“苹果教”是怎样炼成的

英语自学网

　　

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　　2006年，艾伦•帕特洛的头发被修剪出一个苹果产品标致。正是像他这样的铁杆苹果迷帮助提升了产品的吸引力。
　　Steve Jobs has stepped down from his pulpit. Now, followers of the 'Cult of Mac' are contemplating a world without their charismatic leader.
　　乔布斯(Steve Jobs)走下了神坛。如今，“苹果教”信徒开始设想一个失去了他们魅力四射的领袖的世界。
　　Investors took news of Mr. Jobs' departure in stride, pushing Apple shares down less than one percent in Thursday trading. And across the technology and business worlds, Mr. Jobs continued to receive plaudits for his innovative role in modern business. Even competitors from the likes of Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. lined up to sing his praises.
　　投资者对乔布斯辞职的消息反应从容，周四苹果股价收盘跌了不到1%。在科技和商业领域，乔布斯仍因他在现代商业中发挥的创新性作用而备受赞扬。甚至是来自微软(Microsoft Corp.)和惠普(Hewlett-Packard Co.)等公司的竞争对手也纷纷为其唱起了赞歌。
　　The most fervent devotion still rests with Apple's devotees, often called 'fanboys,' who have provided a sales base to see the company through its darkest hour of near bankruptcy to become one of the world's most valuable companies. They have served as a core of early adopters who, with often evangelical fervor, helped ignite interest in Apple products.
　　最虔诚的仍是苹果的铁杆粉丝，是他们为苹果提供了销售基础，见证了苹果走过濒临破产的最黑暗时光，成长为全球最有价值的公司之一。他们构成了苹果产品早期使用者的核心，凭藉他们常常宗教式的狂热，帮助引燃了大众对苹果公司的兴趣。
　　
            
            

ensix

“苹果教”是怎样炼成的#e#
　　For many, devotion to Apple Inc. products has come with a special reverence for Mr. Jobs, who founded the company in 1976. While in elementary school, enthusiast Allen Paltrow posted a photo of Mr. Jobs on his wall. 'He was the first celebrity of any type that I could recognize,' said Mr. Paltrow, now 19 years old.
　　对很多人来说，对苹果产品的热衷伴随着对乔布斯的特殊崇拜。1976年，乔布斯创立了苹果。苹果迷帕特洛(Allen Paltrow)还在上小学的时候，就在自己的 上贴了一张乔布斯的照片。如今已经19岁的帕特洛说，他是各类名人中能认出的第一个。
　　When he was 10, Mr. Paltrow sent Mr. Jobs an impassioned email about how much he loved Apple products that earned his family a tour of the company's headquarters. His parents let him buy $800 of Apple stock. He began shaving an Apple logo into the back of his head.
　　图片：乔布斯苹果帝国十年扩张路帕特洛10岁的时候，给乔布斯发了一封热情洋溢的电子邮件，讲述了他有多么热爱苹果产品。这封信使他和家人获得了参观苹果总部的机会。他的父母允许他花800美元买了苹果股票。他开始在后脑勺剃出有苹果标识的发型。
　　In 2006, at the grand opening of an Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue, Mr. Paltrow met Mr. Jobs in person. 'I shook his hand and didn't wash it for a long time,' said Mr. Paltrow, who is now a sophomore at Princeton studying computer science.
　　2006年，在纽约第五大道苹果门店的盛大开业典礼上，帕特洛亲眼见到了乔布斯。帕特洛说，我和他握手后，很长时间都没有洗手。他现在是普林斯顿大学大二学生，主修电脑科学。
　　The comparisons between Apple and a religion began as early as 1994, when Italian scholar Umberto Eco wrote a humorous essay in which he compared Apple to the Catholic church─and Microsoft Corp.'s DOS to the Protestant one.
　　将苹果和宗教相提并论最早开始于1994年，当时意大利学者埃科(Umberto Eco)写了一篇幽默风趣的文章，他在文章中把苹果比作天主教教堂，而把微软的DOS系统比作新教教堂。
　　Leander Kahney, editor of the 'Cult of Mac' blog, said Apple devotees hate being called 'cultish.' 'It makes it sound like they are mindless zombies,' he said, noting that the name of his blog is a bit of an inside joke. Still, he said that Apple lovers do share a uniquely strong sense of community. 'If you are a Mac user, you think other Mac users are like you,' he said.
　　“苹果教”博客主编卡尼(Leander Kahney)说，苹果的粉丝讨厌被称作“膜拜者”。他说，这个称谓听起来好像他们是没有思想、感觉麻木的人，还说他的博客名称圈内人一听就明白。尽管如此，卡尼说，苹果迷有一种非比寻常的强烈的社区感。他说，如果你是Mac用户，你会认为其他Mac用户跟你是同路人。
　　
            
