《乔布斯传》翻译笔记：苹果偷了别人的创意
英语课
第八章继续讲述乔布斯和苹果公司的发展。沃兹的杰作苹果二代大获成功，让乔布斯迫切想要创造一个属于自己的机器。从命运惨淡的苹果三代（Apple III），到由于没有沃兹的才华参与而日益平庸的Lisa Computer（乔布斯用不愿承认的私生女的名字命名了这款新电脑），乔布斯表现出了极强的控制欲，让丽莎项目的负责人几近抓狂。1979年秋天，苹果开始关注施乐公司坐落在帕罗奥多的研究中心（Xerox 1 PARC-Palo Alto Research Center）。乔布斯与施乐达成的交易是：苹果接受施乐的融资，施乐向苹果展示新技术。施乐的计算机专家研究出来的图形用户界面（graphic user interface）和桌面屏幕概念（desktop screen）让苹果一干人等激动不已，他们迅速掌握并完善了施乐的图形界面等技术，就这样光明正大地窃取了施乐的创意和灵感。
【英语原文】
The Apple raid on Xerox PARC is sometimes described as one of the biggest heistsin the chronicles of industry. Jobs occasionally endorsed 2 this view, with pride. As he once said, “Picasso had a saying—‘good artists copy, great artists steal’—and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” Another assessment 3, also sometimes endorsed by Jobs, is that what transpired 4 was less a heist by Apple than a fumble 5 by Xerox. “They were copier-heads who had no clue about what a computer could do,” he said of Xerox’s management. “They just grabbed defeat from the greatest victory in the computer industry. Xerox could have owned the entire computer industry.” Both assessments 6 contain a lot of truth, but there is more to it than that. There falls a shadow, as T. S. Eliot noted 7, between the conception and the creation. In the annals of innovation, new ideas are only part of the equation. Execution is just as important. (Chapter 8 Xerox and Lisa: Great Artists Steals)
【译文】
苹果对施乐PARC的技术抢劫，有时会被描述成了计算机行业历史里最严重的盗窃事件之一。乔布斯偶尔也会一脸骄傲地承认这一观点，他曾经说过：“毕加索有过名言：好的艺术家抄创意，伟大的艺术家盗灵感。——我们会窃取伟大的灵感，在这一方面我们一直是厚颜无耻的。” 乔布斯还认同另外一种观点：施乐的技术外泄，并不是因为苹果的强取豪夺，而是施乐自己笨手笨脚错失了良机。“他们都是一帮蠢货，对电脑的巨大商业潜力根本一无所知。” 他这样评价施乐的管理层。“在这场计算机行业最伟大的胜利之战中，施乐是完败了。施乐本来有机会可以称霸整个计算机行业的。” 这些观点的确说中了一些事实，但不能说明所有的问题。 英国著名诗人兼文艺评论家艾略特曾经说过，概念和产物之间投射着一道影子。在创新的发展过程中，新鲜的创意只是方程式里的一部分，另外一个同样重要的部分是具体执行力。
【翻译笔记】
1. in the chronicles of/in the annals of: chronicles和annals表示的都是编年史、记录的意思（注意在短语中使用的都是复数形式），所以短语表示的多为历史或者发展过程。
My mother has a soft spot in her heart for "The Chronicles of Narnia". 妈妈对《纳尼亚传奇》这本书很有感情。
The widespread destruction from this typhoon will be in the annals of the nation's history. 台风造成的满目疮痍将被沉痛地载入该国的史册里。
2. have no clue about：毫无头绪线索，一无所知。clue做名词表示线索、端倪和头绪。在做完形填空题时我们经常提到要看上下文线索：context clues。clue 的常用短语是have/get a/no about sth.
I guarantee you that less than 2% of investors 8 out there have a clue about how cheap things can really get. 我向你保证，只有不到2%的投资者知道股票能变得有多便宜。 （ps: have a clue about 多用于否定的表达中，例如 I don't think that he has a clue about what he really wants. ）
We are having a conversation but I have no clue what we are talking about. 我们一直在聊着，但我不知道我们在谈些什么鬼东西。
3. good artists copy, great artists steal：能工摹其表，伟匠摄其魂
现代派绘画大师毕加索的原句其实是：“Bad artists copy; good artist steal”（拙劣的艺术家抄，伟大的艺术家盗）。苹果无疑是伟大的艺术家，将施乐PARC已经弃用的图形界面化腐朽为神奇，这才有了简单实用的大众化电脑操作。所以,说苹果偷窃了施乐的创意，这种说法其实是不公平的，毕竟苹果也接受了施乐以每股10美元的价格购买了10万股苹果公司的股票。苹果的工程师真正地掌握新技术的精髓。
n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印
- Xerox and Lucent are two more high-tech companies run by women.施乐和朗讯是另外两家由女性经营的大科技公司。
- You cannot take it home,but you can xerox it.你不能把它带回家，但可以复印。
vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品
- The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额
- This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
- What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？
（事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生
- It transpired that the gang had had a contact inside the bank. 据报这伙歹徒在银行里有内应。
- It later transpired that he hadn't been telling the truth. 他当时没说真话，这在后来显露出来了。
vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索
- His awkwardness made him fumble with the key.由于尴尬不安，他拿钥匙开锁时显得笨手笨脚。
- He fumbled his one-handed attempt to light his cigarette.他笨拙地想用一只手点燃香烟。
n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价
- He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句
adj.著名的，知名的
- The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
- Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
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