One important showdown occurred when Atkinson decided1 that the screen should have a white background rather than a dark one. 阿特金森认为应该把屏幕的深色背景换成白色的,这引发了一次重大冲突。
This would allow an attribute that both Atkinson and Jobs wanted: WYSIWYG, pronounced "wiz-ee-wig," an acronym2 for "What you see is what you get." 屏幕背景色的改变可以实现阿特金森和乔布斯都想要的一个特性:WYSIWYG,这是“所见即所得”的缩写。
What you saw on the screen was what you'd get when you printed it out. 你在屏幕上看到的是什么样,打印出来就还是什么样。
"The hardware team screamed bloody3 murder," Atkinson recalled. “硬件团队一片哀嚎,”阿特金森回忆说,
"They said it would force us to use a phosphor that was a lot less persistent4 and would flicker5 more." “他们说,这样的话就必须使用一种持久性差且闪烁严重的磷光体。”
So Atkinson enlisted6 Jobs, who came down on his side. 阿特金森只好搬来乔布斯帮忙,乔布斯自然站在了他的一边。
The hardware folks grumbled7, but then went off and figured it out. 硬件团队抱怨连连,但之后还是实现了这个功能。
"Steve wasn't much of an engineer himself, but he was very good at assessing people's answers. “乔布斯本人算不上是个工程师,但他十分擅长评估别人的答案。
He could tell whether the engineers were defensive8 or unsure of themselves." 他能看得出来工程师是心存戒备还是缺乏自信。”
One of Atkinson's amazing feats9 (which we are so accustomed to nowadays that we rarely marvel10 at it) was to allow the windows on a screen to overlap11 so that the "top" one clipped into the ones "below" it. 阿特金森的伟大功绩之一(时至今日我们已经对它习以为常,感觉不到它的神奇)就是实现了屏幕上窗口间的重叠,这样一来“上面的”窗口就叠在了“下面的”窗口上。
Atkinson made it possible to move these windows around, just like shuffling12 papers on a desk, with those below becoming visible or hidden as you moved the top ones. 这一功能让人们可以像堆疊桌子上的文件纸张一样移动屏幕上的窗口,在你移动上面的窗口时,下面的窗口就会被隐藏起来或者被显示出来。
Of course, on a computer screen there are no layers of pixels underneath13 the pixels that you see, so there are no windows actually lurking14 underneath the ones that appear to be on top. 当然,在电脑屏幕上,并没有层层像素隐藏在你看到的画面下,所以在你看到的“上面的”窗口之下,并没有隐藏的窗口。
To create the illusion of overlapping15 windows requires complex coding that involves what are called "regions." 制造窗口重叠的假象,需要编写复杂的代码,其中运用到了“区域”这样一个概念。
Atkinson pushed himself to make this trick work because he thought he had seen this capability16 during his visit to Xerox17 PARC. 阿特金森强迫自己一定要做出这个效果,因为他觉得自己在施乐PARC见过这个功能。
In fact the folks at PARC had never accomplished18 it, and they later told him they were amazed that he had done so. 而实际上,施乐PARC的人从来没能实现这个功能,他们后来还阿特金森完成这一壮举表示了震惊。
"I got a feeling for the empowering aspect of naivet," Atkinson said. “我终于知道什么叫无知者无畏了,”阿特金森说,
"Because I didn't know it couldn't be done, I was enabled to do it." “正因为我不知道这个任务是如此困难,我才得以完成它。”
1 decided [dɪˈsaɪdɪd] 第7级 | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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2 acronym [ˈækrənɪm] 第9级 | |
n.首字母简略词,简称 | |
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3 bloody [ˈblʌdi] 第7级 | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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4 persistent [pəˈsɪstənt] 第7级 | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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5 flicker [ˈflɪkə(r)] 第9级 | |
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现 | |
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6 enlisted [ɪnˈlɪstɪd] 第9级 | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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7 grumbled [ˈɡrʌmbld] 第7级 | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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8 defensive [dɪˈfensɪv] 第9级 | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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9 feats ['fi:ts] 第7级 | |
功绩,伟业,技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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10 marvel [ˈmɑ:vl] 第7级 | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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11 overlap [ˌəʊvəˈlæp] 第7级 | |
vt.重叠,与…交叠;vi.部分重叠;部分的同时发生;n.重叠 | |
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12 shuffling ['ʃʌflɪŋ] 第8级 | |
adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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13 underneath [ˌʌndəˈni:θ] 第7级 | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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14 lurking [] 第8级 | |
潜在 | |
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15 overlapping ['əuvə'læpiŋ] 第7级 | |
adj./n.交迭(的) | |
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16 capability [ˌkeɪpəˈbɪləti] 第7级 | |
n.能力;才能;(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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17 xerox [ˈzɪərɒks] 第9级 | |
n./v.施乐复印机,静电复印 | |
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18 accomplished [əˈkʌmplɪʃt] 第8级 | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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