乔布斯传 第21期:奇特的一对,两个史蒂夫(2)

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　　到了四年级，沃兹尼亚克成为了他自称为“电子小孩”的一类人。

　　He had an easier time making eye contact with a transistor¹ than with a girl, and he developed the chunky and stooped look of a guy who spends most of his time hunched² over circuit boards.

　　对他来说，盯着一只晶体管要比跟一个姑娘眉来眼去来得容易，他就以矮矮胖胖、有点儿驼背的形象示众，大多数时间他都埋头于电路板中。

　　At the same age when Jobs was puzzling over a carbon microphone that his dad couldn't explain,

　　在乔布斯还在为了一个连他父亲都解释不清的碳精话筒而迷惑的年纪，

　　Wozniak was using transistors³ to build an intercom system featuring amplifiers, relays, lights, and buzzers⁴ that connected the kids' bedrooms of six houses in the neighborhood.

　　沃兹尼亚克已经在使用晶体管搭建对讲系统了，这个系统带有放大器、继电器、灯和蜂鸣器，连接了相邻的6座房子中孩子们的卧室。

　　And at an age when Jobs was building Heathkits, Wozniak was assembling a transmitter and receiver from Hallicrafters, the most sophisticated radios available.

　　乔布斯还在玩希斯工具盒的时候，沃兹尼亚克已经在组装来自世界上最先进的无线电制造商哈里克拉夫特（Hallicrafters)的发射器和接收器了，他还和父亲一起获得了业余无线电执照。

　　Woz spent a lot of time at home reading his father's electronics journals, and he became enthralled⁵ by stories about new computers, such as the powerful ENIAC.

　　沃兹花了大量的时间在家阅读父亲的电子学期刊，他着迷于关于新式计算机的那些故事，比如强大的埃尼阿克（ENIAC)。

　　Because Boolean algebra⁶ came naturally to him, he marveled at how simple, rather than complex, the computers were.

　　在接触到布尔代数之后，他惊奇地发现其实计算机系统一点儿也不复杂，而是非常简单。

　　In eighth grade he built a calculator that included one hundred transistors, two hundred diodes, and two hundred resistors on ten circuit boards.

　　八年级的时候，他基于二进制理论造出了一台计算器，把100只晶体管、200只二极管、200只电阻装在了10块电路板上。

　　It won top prize in a local contest run by the Air Force, even though the competitors included students through twelfth grade.

　　在当地一项由空军举办的赛事上，尽管参赛者中还有十二年级的学生，但这台计算器还是赢得了最高奖。

　　Woz became more of a loner when the boys his age began going out with girls and partying, endeavors that he found far more complex than designing circuits.

　　与沃兹同龄的男孩已开始跟女孩约会、参加各种派对，而他觉得这些都比设计电路更为复杂，他显得更加不合群了。

　　"Where before I was popular and riding bikes and everything, suddenly I was socially shut out," he recalled. "It seemed like nobody spoke⁷ to me for the longest time."

　　“之前我还挺受欢迎的，但突然间我就被孤立了，”他回忆说，“很长的一段时间都没有人跟我说话。”

　　He found an outlet⁸ by playing juvenile⁹ pranks¹⁰.

　　他找到了一个发泄的办法：

　　In twelfth grade he built an electronic metronome—one of those tick-tick-tick devices that keep time in music class—and realized it sounded like a bomb.

　　搞些幼稚的恶作剧。高中四年级的时候，他做了一个电子节拍器——音乐教室里用来打拍子的、会发出“滴答”声的装置。然后他意识到“滴答”声听上去很像是炸弹定时器的声音。

　　So he took the labels off some big batteries, taped them together, and put it in a school locker¹¹; he rigged it to start ticking faster when the locker opened.

　　于是他把一些大块电池的标签撕掉，把它们绑在一起，然后放进了学校的储物柜里。他设定好装置，一旦柜门被打开，“滴答”频率就会变高。

　　Later that day he got called to the principal's office. He thought it was because he had won, yet again, the school's top math prize. Instead he was confronted by the police.

　　那天晚些时候，他被叫到了校长办公室。他还以为是因为他又一次获得了学校的最高数学奖。然而，等待他的是警察。

　　The principal had been summoned when the device was found, bravely ran onto the football field clutching it to his chest, and pulled the wires off.

　　校长布吕德先生（Mr. Bryld)在装置刚被发现时就被叫到了现场，他一把抓起那个玩意儿，紧贴胸口，抱着它勇敢地跑到了操场，然后把上面的电线拆掉。

　　Woz tried and failed to suppress his laughter. He actually got sent to the juvenile detention¹² center, where he spent the night.

　　沃兹强忍着，但还是控制不住笑了出来。那天他真的被送到了青少年拘留中心，在那儿过了一晚上。

　　It was a memorable¹³ experience. He taught the other prisoners how to disconnect the wires leading to the ceiling fans and connect them to the bars so people got shocked when touching¹⁴ them.

　　沃兹认为那是一段难忘的经历。他在里面教其他犯人把通到天花板上风扇的电线接到铁窗上，这样一且有人碰到就会被电击一下。

　　Getting shocked was a badge of honor for Woz. He prided himself on being a hardware engineer, which meant that random¹⁵ shocks were routine.

　　对沃兹来说，被电击就好像是获得荣誉奖章一样。作为一名硬件工程师让他很自豪，但这也意味着触电是家常便饭。

　　He once devised a roulette game where four people put their thumbs in a slot; when the ball landed, one would get shocked.

　　他曾经发明过一种轮盘赌游戏：四个人把拇指按在槽里，球落下之后，其中的一个会被电到。

　　"Hardware guys will play this game, but software guys are too chicken," he noted¹⁶.

　　“搞硬件的人才愿意玩这个游戏，搞软件的都太胆小了。”他这么强调。

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