2024年4月10日发(作者：生俊茂)
百度文库 - 让每个人平等地提升自我
When Steve Jobs walked on to the stage
at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center in
January, it capped the most remarkable
comeback in modern business history.
It wasn’t simply a matter of the illness
that had sidelined him for half the year
before, leaving him severely emaciated and
eventually requiring a liver transplant. Little
more than a decade earlier, both Mr Jobs’
career and Apple, the company he had
co-founded, were widely considered washed
up, their relevance to the future of
technology written off both in Silicon Valley
and on Wall Street.
By the start of this year, however, the
rebound was complete. The level of
anticipation whipped up in advance of the
January event was unusual even by Mr Jobs’
own, impressive standards.
Critics often talk disparagingly of the
“reality distortion field” generated by the
Apple boss: his ability to convince onlookers
that technologies that would seem unformed
in other hands have reached a peak of
perfection at Apple. Generating this
suspension of disbelief is essential to stirring
up demand for gadgets most consumers had
no idea they needed, and is an art form of
which Mr Jobs has long been the
acknowledged master.
Speculation had been building in the
tech world for months about what was
rumoured to be Apple’s latest
ground-breaking product. A touch-screen
computer without a keyboard, it might even
rival the impact of the iPod, introduced in
2001, and the iPhone, in 2007. In the event,
the iPad that Mr Jobs carried on to the stage
with him that day did not disappoint.
A rebuttal of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
much-quoted aphorism that there are no
1
今年1月，史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)
走上旧金山芳草地艺术中心(Yerba Buena
Center)的舞台发布iPad，完成了现代商业
史上最引人注目的一次复出。
这不仅仅关乎半年前迫使他退居幕后的
疾病。病魔一度令乔布斯严重消瘦，最终不得
不进行肝脏移植手术。而就在十多年前，几乎
所有人认为乔布斯的事业及其共同创立的苹
果公司(Apple)已经走上绝路。硅谷和华尔街
都断定，它们已经与科技的未来无缘。
然而，到了今年初，苹果已然重生。在1
月份的发布会之前，即使是按照乔布斯自己的
苛刻标准衡量，外界对苹果的期望程度也是异
乎寻常的。
批评者总是用贬抑的口吻谈论乔布斯创
造的“现实扭曲场”：他能让观众信服，那些在
其他厂商手中似乎尚未成形的技术已经被苹
果完美地应用。为了激起消费者购买他们自己
也不知道是否真正需要的电子产品的欲望，打
消他们的疑虑极其关键，而乔布斯则早就被公
认为这种艺术形式的大师。
在iPad发布之前的数月内，科技界对苹
果这款最新的突破性产品猜测纷纷。据传它是
没有键盘的触摸屏电脑，甚至可以媲美2001
年的iPod和2007年的iPhone带来的影响。
在1月份的发布会上，乔布斯带上台的iPad
没有让人们失望。
对于F•斯科特•菲茨杰拉德(F. Scott
Fitzgerald)广为流传的名言（美国人的生命
百度文库 - 让每个人平等地提升自我
second acts in American life does not come
more decisively than this. When Steven Paul
Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger
even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long
before it was cool to be a nerd, his formative
role in popularising the personal computer,
and Apple’s initial public offering on Wall
Street – which came when Mr Jobs was still
only 25 – made him the tech industry’s first
rock star.
Now, three decades on, he has secured
his place in the foremost ranks of the West
Coast tech titans who have done so much to
shape the world around the turn of the
millennium. Long-time nemesis Bill Gates
may be richer and, at his peak, arguably
exerted greater sway, thanks to his
monopoly over the world’s PC software. But
the Microsoft co-founder has left the stage to
devote his life and fortune to good works. It
is Mr Jobs who now holds the spotlight.
Of all the fingers that Apple has poked
into Microsoft’s eyes over the years, none
can have rankled as much as the early
success of the iPad. Mr Gates himself
championed a tablet computer nearly a
decade ago, though the stylus needed to
write on its screen and the PC-like interface
generated little demand.
