《乔布斯传》翻译笔记：神奇的蓝盒子

《乔布斯传》自问世以来受到了全世界人民的关注，对此和谐英语推出《乔布斯传》翻译笔记系列，让我们在翻译学习中回顾乔帮主的伟大一生。第二章“古怪的一对”介绍了乔布斯的挚友史蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克（Steve Wozniak）。乔布斯和沃兹一起发明了可以拨打免费电话的蓝盒子。这项恶作剧式的发明被突发奇想的乔布斯拿来出售赚钱。虽然后来出现被持枪男抢劫蓝盒子的插曲，但是这次初次合作的成功也为乔布斯和沃兹未来的合作奠定了基调：沃兹负责发明，乔布斯负责投入市场赚钱。

【英语原文】

The partnership paved the way for what would be a bigger adventure together. “If it hadn’t been for the Blue Boxes, there wouldn’t have been an Apple,” Jobs later reflected. “I’m 100% sure of that. Woz and I learned how to work together, and we gained the confidence that we could solve technical problems and actually put something into production.” They had created a device with a little circuit board that could control billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure. “You cannot believe how much confidence that gave us.” Woz came to the same conclusion: “It was probably a bad idea selling them, but it gave us a taste of what we could do with my engineering skills and his vision.” The Blue Box adventure established a template for a partnership that would soon be born. Wozniak would be the gentle wizard coming up with a neat invention that he would have been happy just to give away, and Jobs would figure out how to make it user-friendly, put it together in a package, market it, and make a few bucks.” (Chapter 2 Odd Couple: The Blue Box)

【译文】

这样的合作关系为以后更大的冒险铺平了道路。乔布斯后来回想道：“我百分之百确定，没有蓝盒子就没有苹果公司。沃兹和我学会怎样一起工作，我们也在解决技术难题和将发明投入生产的过程中获得了自信。” 他们发明的蓝盒子只是用一小块电路板做成的小装置，但是却能控制价值数十亿美元的基础设施。“蓝盒子的成功简直让我们自信心爆棚。” 沃兹也有同样的想法：“卖蓝盒子可能是个坏主意，但是的确让我们尝到了合作的甜头，我的工程技术和乔布斯的发展远见结合在一起可以做出一番成就。” 蓝盒子的冒险经历建立了乔布斯和沃兹将来的合作模式：沃兹是那个有很多巧妙发明又愿意与人分享的安静天才，乔布斯则负责如何将沃兹的发明变得方便使用，然后包装并投入市场，赚点钱。