读《史蒂夫·乔布斯传》学英语001

I ended up having more than forty interviews and conversations with him.
我总共与他进行了差不多40次会面。

Some were forma ones in his Palo Alto living room, others were done during long walks and drives or by telephone.
其中一些是很正式的谈话，在他位于帕罗奥图的住所的客厅里进行，还有一些是在长途散步或者驱车进行的过程中完成的，或者是通过电话。

During my two years of visits, he became increasingly intimate and revealing, though at times I witnessed what his veteran colleagues at Apple used to call his "reality distortion field."
在我18个月的访问中，他与我越来越亲近，也越来越愿意想我吐露心声，但是有时候我还是可以感受到他身上那种被苹果的老同事们称谓“现实扭曲力场”的力量。

Sometimes it was the inadvertent misfiring of memory cells that happens to us all; at other times he was spinning his own version of reality both to me and to himself.
有时，这是我们每个人都会有的因疏忽引起的记忆错误，但是有些时候，乔布斯则是在向我也向自己，编织现实在他头脑中的印象。

To check and flesh out his story, I interviewed more than a hundred friends, relatives, competitors, adversaries, and colleagues.
为了验证并充实他的故事，我采访了100多人，包括他的朋友、亲戚、对手、敌人以及同事。

His wife also did not request any restrictions or control, nor did she ask to see in advance what I would publish.
他的妻子劳伦不仅促成了这本书，而且希望我的写作不受约束或控制，也没有要求提前看书的内容。

**In fact she strongly encouraged me to be honest about his failings as well as his strengths. **
事实上，她还鼓励我坦率地描述乔布斯的全部：他的优点以及他的缺点。

She is one of the smartest and most grounded people I have ever met.
她是我见过最聪明也是最理性的人之一。

"There are parts of his life and personality that are extremely messy, and that's the truth," she told me early on
她早先告诉我，“他的生活以及性格中，有一部分是非常糟糕的，这是事实，”

"You shouldn't whitewash it. He's good at spin, but he also has a remarkable story, and I'd like to see that it's all told truthfully."
“你不用为他掩饰。他很擅长讲故事，但他的故事本身也非常精彩，我希望看到整个故事都被如实地叙述。”

单词和短语

I ended up having more than forty interviews and conversations with him.

我总共与他进行了差不多40次会面。

end up

（通常指意外地）最终到达;最终;结果;到头来

• Every time they went dancing they ended up in a bad mood
  每次他们去跳舞，都会不欢而散。
• How does the story end up?
  这个故事是怎么结尾的？
• To cut a long story short, I ended up as managing director.
  长话短说，我最终当上了总经理。

In fact she strongly encouraged me to be honest about his failings as well as his strengths.

事实上，她极力鼓励我对他的缺点和优点诚实相待

failings and strengths / Strengths and Weaknesses

缺点和优点/ 优势和劣势

• What are your (failings and strengths) strengths and weaknesses?
  你的优势和劣势是？

• Everybody has their (failings and strengths) strengths and weaknesses.
  每个人都有自己的长处和弱点。

• Take into account your own (failings and strengths) strengths and weaknesses
  考虑一下你自己的优缺点。

She is one of the smartest and most grounded people I have ever met.

她是我见过的最聪明、最务实的人之一。

grounded people

脚踏实地的人；务实的人；理性的人

• 9 Traits of the Most Grounded People in Your Life
  你生活中最踏实的人的9个特点

• Truly grounded people don't feel a need to intentionally impress others.
  真正脚踏实地的人不会觉得有必要故意给别人留下深刻印象

• Grounded people don't need everything to be about them, and enjoy helping others reach their true potential.
  脚踏实地的人不需要一切都是关于他们的，并喜欢帮助别人达到他们真正的潜力。

She told me early on

她很早就告诉我了

early on

在早期; 前一阵子

• Early on in the project, there was essentially no activity.
  在项目的早期，本质上没有什么活动。

• One secret he learned very early on was not to flaunt his success.
  他很早就学到的一个秘诀就是不要夸耀自己的成功。

• From very early on he believed a military revolution was necessary and he has never deviated from that ideological path.
  他一早就认为军事革命是必要的，并且从未背离过这一思想路线。

You shouldn't whitewash it.

你不用为他掩饰。

whitewash

n. (粉刷用的)石灰水，白涂料;粉饰;掩盖;(在体育比赛中接连击败对手的)全胜，完胜

v. 粉刷(墙壁等);刷石灰水;掩饰;粉饰;(在系列比赛中)完全击败，完胜

• What he said was a load of whitewash.
  他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。

• He tried to whitewash his mistake, but he failed in the end.
  他试着掩饰他的错误，可是他最终还是失败了。

• What he said was just to whitewash his actions.
  他所说的恰恰掩饰了他行为的过失。