            

enthree

“苹果教”是怎样炼成的#e#
　　Earlier this year, a report by the British Broadcasting Corp. found that on an MRI scan, an Apple fanatic's brain was stimulated by Apple the same way that religious imagery does for people of faith.
　　The devotion of Mr. Jobs's followers is legendary. They camp out overnight in front of Apple stores before product launches, with Apple employees handing out drinks and snacks. They pore over emails that Mr. Jobs sporadically responded to personally. And they are known to passionately defend Apple products against any who might challenge their superiority.
　　众所周知，乔布斯的追随者会对苹果产品表现出高度虔诚。在苹果发布新产品之前，他们会在零售店门前彻夜扎营守候，而苹果的员工则会给他们分发饮料和零食。他们会认真阅读乔布斯偶尔亲自回复的电子邮件。而且，他们会积极捍卫苹果产品，不让任何人可能挑战苹果的优势地位。
　　Apple's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., became the mecca for some faithful, selling T-shirts that read, 'I visited the Mothership.' Apple's line of retail stores have become so iconic, they've lately spawned a mini-trend of people filming videos of themselves dancing in them. (Store employees usually don't interfere.)
　　图片：乔布斯的这些年苹果公司位于美国加州库比蒂诺的总部已成为一些忠实粉丝朝圣的麦加，T恤衫上写着：我参观了航空母舰。苹果零售店已成为苹果公司的象征，最近有人在零售店内跳舞并将其拍成视频，掀起一阵小热潮。(苹果零售店的员工一般对此不加干涉。)
　　'Apple exhibits a religious-like quality. People feel devotion to Apple, and it provides a sense of community and identity,' said Heidi Campbell, a professor of communication at Texas A&M University who has studied how the iPhone came to be known colloquially as the 'Jesus Phone.'
　　德州农工大学(Texas A&M University)的传播学教授坎普贝尔(Heidi Campbell)说，苹果展示出了一种类似宗教的特征，人们感觉深爱着苹果，而苹果也为人们提供了一种社群感和认同感。她曾对iPhone如何被冠以“耶稣手机”(Jesus Phone)之名进行过研究。
　　New York University anthropology professor Angela Zito said she would stop short of calling Apple a religion, but thinks it shares elements with a religion such as a sense of identity. 'In our society now, so much is built around consumption of things and advertising, a lot of people find a sense of community around the things that they buy,' she said.
　　纽约大学(New York University)人类学教授兹图(Angela Zito)说，她可能不会把苹果称为一种宗教，但又觉得它和宗教一样有着认同感等元素。兹图说，在如今这个社会，制造的很多东西都是为了让你消费以及做宣传，所以很多人会对自己所买商品的一些相关东西产生社群感。
　　The question now is whether the religious fervor will go on.
　　现在的问题是，苹果的宗教狂热是否会继续下去。
　　Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton said, 'Apple is a company and culture unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.'
　　苹果发言人科顿(Katie Cotton)说，苹果公司和苹果的企业文化有别于世界上任何一家公司，我们将继续忠于这一点，继续生产全世界最棒的产品，让消费者开心，也让我们的员工为自己的工作感到无比骄傲。
　　After the news of his resignation, many Apple fans reflected on the future of their community without its leader─and the possibility that Apple might become fallible. 'There's a huge void,' said Lisa Morales-Hellebo, the founder of online shopping startup ShopSuey in Silver Spring, Md. 'I don't know that there is a visionary that could step in and fill those shoes.'
　　在得知乔布斯辞职的消息后，很多苹果迷对他们“群龙无首”的社区未来以及苹果日后难免犯错的可能性进行了深入思考。刚刚在美国马里兰州银泉市成立了在线网购公司ShopSuey的赫尔勒波(Lisa Morales-Hellebo)说，感觉有很大的失落感，我不知是否存在一个有远见卓识的人能接手这些工作。
　　'Steve is the most colorful figure in the cult. But it will survive without him,' said 'Cult of Mac' editor Mr. Kahney. 'He might be like Obi-Wan Kenobi he might be even stronger when he is gone.'
　　“苹果教”博客的主编卡尼说，乔布斯是苹果教中最精彩的人物，他可能与科幻电影《星球大战》中的绝地武士肯诺比(Obi-Wan Kenobi)相似，而他的影响力甚至可能在辞职后变得更加强大。
　　(责任编辑 陈奕璇)