《乔布斯传》自问世以来受到了全世界人民的关注,对此沪江英语推出《乔布斯传》翻译笔记系列,让我们在翻译学习中回顾乔帮主的伟大一生。第四章“雅达利和印度”讲述了乔布斯两部分经历:在雅达利电脑游戏公司工作和去往印度找寻精神领袖之旅。乔布斯在雅达利找到了一份工作,有些同事嫌弃他不爱干净身上有味道,有些同事则觉得他身上有着对科技的狂热。在雅达利工作攒了些钱后,乔布斯执意开始了和好友的印度精神之旅,他要去印度找寻精神领袖(guru),找寻自我。乔布斯是怎么在雅达利找到工作的?

【英语原文】

Atari’s founder was a burly entrepreneur named Nolan Bushnell, who was a charismatic visionary with a nice touch of showmanship in him—in other words, another role model waiting to be emulated. After he became famous, he liked driving around in a Rolls, smoking dope, and holding staff meetings in a hot tub. As Jobs would learn to do, he was able to turn charm into a cunning force, to cajole and intimidate and distort reality with the power of his personality. His chief engineer was Al Alcorn, beefy and jovial and a bit more grounded, the house grown-up trying to implement the vision and curb the enthusiasms of Bushnell. Their big hit thus far was a video game called Pong, in which two players tried to volley a blip on a screen with two movable lines that acted as paddles. (If you’re under thirty, ask your parents.)When Jobs arrived in the Atari lobby wearing sandals and demanding a job, Alcorn was the one who was summoned. “I was told, ‘We’ve got a hippie kid in the lobby. He says he’s not going to leave until we hire him. Should we call the cops or let him in?’ I said bring him on in!” “In retrospect, it was weird to hire a dropout from Reed,” Alcorn recalled. “But I saw something in him. He was very intelligent, enthusiastic, excited about tech.” (Chapter 4 Atari and India: Atari)

【沪江译文】

雅达利电脑游戏公司的创始人叫诺兰·布什内尔,他是一个身材魁梧的企业家,一个魅力四射表现力十足的梦想家。换句话说,又是一个人们会竞相模仿的偶像。出名之后,他喜欢开着一辆劳斯莱斯四处转悠,吸毒成瘾,喜欢在按摩浴缸里开员工会议。他身上有一种能力乔布斯后来学到了,那就是能把魅力变成巧妙的说服力,利用人格的力量,哄骗、胁迫和扭曲的手段都用上,改变事实。他手下的总工程师叫阿尔·奥尔康,身材健壮,天性活泼,更加脚踏实地。他是雅达利大家庭的家长,努力实现着布什内尔的愿景,同时又克制着他的热情。他们的经典之作是街机电子游戏《乒乓》(又名跳跳弹子台),这个游戏规则很简单:两个玩家利用两条移动的光标当球拍,互相击打屏幕上的圆点。(要是你没到30岁,那回家问问父母这个游戏是怎么玩的。)当脚穿凉鞋的乔布斯初次来到雅达利找工作的时候,奥尔康也得到了通知。“他们跟我说,大厅里有个嬉皮男孩来找工作,不雇他他就赖着不走了。叫警察还是让他进来?我说把他带进来吧。”他后来回忆道:“现在回头想想,雇个里德学院的退学生真的还蛮奇怪的,不过我在他身上看到了一些东西,他很聪明,对科技有热情有干劲。”

【翻译笔记】

retrospect: 回顾往事,检讨过去

In retrospect, it was somewhat hasty to choose this major.
回想起来,当初选择这个专业有点草率。

The first part mainly reviews the achievements related to this research in retrospect.
第一部分,主要回顾了与本研究相关的研究成果。

2.描写外貌和个性特征的词汇/短语

外貌: burly: 身材魁梧的  beefy: 身体健壮的

个性: showmanship: 表现力  cunning force: 说服力 the power of personality: 人格的力量
          grounded: 脚踏实地的  jovial: 天性活泼的

For all the talk about style and showmanship, Mr Prince says there is one thing that matters.
对于有关领导风格和表现力的说法,普林斯表示,有一点非常重要。

Great people can control difficult situation by the power of personality.
伟人能以人格的力量来控制困难的局面。

3. Atari and Pong: 1972年25岁的诺兰·布什内尔白手起家创业成立雅达利电脑游戏公司,推出风靡全球的电脑游戏《乒乓》。Atari名字起源于日本象棋,指的是象棋中那句杀棋的吆喝声"将军"。雅达利出品的经典雅达利2600是人类历史上生命力最长的游戏机。1998年雅达利全部专利被买断,退出IT业。

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