The iPad is already turning out to be a
different story. Extending the iPhone’s
innovations of a more versatile screen and
lightweight “apps” designed for specific
tasks, it points to a future beyond the
computer mouse – and a world without
Windows. Sales of cheaper notebook
computers are already suffering.
It is not a vision that is universally
welcomed among the digerati. By deciding
which apps are available in its online store,
and setting the rules for how those apps are
developed, Apple rules this new kingdom
2
中没有第二幕）而言，没有比这更坚决的反驳
了。乔布斯首次登上报纸头条时，甚至比现在
的马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)还要
年轻。早在书呆子备受追捧之前，由于在普及
个人电脑(PC)中发挥的关键作用，以及苹果
在华尔街的成功上市（当时乔布斯年仅25
岁），乔布斯就成为了科技界的第一个摇滚明
星。
如今，三十年过去了，乔布斯成为了在
塑造世纪之交的世界中居功至伟的美国西海
岸的几大科技巨头之一。他的老对手比尔•盖
茨(Bill Gates)或许更富有，而且在盖茨的事
业巅峰时期，凭借其在PC软件领域的垄断，
可以说盖茨的影响力比乔布斯更大。但盖茨已
经离开了舞台，将其余生和财富奉献给慈善事
业。如今，乔布斯才是焦点所在。
这些年来，在苹果针对微软的所有打击
中，没有一次比得过iPad的巨大成功造成的
冲击。近十年前，盖茨自己也开发过一款平板
电脑，但由于需要用笔在屏幕上写字，并且采
用与PC一样的界面，该产品并未带动多少需
求。
iPad则完全不同。iPad延续了iPhone
在屏幕多用途以及用于具体任务的轻量级“应
用程序”方面的创新，代表着一个没有计算机
鼠标和没有Windows的未来。廉价上网本的
销售已经受到了冲击。
不是所有数字专家都欢迎这样的未来。
通过操纵在线商店销售的应用程序，以及为开
发这些应用制定规则，苹果对这个新王国的控
制更胜于微软对PC的控制。
2024年4月10日发(作者：生俊茂)
百度文库 - 让每个人平等地提升自我
When Steve Jobs walked on to the stage
at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center in
January, it capped the most remarkable
comeback in modern business history.
It wasn’t simply a matter of the illness
that had sidelined him for half the year
before, leaving him severely emaciated and
eventually requiring a liver transplant. Little
more than a decade earlier, both Mr Jobs’
career and Apple, the company he had
co-founded, were widely considered washed
up, their relevance to the future of
technology written off both in Silicon Valley
and on Wall Street.
By the start of this year, however, the
rebound was complete. The level of
anticipation whipped up in advance of the
January event was unusual even by Mr Jobs’
own, impressive standards.
Critics often talk disparagingly of the
“reality distortion field” generated by the
Apple boss: his ability to convince onlookers
that technologies that would seem unformed
in other hands have reached a peak of
perfection at Apple. Generating this
suspension of disbelief is essential to stirring
up demand for gadgets most consumers had
no idea they needed, and is an art form of
which Mr Jobs has long been the
acknowledged master.
Speculation had been building in the
tech world for months about what was
rumoured to be Apple’s latest
ground-breaking product. A touch-screen
computer without a keyboard, it might even
rival the impact of the iPod, introduced in
2001, and the iPhone, in 2007. In the event,
the iPad that Mr Jobs carried on to the stage
with him that day did not disappoint.
