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The Founders of Adobe 友谊打造的Adobe帝国

 

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Two men bound together by friendship as well as profits  友情和获利休戚与共的哥俩好

 

I can’t imagine there is any more room for awards on the mantels at John Warnock’s and Chuck Geschke’s homes.

我觉得约翰．沃诺克和查克．葛希克住家的壁炉台上，应该再也放不进新的奖座了。

 

The Adobe co-founders have been honored by trade groups, engineering societies, magazines and universities. But the awards just keep coming.

这两位奥多比（译注：Adobe命名出自沃诺克加州住家后面的小溪名）共同创办人已经接受过包括业界团体（译注：trade group指industry trade group此，即某行业的团体）、工程学会、杂志和大学的表扬，但各种奖项还是纷沓而来。

 

In October, it was the White House and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Then, it was San Jose City Hall and commendation for being visionaries and starting a company that has brought much to the city. And though the two tech titans have won many awards, the latest round of recognition for the co-chairmen of software maker Adobe is beginning to feel a little bit like a victory lap.

十月间，他们才去到白宫，获颁「美国国家科技与创新奖章」（译注：到白宫系因该奖项乃由美国总统所颁发），然后又获得圣荷西市政府表扬他们的杰出远见，及创办了对该市饶有贡献的企业（译注：圣荷西就位于硅谷区，因此受惠于软件及信息业者甚丰，而奥多比总部也设于此）。虽然这两位科技巨擘早已赢得了许多奖项，但软件制造商奥多比这两位董事会主席所获得的最新认可（译注：指圣荷西市的表扬），才开始有点像是庆功的感觉。

 

Geschke is 70. Warnock is about to be. Neither of them plan to go anywhere soon, but sitting with them in a small roomoffthe city council chamber it seems like a good time to reflect on the Silicon Valley partnership that belongs alongside Hewlett-Packard’s Bill and Dave, Intel’s Noyce and Moore and Apple’s Jobs and Wozniak in the valley’s pantheon.

葛希克现年七十岁，而沃诺克也快要七十了，两人目前都没有任何异动的打算。和他们两人坐在市议会厅外的一个小房间里，似乎是回顾这对硅谷好伙伴的大好时机，而硅谷名人堂里的其他企业伙伴关系，还包括了惠普的比尔和大维、英特尔的诺斯和穆尔，及苹果的贾伯斯和沃兹尼亚克。

 

Exceeding expectations  超出预期之外

 

And so I ask them: What do you see as your legacy? Neither balks. They do not protest. They do not duck behind the old valley chestnut about not being interested in looking back, about how this place is all about the future.

所以我就问他们说：你们认为自己传承了甚么给世人呢？结果两个人都没有回避这个问题，他们既没有表示抗议，也没有引用硅谷人常说的陈腔滥调来闪躲，像是没兴趣回顾过去，因为硅谷全在于展望未来等等。

 

“When we started the company, neither of us expected what happened,” Warnock says. “So if you think we had some grand crystal ball where we thought we would be as successful as the company has been, we didn’t.”

「我们创立这家公司时，两个人都没有预料到会发生什么事，」沃诺克表示，「所以如果你以为我们有个宏伟的水晶球，让我们当时能预知未来公司会像现在这么成功的话，答案是并没有。」

 

单词发音

 

More Information

mantel [ˋmænt!] n. 壁炉架

honor [ˋɑnɚ] n. 给……以荣誉

commendation [͵kɑmɛnˋdeʃən] n. 表扬，称赞；推荐

visionary [ˋvɪʒə͵nɛrɪ] n. 有远见卓识者

victory lap 参赛选手绕场一圈庆祝胜利(引申为庆功) when you run around in circles after a great achievement or victory; an extra lap around a track that is made by the winner at the end of the race, allowing him or her to celebrate the victory and giving spectators a chance to honor him or her

council chamber 会议室 a room where a committee meets

council [ˋkaʊns!] n. 会议；政务会；协调会

chamber [ˋtʃembɚ] n. 会场；会议厅

belong [bəˋlɔŋ] v. 与…有关；是…的一部分

pantheon [ˋpænθɪən] n. 万神庙; 伟人祠; 名流圈子(引申为名人堂) a small group of people who are the most famous, important and admired in their particular area of activity

duck [dʌk] v. 躲避；回避

old chestnut 陈词滥调 a subject, idea or joke that has been discussed or repeated so often that it is not interesting anymore

chestnut [ˋtʃɛs͵nʌt] n.【口】陈腐的笑话（或故事等）；陈词滥调

crystal ball（用于凝视并因此预言未来的）水晶球，玻璃球

 

 

 

 

 

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This is not a bad start [to the story], but let me help the legacy along. Here are two guys who basically launched desktop publishing by releasing Adobe in 1982. They’re the reason the document you create on your computer is the document that shows up when you click on “print.” And if you open a PDF or prepare one to send around the world, you’re also using software built by the company Warnock and Geschke built. If you’ve used Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, you’ve worked with programs brought to you by the company brought to you by Warnock and Geschke.

