乔布斯传之节选21

Cinderella

from Chapter 21

Jobs had never furnished his Woodside house beyond a few bare essentials: a chest of drawers and a mattress in his bedroom, a card table and some folding chairs in what would have been a dining room. He wanted around him only things that he could admire, and that made it hard simply to go out and buy a lot of furniture. Now that he was living in a normal neighborhood home with a wife and soon a child, he had to make some concessions to necessity. But it was hard. They got beds, dressers, and a music system for the living room, but items like sofas took longer. “We spoke about furniture in theory for eight years,” recalled Powell. “We spent a lot of time asking ourselves, ‘What is the purpose of a sofa?’” Buying appliances was also a philosophical task, not just an impulse purchase. A few years later, Jobs described to Wired the process that went into getting a new washing machine:

        It turns out that the Americans make washers and dryers all wrong. The Europeans make them much better—but they take twice as long to do clothes! It turns out that they wash them with about a quarter as much water and your clothes end up with a lot less detergent on them. Most important, they don’t trash your clothes. They use a lot less soap, a lot less water, but they come out much cleaner, much softer, and they last a lot longer. We spent some time in our family talking about what’s the trade-off we want to make. We ended up talking a lot about design, but also about the values of our family. Did we care most about getting our wash done in an hour versus an hour and a half? Or did we care most about our clothes feeling really soft and lasting longer? Did we care about using a quarter of the water? We spent about two weeks talking about this every night at the dinner table.

They ended up getting a Miele washer and dryer, made in Germany. “I got more thrill out of them than I have out of any piece of high tech in years,” Jobs said.

罗晓晖

在乔布斯绿林边的住所中，他从来没有添加过任何一件非生活必须品的家具。他的卧室里放着一个带抽屉的衣柜和一张床垫，而他的餐厅也只需要一张方桌和几把折叠椅，似乎这就足够了。他只让那些能赢得他认可与欣赏的事物环绕在他身边。而这就使得购买家具这样简单的事都变得困难无比。现在他已经拥有了一所普通的住房，还有他的妻子，并且他们很快将会有一个孩子。这使得他有时不得不做出必要地妥协，尽管这并不容易。他们买了床、梳妆台，还有客厅里的音响系统，但像沙发这类的物品则买的更晚。“我们用理论来讨论购买家具的问题已经有八年了，”鲍威尔回忆说，“我们花上很长的时间来自问‘为什么要买沙发？’这样的问题”。 电器的购买不只是一时冲动的购买欲，还是一个哲学论题。几年后乔布斯这样向威尔描述他们购买一台新洗衣机的过程：
  事实证明美国人所制造出来的洗衣机和烘干机都问题。欧洲人生产出来的产品比他们都要好的多，尽管欧洲人要花上双倍的时间来做衣服！实际上与美国人相比， 他们只需要花费四分之一的水，而衣服上残余的洗涤剂量却大大减少。最为重要的是他们不会糟蹋你的衣服。他们只用相对来说极少量的肥皂和水，但却能使衣服更加干净、柔软，而且耐穿。我们一家用了一些时间来讨论我们的取舍。最终我们重点谈论了洗衣机的设计，当然还有它对于我们家的价值所在。我们真的在乎洗净衣物的时间是一个小时还是一个半小时吗？或者我们的衣服是否更柔软耐穿吗？我们真的在乎是否只用花费四分之一的水吗？我们花了两个星期的时间每天晚上都在饭桌旁讨论这个问题。
  结果是我们买了一个德国制造的美诺牌洗衣和烘干机。“这个过程给我带来的振奋比几年来我从任何一件高科技产品中得到的都要多”，乔布斯这样说。

floria

乔布斯在伍德赛德的房子，没做过什么装饰，只放置了几件简单的生活必需品：卧室里的一个橱柜和一张床垫，所谓的餐厅里的一张小桌子和几把折叠椅。他希望他身边只出现他所欣赏的东西。这一想法便使得简单地外出买家具的举动变得极其的艰难。而他要住在一处正常居民区，和他的妻子和一个即将出生的孩子，就不得不做出一些让步。但这并不是一件容易的事。随后他们有了床，梳妆台和客厅的一套音响设备。但像沙发这类家具则更久之后才有。鲍威尔回忆到，“我们从理论的角度谈论家具已有八年的时间了。很长一段时间以来我们一直问自己，‘沙发有什么用？’。”买家电也是一个哲学问题，而不仅仅是一次冲动的购物。几年之后，乔布斯描述购买一台新洗衣机的过程。

我们发现，美国人制造洗衣机和烘干机的理念完全是错误的。欧洲人则好得多——但他们洗衣的时间长了两倍。欧洲制造的洗衣机用水量是美国洗衣机的四分之一，并且衣服上存留的洗涤剂量大大减少。最重要的是，它们不会损坏你的衣服。它们使用少量的洗剂和水，但洗出来的衣服却更加干净，柔软，耐穿。我们在家里讨论了很久我们应该做怎样的取舍。结果我们讨论了很多关于设计的问题，也讨论了我们家的价值观。我们最关心的是洗衣服花一个小时还是一个半小时吗？还是洗后衣服真的变得更柔软，更耐久？还是用了四分之一的水？我们用了两周的时间，每晚在饭桌上讨论这个问题。

他们最后买了一台美诺牌的洗衣机和烘干机，德国制造的。乔布斯说，“当得到它们时，我比这些年来得到的任何一件高科技产品还要激动。”