《乔布斯传》翻译笔记：个性的大学生活

《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 “辍学” 第二部分讲述了乔布斯上大学的故事。乔布斯罔顾父母的经济实力有限，执意要去学费很高很有个性的私立大学里德学院读书。1972年秋天乔布斯入学的第一天，任性叛逆的乔布斯甚至都没有跟父母说再见。乔布斯在大学中结识了志同道合的朋友丹尼尔·科特肯（Daniel Kottke），他也是苹果的第一位雇员。他们一起吸毒，一起进行宗教修行，一起坚持素食主义，过着不一样的大学生活。

【英语原文】

Seventeen years earlier, Jobs’s parents had made a pledge when they adopted him: He would go to college. So they had worked hard and saved dutifully for his college fund, which was modest but adequate by the time he graduated. But Jobs, becoming ever more willful, did not make it easy. At first he toyed with not going to college at all. “I think I might have headed to New Yorkif I didn’t go to college,” he recalled, musing on how different his world—and perhaps all of ours—might have been if he had chosen that path. When his parents pushed him to go to college, he responded in a passive-aggressive way. He did not consider state schools, such as Berkeley, where Woz then was, despite the fact that they were more affordable. Nor did he look at Stanford, just up the road and likely to offer a scholarship. “The kids who went to Stanford, they already knew what they wanted to do,” he said. “They weren’t really artistic. I wanted something that was more artistic and interesting.” (Chapter 3 The Dropout: Reed College)

【译文】

17年前当乔布斯的父母领养他的时候，他们曾经向他的生母许下诺言，会让乔布斯上大学，所以他们一直都克尽父母的职责，努力工作，为他的大学基金省吃俭用。等到乔布斯高中毕业时，他们攒的钱虽不多，但是也足够他上大学了。可是那时候的乔布斯是个越发任性的孩子，上大学的事情也没那么容易。开始他根本没有认真考虑上大学的事情。“要是我没上大学，我想我很可能直接去纽约了。”他回忆说，一边思考着要是他当时选择了另一条路，他的世界（可能还有我们所有人的世界）会有怎样的不同。当父母坚持让他去上大学的时候，他的回应是消极反抗。他没有考虑如沃兹上的伯克利这样的公立大学，虽然事实是这些公立大学父母才能供得起。他也没有考虑斯坦福大学，尽管学校就在附近而且愿意提供奖学金。“那些去上斯坦福的孩子，他们都已经知道自己到底想要什么，”乔布斯说道，“他们不是真正的艺术型，我想上更加有艺术性更加有趣的大学。”