《名人传记》之乔布斯一代创意天才141:iMac取得巨大成功

 　　Instead of being a boring old box

　　和市场上其他

　　like every other computer in the market,

　　刻板沉闷的电脑截然不同

　　it had this beautiful,

　　iMac的外型很亮丽

　　curved, sculptural profile.

　　充满流线型线条

　　And instead of just being bland¹ beige,

　　而且和其他千篇一律的

　　like every other computer,

　　米色电脑很不同

　　it came in different,

　　iMac有七彩缤纷

　　bright,fruit-flavored colors.

　　和很抢眼的颜色

　　The iMac was a huge success

　　iMac得到巨大的成功

　　in its first six weeks,

　　在它推出的第一个六周内

　　it became the fastest selling

　　已成为苹果电脑公司历史上

　　Macintosh product in Apple history.

　　销售最快的Macintosh产品

　　In January 2000,

　　在2000年1月

　　he announced his permanent new position:

　　乔布斯宣布他的长期新职位

　　I'm pleased to announce today

　　今天我很高兴宣布我的职位

　　that I'm going to drop the "interim²" title

　　再没有“临时”这两个字

　　The excitement at Apple wouldn't last.

　　苹果电脑令人兴奋的事并未中断

　　In the last three months of the year 2000,

　　在2000年最后三个月

　　Apple lost around $250 million dollars.

　　苹果亏损大约2亿5000万美元

　　Apple had gone back to losing money

　　苹果又回到亏损的状况

　　and it was a very scary situation.

　　情况令人忧虑

　　People thought that maybe

　　有人认为苹果的反弹

　　Apple's comeback was short-lived.

　　只是回光反照

　　But in November 2001

　　但是在2001年11月

　　Steve Jobs and Apple released a game changer

　　乔布斯和苹果推出一款改变世界的产品

　　the iPod.

　　那就是iPod

　　When the iPod music player first came out,

　　当iPod音乐播放器初推出时

　　in the early 2000s,

　　即2000年初期

　　it was $400.

　　它的售价是400美元

　　It seemed outrageously³ expensive.

　　看来非常昂贵

　　It was a tremendous risk to come up with a little gadget⁴

　　一部这么细小的玩意

　　that was so expensive

　　但售价这么昂贵

　　and yet it became

　　似乎有很大的风险

　　a tremendous hit as well.

　　因为当时它还未流行

　　Jobs didn't stop there.

　　乔布斯没有因此而停步

1 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

2 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

3 outrageously   

凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地

参考例句：

• Leila kept smiling her outrageously cute smile. 莱拉脸上始终挂着非常可爱的笑容。
• He flirts outrageously. 他肆无忌惮地调情。

4 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。