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One of Jobs's management philosophies was that it is crucial,
喬布斯的管理理念之一就是，
every now and then, to roll the dice and "bet the company" on some new idea or technology.
不時地孤注一擲，“把公司壓在”一些新點子或技術上，這樣做至關重要。
At the NeXT launch, he boasted of an example that, as it turned out, would not be a wise gamble:
NeXT發布時，他炫耀了一個例子，后來，事實證明這是一場不明智的賭博。
having a high-capacity (but slow) optical read/write disk and no floppy disk as a backup.
采用高容量（但速度慢）的讀寫光盤，而不是用軟盤來備份數據。
"Two years ago we made a decision," he said.
“兩年前，我們作出了一個決定，”喬布斯說道，
"We saw some new technology and we made a decision to risk our company."
“我們見識到一些新的技術，并決定賭一賭。”
Then he turned to a feature that would prove more prescient.
接著，他開始介紹另一個功能--能更好地證明喬布斯的先見之明。
"What we've done is made the first real digital books," he said,
“我們做出了第一批真正的電子書。”他說，
noting the inclusion of the Oxford edition of Shakespeare and other tomes.
并提到電腦里包含了牛津版的莎士比亞和其他大部頭，
"There has not been an advancement in the state of the art of printed book technology since Gutenberg."
“自古騰堡以來，印刷書本的技術還未出現過進步。”
At times he could be amusingly aware of his own foibles,
有時，喬布斯會幽默地展示自己的自知之明，
and he used the electronic book demonstration to poke fun at himself.
他用電子書演示來取笑自己。
"A word that's sometimes used to describe me is 'mercurial,'" he said, then paused.
“有一個詞有時會被用來形容我，'mercuriar。”他說道，然后頓了頓。
The audience laughed knowingly, especially those in the front rows,
觀眾們會意地笑了，尤其是那些坐在前排的人，
which were filled with NeXT employees and former members of the Macintosh team.
多是NeXT的雇員和原麥金塔團隊的成員。
Then he pulled up the word in the computer's dictionary and read the first definition:
接著，他把這個詞輸進了電腦的詞典，讀出了第一條釋義。
"Of or relating to, or born under the planet Mercury."
“水星的，與水星有關的或來自水星的。”
Scrolling down, he said, "I think the third one is the one they mean: 'Characterized by unpredictable changeableness of mood.'"
他邊把頁面往下拉邊說，“我想他們說的應該是第三種意思：'情緒多變'。”
There was a bit more laughter. "If we scroll down the thesaurus, though, we see that the antonym is 'saturnine.'
笑聲更多了。“如果我們繼續往下拉，就能看到它的反義詞'saturnine'。
Well what's that? By simply double-clicking on it,
這個詞又是什么意思呢？只要雙擊一下這個詞，
we immediately look that up in the dictionary, and here it is: 'Cold and steady in moods.
我們就能馬上查到它，來看看：'情緒冷淡穩定。
Slow to act or change. Of a gloomy or surly disposition.'"
行動或改變遲緩。陰郁或陰沉的性格。'”
A little smile came across his face as he waited for the ripple of laughter.
在等待觀眾的笑聲平息之時，喬布斯臉上出現了一點兒笑容。
"Well," he concluded, "I don't think 'mercurial' is so bad after all."
“好吧，”他總結道，“這么看來，我覺得'mercurial'這個詞也不是那么糟。”
