"We spoke about furniture in theory for eight years," recalled Powell. “我们纸上谈兵用了8年，”鲍威尔回忆，

　　"We spent a lot of time asking ourselves, 'What is the purpose of a sofa?'" “我们花了很多时间问自己，沙发的用途是什么？”

　　Buying appliances was also a philosophical task, not just an impulse purchase.  买电器也是个哲学问题，而不仅仅是冲动的购买行为。

　　A few years later, Jobs described to Wired the process that went into getting a new washing machine:  多年以后，乔布斯向《连线》杂志描述了选购一台新洗衣机的过程：

　　It turns out that the Americans make washers and dryers all wrong.  我们发现，美国人制造洗衣机和干衣机的理念完全是错误的。

　　The Europeans make them much better—but they take twice as long to do clothes! 欧洲人则好得多--但是他们洗衣服要多花一倍的时间！

　　It turns out that they wash them with about a quarter as much water and your clothes end up with a lot less detergent on them. 欧洲洗衣机洗衣服只是美国洗衣机用水量的1/4，你衣服上残留的洗条剂也少得多。

　　Most important, they don't trash your clothes.  最重要的是，它们不会把你的衣服洗坏。

　　They use a lot less soap, a lot less water, but they come out much cleaner, much softer, and they last a lot longer.  他们用少得多的肥皂、少得多的水，但是洗出衣服却千净得多，柔软得多，寿命也长得多。

　　We spent some time in our family talking about what's the trade-off we want to make.  我们在家花了些时间讨论我们该怎样取舍。

　　We ended up talking a lot about design, but also about the values of our family. 结果我们讨论了很多设计问题，但也讨论了我们家的价值观。

　　Did we care most about getting our wash done in an hour versus an hour and a half?  我们是最关心用一个小时而不是一个半小时洗好衣服呢，

　　Or did we care most about our clothes feeling really soft and lasting longer?  还是最关心我们的衣洗后感觉特别柔软也更耐久呢？

　　Did we care about using a quarter of the water?  我们在意用1/4的水吗？

　　We spent about two weeks talking about this every night at the dinner table.  我们用了大约两星期时间，每晚在餐桌上讨论这个问题。