乔布斯传 第246期:IBM(3)

 　　IBM sent to Palo Alto a 125-page contract. Jobs tossed it down without reading it.

　　IBM给NeXT发送了一份125页的合同。乔布斯读都没读就扔掉了。

　　"You don't get it," he said as he walked out of the room.

　　“别来这一套。”他边说边走出办公室。

　　He demanded a simpler contract of only a few pages, which he got within a week.

　　他要一份只有几页的合同，不到一周，他所要求的合同就送到了。

　　Jobs wanted to keep the arrangement secret from Bill Gates until the big unveiling of the NeXT computer, scheduled for October.

　　乔布斯希望直到10月份NeXT电脑隆重推出之前，都不让比尔·盖茨知道他与IBM的合作。

　　But IBM insisted on being forthcoming. Gates was furious.

　　但是，IBM坚持立即宣布。盖茨得知后怒不可遏。

　　He realized this could wean IBM off its dependence¹ on Microsoft operating systems.

　　他很清楚，这可能会让IBM失去对微软操作系统的依赖。

　　"NeXTSTEP isn't compatible with anything," he raged to IBM executives.

　　“NeXTSTEP和任何东西都不兼容。”他愤怒地对IBM的高管说。

　　双语有声读物 乔布斯传

　　At first Jobs seemed to have pulled off Gates's worst nightmare.

　　起初，乔布斯似乎成了盖茨最可怕的噩梦。

　　Other computer makers² that were beholden to Microsoft's operating systems,

　　其他依赖于微软操作系统的电脑制造商也找到乔布斯，

　　most notably³ Compaq and Dell, came to ask Jobs for the right to clone NeXT and license⁴ NeXTSTEP.

　　让其授权复制NeXT和使用NeXTSTEP，其中最著名的是康柏公司和戴尔公司。

　　There were even offers to pay a lot more if NeXT would get out of the hardware business altogether.

　　甚至有公司表示如果NeXT放弃硬件业务，愿意付更高的价钱。

　　That was too much for Jobs, at least for the time being. He cut off the clone discussions.

　　这对乔布斯来说太多了，至少在当时是。他停止了复制NeXT的讨论，

　　And he began to cool toward IBM. The chill became reciprocal.

　　对IBM的态度也开始冷淡，这慢慢发展为相互的冷淡。

　　When the person who made the deal at IBM moved on, Jobs went to Armonk to meet his replacement⁵, Jim Cannavino.

　　当IBM发起该项合作的人离职后，乔布斯来到阿蒙克会见其继任者吉姆·坎纳维诺。

　　They cleared the room and talked one-on-one.

　　两人进行了一对一的谈话。

　　Jobs demanded more money to keep the relationship going and to license newer versions of NeXTSTEP to IBM.

　　乔布斯提出，IBM需要支付更多的钱才能继续双方的合作并得到NeXTSTEP更新版本的授权。

　　Cannavino made no commitments, and he subsequently stopped returning Jobs's phone calls. The deal lapsed⁶.

　　坎纳维诺没有作出任何承诺，他随后也拒绝回复乔布斯的来电。于是，之前的合同中止了。

　　NeXT got a bit of money for a licensing⁷ fee, but it never got the chance to change the world.

　　NeXT公司得到了一笔授权费，但始终没有得到改变世界的机会。

1 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

4 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

6 lapsed   

adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He had lapsed into unconsciousness. 他陷入了昏迷状态。
• He soon lapsed into his previous bad habits. 他很快陷入以前的恶习中去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句