design team of Jerry Manock and Terry Oyama began working on ideas

于是，设计团队的负责人杰里·马诺克和天才设计师大山特里开始研究一个方案：

that had the screen above the computer box, with a keyboard that was detachable.

将屏幕放到机箱的上方，再用上可拆卸的键盘。

One day in March 1981,

1981年3月的一天，

Andy Hertzfeld came back to the office from dinner

安迪·赫茨菲尔德吃完饭回到办公室，

to find Jobs hovering over their one Mac prototype in intense discussion with the creative services director, James Ferris.

发现乔布斯正站在一台麦金塔样机旁，和公司的创意总监詹姆斯·费里斯激烈地争论着。

"We need it to have a classic look that won't go out of style, like the Volkswagen Beetle," Jobs said.

“我们要设计出一个经典的外形，不会过时的那种，就像大众的甲壳虫汽车一样。”乔布斯说。

From his father he had developed an appreciation for the contours of classic cars.

受他父亲的影响，他对经典车型的外形轮廓十分赞赏。

"No, that's not right," Ferris replied.

“不，不对，”费里斯说，

"The lines should be voluptuous, like a Ferrari."

“外形应该很性感诱人，就像法拉利那样。”

"Not a Ferrari, that's not right either," Jobs countered.

“法拉利也不对，”乔布斯反驳，

"It should be more like a Porsche!"

“应该更像保时捷！”

Jobs owned a Porsche 928 at the time.

这么说并不奇怪，乔布斯当时就拥有一辆保时捷928。

When Bill Atkinson was over one weekend, Jobs brought him outside to admire the car.

一个周末，比尔·阿特金森来了，乔布斯把他带到外面去欣赏那辆保时捷。

"Great art stretches the taste, it doesn't follow tastes," he told Atkinson.

他告诉阿特金森：“伟大的艺术品不必追随潮流，它们自身就可以引领潮流。”

He also admired the design of the Mercedes.

他还十分欣赏奔驰汽车的设计。

"Over the years, they've made the lines softer but the details starker,"

“多年来，他们把汽车的线条做得更加柔和，但细节之处的用心依然清晰可见，”

he said one day as he walked around the parking lot.

一次他在停车场周围散步时说，

"That's what we have to do with the Macintosh."

“这正是我们要在麦金塔电脑上实现的目标。”

Oyama drafted a preliminary design and had a plaster model made.

大山特里拟出了一个初步设计方案，并制作了一个石膏模型。

The Mac team gathered around for the unveiling and expressed their thoughts.

Mac团队的成员们聚集到一起观看展示然后发表自己的看法。

Hertzfeld called it "cute." Others also seemed satisfied.

赫茨菲尔德大赞“可爱”，其他人似乎也很满意。

Then Jobs let loose a blistering burst of criticism.

但乔布斯却给出了猛烈的批评：

"It's way too boxy, it's got to be more curvaceous.

“这造型太方正了，必须再多一些曲线美的感觉。

The radius of the first chamfer needs to be bigger, and I don't like the size of the bevel."

第一个倒角的半径要再大一点儿，斜角的尺寸我也不大喜欢。”

With his new fluency in industrial design lingo,

他把刚刚熟练掌握的工业设计术语用上了，

Jobs was referring to the angular or curved edge connecting the sides of the computer.

其实指的就是电脑相邻两个面之间的弯曲过渡。

But then he gave a resounding compliment. "It' s a start," he said.

但紧接着，乔布斯还是给出了一句响亮的称赞。他说：“这是一个开始。”