ElON MUSK读书笔记7
2017年9月18日
痛苦与磨难----人生低谷
1.“一半花花公子,一半宇宙牛仔”。
Elon Musk 一直作为商界名流,但是和娱乐界基本还是没有交集的,因此他在公众印象中始终还是Paypal公司的创立者而已罢了。但是一部《钢铁侠》电影多少让他和娱乐界有了些关系,起因还是《钢铁侠》的主演扮演者和Elon Musk的一次短暂的会面,后来导演在宣传该片时,一再宣称Elon Musk这个原型为《钢铁侠》主要人物Tony Stark提供了很多灵感。这样以后,媒体更加对此津津乐道,也不乏各种夸大其词,这样Elon Musk公众曝光率不断增加,渐渐地,他的在人们心目中的那个“创建了Paypal的那个家伙”逐渐转变为站在SpaceX和Tesla后面的一位特立独行的富商。
People who sort of knew him as that Paypal guy began to think of him as rich, eccentric businessman behind SpaceX and Tesla.
Elon Musk十分享受他曝光率的增加,在自尊心,虚荣心得到极大满足的同时,也带来了很多乐趣。他的豪宅比邻大牌的娱乐界明星,他和妻子也开始参加各种名流派对,好莱坞夜生活等等。Elon Musk也曾这样形容他当时的生活,他的生活由百分之十的花花公子和百分之九十的工程师组成。
In one interview, Musk calculated that his life had become 10 percent playboy and 90 percent engineer.
Elon Musk的妻子Justine似乎比丈夫更加享受这样的生活,作为一位科幻小说作家,她还一直有个写博客的习惯,在里面记录他们的家庭生活和各种有趣经历。这对于一个相对于外界很神秘的亿万富翁来说,记录他的生活博客无疑成了媒体,公众了解他的最直接的渠道 ,好事的人们可以从中一窥这位与众不同CEO的私人生活。虽然Justine的博客一度非常受追捧,但是这样把个人私生活放到公众目光之下,这对于一个名人来说,无异于一场灾难;很快就成了Elon Musk的噩梦。
Justine letting the world into the couple's bathroom should have served as a warning of things to come .Her blog would soon turn into one of Musk's worst nightmares.
伺机而动,惟恐天下不乱的媒体已经好久没有遇到像Elon Musk这样的人物了。Paypal的成功令这位互联网富翁闪闪发光,另外他在自带一种神秘感,他的奇怪的名字,他不惜重金投资火箭公司和电汽车公司的大胆超前行为,让大家感到震惊并为之折服。有人形容Elon Musk是“一半花花公子,一半宇宙牛仔”。
Elon Musk has been called 'part playboy, part space cowboy,'
Elon Musk的这种特立独行,大胆超前甚至有时候有些不找边际的夸夸奇谈正和媒体的胃口,不论是Tesla还是SpaceX,任何风吹草动总让记者们兴奋不已,有大把可写的东西。
2.光环不再
尽管Elon Musk在媒体和公众面前做足了秀,可是他的公司却也开始让他担忧。SpaceX第二次发射失败,Tesla的财务状况也越来越不尽人意,这两项业务侵占了Elon Musk的大半资产,而且这两个项目都没有取得明显的进展。当Tesla的延期交货变成了一个公众关注焦点后,几乎成了Elon Musk的公关危机。Elon Musk身上的光环不再闪现,不久前还热捧他的媒体开始谈论他那些据巨额投资血本无归,开始挖苦他的汽车不能解决的技术问题,一时间舆论风向变了,纷纷倒戈开始讨伐他了。甚至还有媒体这样形容他“Musk能够实现他的部分童年幻想是一件令人高兴的事,但事实上,他正在亲手毁掉他的梦想,因为他不愿意和现实妥协。”
“It's wonderful that Musk has realized even a small part of his childhood fantasies ,but he risks destroying his dreams by refusing to reconcile them with reality."
