乔布斯传之节选二

Cinderella

from Chapter Two

No one had ever created a digital version of a Blue Box, but Woz was made for the challenge. Using diodes and transistors from Radio Shack, and with the help of a music student in his dorm who had perfect pitch, he got it built before Thanksgiving. “I have never designed a circuit I was prouder of,” he said. “I still think it was incredible.”

At first the Blue Box was used for fun and pranks. The most daring of these was when they called the Vatican and Wozniak pretended to be Henry Kissinger wanting to speak to the pope. “Ve are at de summit meeting in Moscow, and ve need to talk to de pope,” Woz intoned. He was told that it was 5:30 a.m. and the pope was sleeping. When he called back, he got a bishop who was supposed to serve as the translator. But they never actually got the pope on the line. “They realized that Woz wasn’t Henry Kissinger,” Jobs recalled. “We were at a public phone booth.”

The partnership paved the way for what would be a bigger adventure together. “If it hadn’t been for the Blue Boxes, there wouldn’t have been an Apple,” Jobs later reflected. “I’m 100% sure of that. Woz and I learned how to work together, and we gained the confidence that we could solve technical problems and actually put something into production.” They had created a device with a little circuit board that could control billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure. “You cannot believe how much confidence that gave us.” Woz came to the same conclusion: “It was probably a bad idea selling them, but it gave us a taste of what we could do with my engineering skills and his vision.” The Blue Box adventure established a template for a partnership that would soon be born. Wozniak would be the gentle wizard coming up with a neat invention that he would have been happy just to give away, and Jobs would figure out how to make it user-friendly, put it together in a package, market it, and make a few bucks.

0903小雨

从未有人做过数字版的蓝盒子，但沃兹生来就是迎接挑战的。他从电器连锁店Radio Shack买来二极管和晶体管，在同宿舍一个拥有完美音准感的学生的帮助下，在感恩节之前就完成了只做。“这是我设计过的最让我自豪的电路，”他说，“直到今天我仍然觉得难以置信。”
      起初蓝盒子只是用来找乐子或者搞恶作剧的。最著名的一次，他们打给梵蒂冈,沃兹尼亚克假装是亨利•基辛格，想要跟教皇通话。“我正在莫斯科参加峰会，我需要跟教皇通话。”沃兹回忆当时自己说的话。他被告知当地时间是早上五点半，教皇还在睡觉。当他再次打过去的时候，接电话的是一名充当翻译的主教。但对方并没有真的让教皇接电话。“他们意识到沃兹是冒牌的，”乔布斯回忆说，“我们当时在一个公用电话亭。”
     这样的合作关系为以后更大的冒险铺平了道路。乔布斯后来回想道：“我百分之百确定，没有蓝盒子就没有苹果公司。沃兹和我学会怎样一起工作，我们也在解决技术难题和将发明投入生产的过程中获得了自信。” 他们发明的蓝盒子只是用一小块电路板做成的小装置，但是却能控制价值数十亿美元的基础设施。“蓝盒子的成功简直让我们自信心爆棚。” 沃兹也有同样的想法：“卖蓝盒子可能是个坏主意，但是的确让我们尝到了合作的甜头，我的工程技术和乔布斯的发展远见结合在一起可以做出一番成就。” 蓝盒子的冒险经历建立了乔布斯和沃兹将来的合作模式：沃兹是那个有很多巧妙发明又愿意与人分享的安静天才，乔布斯则负责如何将沃兹的发明变得方便使用，然后包装并投入市场，赚点钱。