A rebuttal of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
much-quoted aphorism that there are no
1
今年1月，史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)
走上旧金山芳草地艺术中心(Yerba Buena
Center)的舞台发布iPad，完成了现代商业
史上最引人注目的一次复出。
这不仅仅关乎半年前迫使他退居幕后的
疾病。病魔一度令乔布斯严重消瘦，最终不得
不进行肝脏移植手术。而就在十多年前，几乎
所有人认为乔布斯的事业及其共同创立的苹
果公司(Apple)已经走上绝路。硅谷和华尔街
都断定，它们已经与科技的未来无缘。
然而，到了今年初，苹果已然重生。在1
月份的发布会之前，即使是按照乔布斯自己的
苛刻标准衡量，外界对苹果的期望程度也是异
乎寻常的。
批评者总是用贬抑的口吻谈论乔布斯创
造的“现实扭曲场”：他能让观众信服，那些在
其他厂商手中似乎尚未成形的技术已经被苹
果完美地应用。为了激起消费者购买他们自己
也不知道是否真正需要的电子产品的欲望，打
消他们的疑虑极其关键，而乔布斯则早就被公
认为这种艺术形式的大师。
在iPad发布之前的数月内，科技界对苹
果这款最新的突破性产品猜测纷纷。据传它是
没有键盘的触摸屏电脑，甚至可以媲美2001
年的iPod和2007年的iPhone带来的影响。
在1月份的发布会上，乔布斯带上台的iPad
没有让人们失望。
对于F•斯科特•菲茨杰拉德(F. Scott
Fitzgerald)广为流传的名言（美国人的生命
百度文库 - 让每个人平等地提升自我
second acts in American life does not come
more decisively than this. When Steven Paul
Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger
even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long
before it was cool to be a nerd, his formative
role in popularising the personal computer,
and Apple’s initial public offering on Wall
Street – which came when Mr Jobs was still
only 25 – made him the tech industry’s first
rock star.
Now, three decades on, he has secured
his place in the foremost ranks of the West
Coast tech titans who have done so much to
shape the world around the turn of the
millennium. Long-time nemesis Bill Gates
may be richer and, at his peak, arguably
exerted greater sway, thanks to his
monopoly over the world’s PC software. But
the Microsoft co-founder has left the stage to
devote his life and fortune to good works. It
is Mr Jobs who now holds the spotlight.
Of all the fingers that Apple has poked
into Microsoft’s eyes over the years, none
can have rankled as much as the early
success of the iPad. Mr Gates himself
championed a tablet computer nearly a
decade ago, though the stylus needed to
write on its screen and the PC-like interface
generated little demand.
The iPad is already turning out to be a
different story. Extending the iPhone’s
innovations of a more versatile screen and
lightweight “apps” designed for specific
tasks, it points to a future beyond the
computer mouse – and a world without
Windows. Sales of cheaper notebook
computers are already suffering.
It is not a vision that is universally
welcomed among the digerati. By deciding
which apps are available in its online store,
and setting the rules for how those apps are
developed, Apple rules this new kingdom
2
中没有第二幕）而言，没有比这更坚决的反驳
了。乔布斯首次登上报纸头条时，甚至比现在
的马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)还要
年轻。早在书呆子备受追捧之前，由于在普及
个人电脑(PC)中发挥的关键作用，以及苹果
在华尔街的成功上市（当时乔布斯年仅25
岁），乔布斯就成为了科技界的第一个摇滚明
星。
如今，三十年过去了，乔布斯成为了在
塑造世纪之交的世界中居功至伟的美国西海
岸的几大科技巨头之一。他的老对手比尔•盖
茨(Bill Gates)或许更富有，而且在盖茨的事
业巅峰时期，凭借其在PC软件领域的垄断，
可以说盖茨的影响力比乔布斯更大。但盖茨已
经离开了舞台，将其余生和财富奉献给慈善事
业。如今，乔布斯才是焦点所在。
这些年来，在苹果针对微软的所有打击
中，没有一次比得过iPad的巨大成功造成的
冲击。近十年前，盖茨自己也开发过一款平板
电脑，但由于需要用笔在屏幕上写字，并且采
用与PC一样的界面，该产品并未带动多少需
求。
iPad则完全不同。iPad延续了iPhone
在屏幕多用途以及用于具体任务的轻量级“应
用程序”方面的创新，代表着一个没有计算机
鼠标和没有Windows的未来。廉价上网本的
销售已经受到了冲击。
不是所有数字专家都欢迎这样的未来。
通过操纵在线商店销售的应用程序，以及为开
发这些应用制定规则，苹果对这个新王国的控
制更胜于微软对PC的控制。