3.婚姻破裂
这真的可以说是Elon Musk人生低谷了,就在他公司出现问题,个人名誉受到了损害,他的家庭生活也在经受危机。Justine在生下他们的三胞胎后,患上了产后抑郁症,另外Justine一直觉的Elon Musk对她不够坦诚,对她的写作事业不够支持,她只是被当作了妻子和孩子的母亲,和毫无内涵的花瓶角色,她没有被视为平等的合伙者或者说一位出版过几部小说的成功的作家。
就在事业遭受前所未有的困难,家庭生活的问题更是雪上加霜,就这样,两人最终离婚了。Elon Musk接着又结识了一位英国女演员,开始了第二段婚姻。
纵观这段内容,关于Elon Musk事业我不想多做评论,不过在婚姻关系上,确实还是存在一些问题的。比如没有体谅妻子产后抑郁症的影响,不能体会妻子长期得不到社会地位的认同感,长期忙于工作忽略家庭。我觉得这也是他的妻子一直在记录博客详细记录他们家庭生活的,这也是她希望得到公众关注,认可其才华的一部分原因吧,虽然这种做法给Elon Musk造成了困扰,可是原因也挺让人唏嘘的。
Elon Musk做事雷厉风行,看准目标绝不放手,这一点反应到婚姻生活中,有时候就感觉有些铁石心肠了,比如他的妻子在后来谈到离婚过程中,这样描述,尽管当时她还不想离婚,觉得他们还有协调的余地,可是Elon Musk下了最后通牒,“如果我们今天不能离婚,那么我们明天就离婚”。Justine还在试图挽救婚姻,可是当天早上她就发现她的信用卡被停掉了,Elon Musk已经率先签了离婚协议。离婚多年,Justine仍是多年不能平复伤痛,接受采访数度落泪,“有段时间我们的关系就像敌人,如果对手是Elon,那么战争会变得非常残酷。”
“We were at war for a while , and when you go to war with Elon, it's pretty brutal.“
人生来就两只手,怎么可以什么都去抓?每个人对人生的理解也不同,我就只抓对我最重要的东西,其他的东西没有也罢,又算得了什么呢?
单词部分
1.zip about 穿梭
Enthusiastic employees were zipping about , fiddling with an assortment of machines.
Smartly dressed men and women zip about on noiseless transIt'systems.
2.fiddle v.1.摆弄;拨弄 If you fiddle with an object, you keep moving it or touching it with your fingers.
He fiddled with a pen on the desk.
2.作小改动;略微变动;稍稍修改 If you fiddle with something, you change it in minor ways.
She told Whistler that his portrait of her was finished and to stop fiddling with it.
3.调校;调整 If you fiddle with a machine, you adjust it.
Enthusiastic employees were zipping about , fiddling with an assortment of machines.
He turned on the radio and fiddled with the knob until he got a talk show.
3.gossip v.闲聊;说长道短 If you gossip with someone, you talk informally, especially about other people or local events. You can also say that two people gossip .
People in Silicon Valley began to gossip about Musk's money problems.
We spoke, debated, gossiped into the night...
n.流言蜚语;小道消息;闲话 Gossip is informal conversation, often about other people's private affairs.
There has been much gossip about the possible reasons for his absence...
4.vacuum up 原义真空度升高,在这里引申为榨干,吸收
Both endeavors were vacuuming up Musk's money.
5.on the rocks 触礁的; (婚姻)濒于破裂的; 身无分文的;
It was on the rocks.
She confided to her mother six months ago that her marriage was on the rocks.
In the brief space of time the company went on the rocks.
6.something n.(描述、数量等)大概,大致,大约,左右 You can use something to say that the description or amount that you are giving is not exact.
Musk had seen out with a twenty-something actress.
7.tumultuous adj.事件,时期)动乱的骚乱的,动荡的 A tumultuous event or period of time involves many exciting and confusing events or feelings.
As 2007 rolled into 2008, Musk's life became more tumultuous.
8.roll into 到达;来到
As 2007 rolled into 2008, Musk's life became more tumultuous.
The brothers usually roll into their studio around midday.