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| 2011/10/28 00:19:13瀏覽4186｜回應3｜推薦0 | |
在蘋果所掀起的這波財富匯集的大波濤中, 最受造化弄人的莫過於Ron Wayne了。當初Steve Jobs 十分羨慕Ron , 在最近出版的賈伯斯傳中, Isaacson 寫到Steve 對Ron 的看法, “Ron was an amazing guy, He started companies. I had never met anybody like that.” 他甚至向Ron 提出一起創業的建議, “ He proposed to Wayne that they go business together.” 當然, 年少輕狂的Steve指的是” design and market a slot machine” 是吃角子老虎市場, 而不是電腦市場。但是當時的Wayne早已是一朝被蛇咬, 十年怕草繩。“ But Wayne had been burned in business, 所以他勸Steve 不要踏火圈。因為那最快輸錢(the quickest way to lose money.) 不過, 他也佩服毛頭小子Steve的勇氣與衝勁, “ But I admired the fact that he had a burning drive to start his own business.” 當我開始擺入原文, 讀者應已開始有想讀英文本的衝動吧! 這本傳記寫得太順暢生動了! (讀者定會愛不釋手, You will flip the pages.)。現今宣稱自己是同性戀(gay) 根本無人見怪, 但那個時候就不太一樣了,傳記此時披露Wayne 應該不會太介意了吧？ “ One weekend Jobs was visiting Wayne at his apartment, engaging as they often did in philosophical discussions, when Wayne said that there was something he needed to tell him. “Yeah, I think I know what it is,” Jobs replied. “I think you like men.” Wayne said yes. “ It was my first encounter with someone who I knew was gay,” Jobs recalled. “ He planted the right perspective of it for me.” Jobs grilled him: “When you see a beautiful woman, what do you feel?” Wayne replied, “It’s like when you look at a beautiful horse. You can appreciate it, but you don’t want to sleep with it. You appreciate beauty for what it is.” Wayne 的譬喻實在特別, 無怪乎Steve 說他才開始知道同性戀者看這世界的角度, Steve 就愛問這種非常直接的尖銳問題, Isaacson 在該自傳中也寫到賈伯斯初次見到卡特基(Kottke)女友伊莉莎白(Elizabeth Holmes)時, 便出言不遜, 問她如果賣身, 價碼會是多少(even after he insulted her at their first meeting by grilling her about how much money it would take to get her to have sex with another man)。天下中譯本譯文頗流暢, 但偶而譯者也愛加油添醋, 像剛才那段文字, 譯者就加了一句 “ 還好卡特基和伊莉莎白不記仇” 另有一句也挺誇張的, 中譯本131頁, “ 談到蘋果二號租攤子的事件, “ 沃茲尼克得知賈伯斯光是為了攤位就付了了5,000美元, 驚訝得下巴快掉下來, 沃茲尼克說：“ 史帝夫決定蘋果這次亮相, 必須轟動武林, 驚動萬教。我們要讓這個世界瞧瞧, 我們有最棒的機器, 我們是一家偉大的公司。“ (and so he shocked Wozniak by paying $ 5,000 in advance. “ Steve decided that this was our big lunch,” said Wozniak. “ We would show the world we had a great machine and a great company.” 以各位翻譯賢達的角度看, 這是否是一段既活潑跳脫卻又誇張的譯文？再回到原來的框架。 Wayne said that it is a testament to Jobs that he felt like revealing this to him. “ Nobody at Altari knew, and I could count on my toes and fingers the number of people I told in my whole life. But I guess it just felt right to tell him, that he would understand, and it didn’t have any effect on our relationship.” 他們雙方都有默契, 彼此都站在互不傷害的立場, 也就平安無事。當然最重要的一件事, 最近仍上新聞, 那就是當初 Ron Wayne 曾握有10%的Apple 公司股份, 卻在不到半個月內消失殆盡。請讀者看看當時發生的原因：“ Wayne said.” Jobs and I realized that these circuits would be the core of Apple. We spent two hours in a roundtable discussion at my department , and I was able to get Woz to accept this” His argument was that a great engineer would be remembered only if he teamed with a great marketer, and this required him to commit his designs to the partnership. Job was so impressed and grateful that he offered Wayne a 10% stake in the new partnership, turning him into a tie-breaker if Jobs and Wozniak disagreed over an issue.” Steve 對wayne 真是太慷慨了, 而且Wayne 也完全瞭解 Steve 與 Woz 是非常好的天才搭擋, 但是過去經營吃角子老虎公司失敗的慘痛教訓, 仍在腐蝕他的心深處, 他居然在完成合伙簽約後第十一天退縮了, (Wayne then got cold feet.) 關鍵在於當時蘋果只是簡單的合伙性質, 他們需負擔無限責任, 他擔心有一天債主會找上他。(Because they had structure Apple as a simple partnership rather than a corporation, the partners would be personally liable for the debts, and Wayne was afraid potential creditors would go after him.) 就是這樣他填完“退出聲明書“ (Statement of Withdrawal) 當時先拿回800美金, 其後再得1300 美元。天呀！真是造化弄人, 如果Wayne 不是那種杞人憂天的性格, 沒有退出, 他持有的Apple股票市值到2010年底已達750億台幣(Had he stayed on and kept his 10% stake, at the end of 2010 it would have been worth approximately $2.6 billion.) 然而現在的他, 仍然孤家寡人住在Nevada州的Pahrump小房子裡, 玩玩吃角子老虎, 靠他的 Social security check 渡日, 他還是死鴨子嘴硬, “ I made the best decision for me at the time. Both of them were real whirlwinds, and I knew my stomach and it wasn’t ready for the ride.” (中譯令人拍案: 那時, 我為我自己做了最好的決定, 他們兩個就像龍捲風, 我知道自己斤兩不夠, 不敢跟他一起上天下海。) 中譯本91頁有兩處小瑕疵, “有一晚---, 漏了”天正下雨” (it was raining) , 另處雖更小, 影響卻大, “ 倒數第二段, “ 天黑之後, 我就去找他, ---” 誤植為“她”, 令讀者滿頭霧水。 至於Steve 最欣賞的那句 Davinci名言Simplicity is the ultimate of sophistication, 譯成“ 簡約就是細膩的極致“ 我雖覺得有點未表達真正意涵, 卻也想不出更好的譯法。
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| ( 知識學習｜商業管理 ) |
