酷兔英语


The announcement that Steve Jobs is stepping down from the helm of Apple is sure to send waves of surprise through Silicon Valley. To understand why, consider this:


乔布斯(Steve Jobs)辞去苹果(Apple)首席执行长职位的声明无疑将令硅谷人士颇感意外。要弄清为什么,想想以下事实:



In addition to the basic fact that he was head of the largest technology company in the known universe, Jobs did, oh, just a few other things.


乔布斯曾是全球最大的科技公司的掌门人,除这一基本事实外,乔布斯做过的事情也就那么几样。



One of them involved perfecting and popularizing the graphical user interface -- you know, the thing that meant you didn't have to type gobbledygook onto a green screen to use a computer.


其中之一是完善、推广图形用户界面,你知道,这个东西意味着人们不必在绿色屏幕上键入复杂指令才能使用电脑了。



The other you might recognize by looking down at something in your pocket or briefcase, assuming you have a smartphone or tablet. Although Jobs certainly didn't invent mobile computing, the devices he created have arguably furthered the field more than any others.


另外一个你可能看看自己衣袋或公文包中的东西就明白了,如果你有一部智能手机或平板电脑的话。尽管移动计算显然不是乔布斯发明的,相比其他任何设备,他创造的这些设备可能把这一领域延伸得更广。



So what was Jobs's most important contribution? Let's take a look.


那么,乔布斯最重要的贡献是什么呢?让我们看看吧。



First, there's the graphical interface. Jobs himself didn't have the idea for this; rather, ideas for it came from a 1979 visit to a Xerox researchfacility. But the Macintosh, introduced in 1984, refined the idea into a form that could be used by the average consumer.


首先是图形用户界面。这个想法并不是乔布斯自己产生的,而是他1979年参观施乐(Xerox)研究中心时受到启发想出来的。不过,1984年推出的Macintosh电脑将这个想法完善成为一种可以被普通消费者使用的形式。



Prior to the graphical interface, people using computers had to input textual commands. This, needless to say, was not what one might call 'user friendly.' Jobs himself described it this way: 'The special incantations you have to learn ... are the 'slash q-zs' and things like that. ... [People are] not going to learn slash q-z any more than they're going to learn Morse code.'


在图形用户界面之前,电脑使用者必须输入文字指令。不用说,这可称不上是"用户友好"。乔布斯自己这样形容文字指令:人们必须学会......像/q-z指令这一类的东西。他们对/q-z命令的了解程度不会超过对摩尔斯电码(Morse code)的了解。



The system of using a mouse and moving things intuitively on the screen has been used in most later consumercomputers -- including, of course, Windows. Without it, computers would not likely have become as popular or usable as they are.


使用鼠标和在屏幕上直观移动东西的系统在大部分后来的消费电脑中都一直使用着,当然包括Windows。没有这个系统,电脑将不太可能像现在这样受欢迎和便于使用。



Next up: the mobile computing revolution. Sure, there was the BlackBerry before the iPhone. And sure, Android can lay claim to the 'most popular' title. But the iPhone and iPad have revolutionized the technology landscape.


其次是移动计算革命。不错,在iPhone之前有黑莓(BlackBerry)。不错,安卓(Android)能够冠上"最受欢迎"的头衔。但iPhone和iPad给技术格局带来了革命。



The popularization of consumer mobile computing is changing the way we interact with technology. Tech is now more a part of us than ever before -- almost an extension of the human body at this point. Jobs went back and forth over the years on whether technology could really change the world. But it seems that mobile devices might be doing that -- for good and ill. On one hand, we are more in touch than ever before and have major computer and information power literally in the palm of our hands. On the other, the extreme association between technology and our physical space is raising questions about surveillance capabilities and our privacy. These are major societal issues, here.


消费移动计算的普及开始改变人类与技术互动的方式。技术如今比以往更多地成为我们工作生活的一部分,在这一点上,几乎可以说是人体的一个延伸。这些年来,乔布斯在技术是否真的能够改变世界这个问题上反反复复。但看来移动设备可能正在改变世界,有好的一面,也有坏的一面。一方面,我们比以往更多地保持联络,主要电脑和信息力量尽在我们"掌握"之中。另一方面,技术和我们生活空间的联系到了极端的程度,开始引发有关监视能力和个人隐私的质疑。这些是主要社会问题。



Of course, the question remains whether either of these things -- like fire and the wheel -- would have been invented and popularized with or without Steve Jobs. But the fact of the matter is that he's the one who accomplished it.


当然,问题仍然在于,有没有乔布斯这个人是否会对这两样东西能否得以发明和普及造成影响(它们就像火和车轮一样是历史的必然)。不过事实是,实现这一切的那个人是他。



So what was Jobs's biggest contribution? In your Digits blogger's opinion, it's the graphical user interface, because consumer use of technology was necessary before the mobile revolution could take place. But readers, what do you think? Was it one of these two contributions, or something else?


那么,乔布斯最伟大的贡献是什么呢?以本栏目的观点,是图形用户界面,因为消费者对技术的使用是可能发生移动革命的必要条件。不过,读者们,你们怎么看?乔布斯最伟大的贡献是这两项之一,还是其他什么?



Jennifer Valentino-DeVries


Jennifer Valentino-DeVries




文章标签:乔布斯