(微软的windows 95大获成功)
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)
【沪江译文】
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
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。
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)
afford sth
买得起;花得起 (常与can/can’t连用)
4 rip off 扯掉;偷窃;欺诈;剥削
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。
Be A Sitting Duck 坐以待毙