有声英语故事连载：《名人传记》之乔布斯 第89期

故事连载

 

Jobs’ insight was the beginning of Apple as we know it today.

正是乔布斯的卓越眼光成就了我们现在所熟知的苹果公司

Computers were becoming powerful enough to store and play video, music and other media.

电脑逐渐有了播放视频音乐以及其他多媒体文件的能力

Apple began working secretly on a digital device of its own.

苹果暗中开始了一款电子产品的研发

It would revolutionize the company and our increasingly digital world.

这一举动彻底改变了苹果公司和这个越来越数码化的世界

The iPod came about because somewhat of a convergence of technologies.

iPod可以说是多种不同的科技的凝集

We learned that we could marry a really small hard drive

我们发现 只要将小尺寸大容量的硬盘

small in size, large in capacity with some small electronics

和一些小型电子器件结合到一起

and build a really good music player.

就能制造出一款优秀的音乐播放器

Just as with the mouse in the 1980s,

与二十世纪八十年代的鼠标一样

Jobs and Apple did not invent the MP3 player,

MP3并不是乔布斯和苹果所发明的

but they did redefine it for consumers.

但他们为消费者重新定义了MP3

 

The iPod could hold 1,000 songs,

尽管iPod容量客观 能够装下一千首歌

but its real innovation lay in Jonathan Ive’s design.

但它真正的亮点在于Jonathan Ive的设计

There were lots of MP3 players around before the iPod

在iPod之前 市场上已经有很多MP3播放器了

but they all looked as ugly as car batteries and it was only Apple

但是它们看起来就像车用蓄电池一样丑

who had the sense to make the iPod into a gorgeous, gorgeous thing.

只有苹果会把iPod设计得这么炫丽动人

The colour of the first iPod was no accident.

第一代iPod颜色的选择并非偶然

Choosing white for the iPod wasn’t just a Johnny decision,

iPod的白色并不是Johnny自己挑的

it was a Johnny and Steve decision.

它是Johnny和史蒂夫共同作出的选择

They really looked into the idea of the colour white.

他们很认真地研究了白色的意义

It was something, which carried on a certain spirit and purity.

这个颜色饱含深意 同时也是纯洁的象征

 

They went to many, many iterations of white and had to look at special materials, special polymers,

他们考察了许多种白色 寻遍了各种特殊材料和聚合物

to produce and convey and maintain the certain whiteness of the iPod.

就是为了找出最适合iPod的白色

Carefully chosen colours, white or otherwise,

精心挑选的颜色

had a distinctive presence in the advertising.

让苹果的广告与众不同

And with this product, unlike some in the past,

与之前某些产品不同

Apple was not going to overestimate demand.

苹果这回没有高估需求量

Indeed, quite the reverse.

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