乔布斯传翻译笔记：老乔对苹果痛心疾首

在老乔离开苹果后，这家曾经具有强大革新力和创造力的公司，已经毫无创新可言并陷入了停滞不前的状态。乔布斯曾希望苹果成为一家出色的消费品公司，（“to become a wonderful consumer products company”）将乔布斯赶出苹果的约翰.斯卡利却发表言论称：“苹果永远不会是一家消费品公司。” 更甚的是，面对微软，苹果节节败退。这一切都让乔布斯对个人电脑产业沮丧失望不已，（he despaired about the personal computer industry）甚至说出了“台式电脑进入黑暗时代”的话。（”The desktop market has entered the dark ages”）且让我们看他是如何评价苹果的现状的吧！

【英语原文】

Jobs was appalled, and he became angry and contemptuous as Sculley presided over a steady decline in market share for Apple in the early 1990s. “Sculley destroyed Apple by bringing in corrupt people and corrupt values,” Jobs later lamented. “They cared about making money—for themselves mainly, and also for Apple—rather than making great products.” He felt that Sculley’s drive for profits came at the expense of gaining market share. “Macintosh lost to Microsoft because Sculley insisted on milking all the profits he could get rather than improving the product and making it affordable.”As a result, the profits eventually disappeared. It had taken Microsoft a few years to replicate Macintosh’s graphical user interface, but by 1990 it had come out with Windows 3.0, which began the company’s march to dominance in the desktop market. Windows 95, which was released in 1995, became the most successful operating system ever, and Macintosh sales began to collapse. “Microsoft simply ripped off what other people did,” Jobs later said. “Apple deserved it. After I left, it didn’t invent anything new. The Mac hardly improved. It was a sitting duck for Microsoft.”（Chapter 23 THE SECOND COMING Apple Falling）

【译文】

乔布斯十分震惊。同时他对于20世纪90年代初，苹果在斯卡利的管理下市场份额持续下降变得愈加气愤和蔑视。乔布斯惋叹道：“斯卡利给苹果引进了恶劣的人 和低下的价值观，这毁了苹果。他们只顾着让公司赚钱，更多的是让自己赚钱，而非造出上乘的产品。”  乔布斯感到斯卡利对利益的追逐是以市场份额的减少作为代价的。“麦金塔在与微软对决中败下阵来正是因为斯卡利坚持榨取能够得到的每一分利润，却没有想过 改进产品和降低价格。” 结果自然是利润全无。 微软用了好些年来模仿麦金塔的图形用户界面，直到1990年它推出了Windows 3.0系统，从此走上了统领台式电脑市场的征程。1995年发行的Windows95系统成为了有史以来最成功的操作系统，然而麦金塔此时的销量已几近崩 盘。“微软只会抄袭别人的东西。” 乔布斯后来说：“但是苹果活该被打败。我离开之后，它再也没发明什么新的东西，Mac操作系统几乎没有任何改进，面对微软，它只能坐以待毙。”

【翻译笔记】

1 preside v. 主持，管理

Pre-代表“before”，side这个词根代表“sit” 即“坐在前面”。可以设想管理或者主持都需要坐在前面。

相关词汇：

president n. 总统，会长，（大学）校长

presidency n. 总统的职位，总统的任期

presidential adj 总统的，管辖的，支配的

But the real motive is that these leaders didn't want to preside over the first EU default.
但其真实动机是，这些领导人不想为欧盟首例债务违约负责。

Within a few years, however, Samaranch had transformed the Games into a multi-billion pound industry and he would go on to preside over some of the greatest sporting occasions of modern times.
尽管如此，在短短的几年内，萨马兰奇还是把奥林匹克运动变成了一个几十亿英镑的产业，他也能够继续主持当代世界上一些最伟大的运动会。

And surveys of American judges who preside over trials indicate their overwhelming and enthusiastic support for the jury system.
对主持庭审的美国法官的调查也表明他们中的绝大多数人大力支持陪审团制度。

2 milk v. 榨取，白蹭

milk sth

当某人milk sth时，意思就是这个人想尽办法从某件事情或人身上取得最大利益， 这个短语也带有白蹭或榨取利益的意思。

He milk his rich aunt until she hadn't a penny left.
他将其富有的姑姑榨取的一分不剩。

Martha's mother won a lot of money in the lottery and her daughter has been milking it and buying the most expensive clothes she can find.
玛莎的妈妈买彩票赢得了大笔钱。自此后玛莎就不断榨取母亲的钱财，总是买她看到的最贵的衣服。

3 affordable adj. 负担的起，买的起

短语

economically affordable housing 经济适用房

affordable fair 价格实惠公道

affordable products 价格实惠产品

affordable fees 平价收费

Affordable的动词形式为afford，其用法如下

afford to do sth

负担得起；有能力做某事(常与can/can’t连用)

The firm can not afford to pay such large salaries.
公司支付不起这么庞大的工资开支。

She has to work, so that she can afford to live independently.
她必须工作，这样她才能独自生活下去。

afford sth

买得起；花得起 (常与can/can’t连用)

My parents can't even afford a new refrigerator.
我父母甚至买不起一台新冰箱。

He is rich enough to buy an Audi while I can only afford its little brother-Alto.
他很有钱，买得起奥迪。我只能买它的弟弟-奥拓。

4 rip off 扯掉；偷窃；欺诈；剥削

He ripped off his overcoat.
他突然脱掉大衣。

Someone ripped off my wallet.
有人偷了我的钱夹子。

That store is known for ripping off the customers.
那家百货店以敲诈顾客而闻名。

其他有关rip的短语

let rip 毫无拘束地讲话；自由自在地行动；纵情欢乐 , 让(感情等)奔放

rip out 扯掉；狠狠地发出

rip up 撕碎，撕毁

5 sitting duck 易被欺骗的对象,坐以待毙

sitting duck是美国画家Michael Bedard在上世纪70年代设计的卡通形象。后来还有了系列动画片，卡通书。轰动一时，这个卡通形象就是容易上钩的，后来用来形容人。

I feel like a sitting duck for crime working the night shift at the convenience store.
在便利店做夜间工作，我感觉自己像是罪犯容易选定的袭击目标。

Be A Sitting Duck 坐以待毙

It was early on a Sunday morning and the Americans had no warning. So the battleships and destroyers were sitting ducks when the Japanese bombers swept in from the sea."
那是一个星期天的清晨，美国人根本没有得到警告。所以当日本轰炸机从海上飞来的时候，那些战舰和驱逐舰只能束手待毙。