这样的回答倒是个好的开始，但姑且让我先把他们的传承厘清一下，他们两人在一九八二年成立奥多比后不久，就推出了PostScript（译注：独立装置的页面描述语言，可以内建在打印机中，使文件有更好的输出效果），堪称奠定了桌上排版的基础，而你在计算机里制作的文件之所以能在点选「打印」之后就照实打印出来，正是归功于他们；此外，如果你打开一个可携式文件格式（PDF）的档案，或是准备传送一份这种档案到全世界，那么你同样也用到了沃诺克和葛希克创立的公司所生产的软件。此外，如果你使用Illustrator、Photoshop、Dreamweaver和Flash，那么你同样还是用到了沃诺克和葛希克所建立的公司设计的程序（译注：此段作者一再连续在同一句用built by和built，或是重复用brought to you by，是用来再三强调有了他们两人的公司所奠定的基础，后人才得享成果）。

 

Success … but challenges too  成功与挑战兼具

 

The pair launched a company that posted $3.6 billion in revenue last year and literally put their stamp on San Jose’s skyline with the three Adobe towers along the Guadalupe River. They kept their company going through the valley’s brutal business cycles and through Geschke’s brutal kidnapping in 1992, when he was held for five days before being rescued by the FBI.

两人所成立的公司，去年公布营收三十六亿美元，而位于瓜达鲁普河畔的三座奥多比摩天大楼则在圣荷西天际在线留下明显印记。他们领导公司成功地度过了硅谷惨烈的景气起伏周期，和葛希克在一九九二年惨遭绑架事件，当时他被挟持了五天，后来才被美国联邦调查局干员救出脱困。

 

But sitting with Warnock and Geschke in a small room off the city council chamber, it’s not hard to reach the conclusion that there is another part of the legacy that means everything to these two men. Through it all – a hostile takeover bid by Quark in 1998, the battle for survival against a Microsoft-Apple alliance in 1989, living constantly in the profit-or-perish culture of Silicon Valley – they have remained friends.

不过，和沃诺克和葛希克一起坐在市议会厅外的小房间里，不难让人做出一个结论，那就是他们的传承中还有另一个部份对两人意义重大，那就是在历经一切之后──包括了夸克公司在一九九八年恶意出价收购奥多比事件（译注：结果没有成功）、一九八九年面临微软苹果连手的生死存亡之战，以及持续活在硅谷那种不赚钱就倒闭的文化之中──两人仍一直维持朋友的关系。

 

“For 30 years,” Geschke says.

「长达三十年了，」葛希克表示。

 

单词发音

 

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help along 有助于…发展 to make something happen more quickly or easily

post  [post] v. 发布，公布（信息）present

skyline [ˋskaɪ͵laɪn] n.（建筑物等在天空映衬下的）空中轮廓线

hostile [ˋhɑst!] adj. 怀敌意的；不友善的

takeover bid 收购出价 an offer to buy shares in order to take over the company

perish [ˋpɛrɪʃ] v. 消灭；死去；暴卒

 

 

 

 

 

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Sure, they can tell you their secret for running a successful company for decades on end.

他们当然愿意透露，之所以能连续不断地经营一家成功公司好几十年的秘诀。

 

“The simple answer is you hire people who are smarter than you are,” Geschke says, “You compensate them well, and you give them enough freedom to be creative.”

「答案很简单，那就是你要雇用那些比你更聪明的人，」葛希克表示，「再付给他们优渥的薪水，然后给予他们自由发挥创意的空间。」

 

“And you always keep innovation at the top of the pile,” Warnock says, picking up the thread. “Innovation and invention is what has saved Adobe from competitive threats through its entire history.”

「最重要的就是，要持续不断创新，」沃诺克重拾话穗（译注：pick up the thread(s) 指中断之后又再开始[说话]），「创新和发明，就是挽救奥多比在整个公司历史上屡次安然度过竞争危机的主因。」

 

Trust and respect  互信互重

 

But they are insightful enough to understand that in the end, life and legacy are about relationships and how we’ve tended to them. Warnock says he and Geschke have never has a serious argument. Geschke says neither has ever ended the day mad at the other. His friendship with Warnock, he says, has been held together by mutual respect and trust.

不过，他们都深刻了解到，到头来，无论生命或传承都是维系在人际关系上，以及处理这些关系的方式上。沃诺克表示，他和葛希克从未激烈争吵过。葛希克则说，两人从未含怒到日落，他指出，他和沃诺克的友谊，是透过相互尊重和信任所维系住的。

 

It’s telling that when I ask Warnock to name his best day at Adobe, he answers with a story in which friendship is at the center and the company is off to the side.

相当真情流露的一幕是，当我问沃诺克如何描述他在奥多比最美好的一天时，他说了一个故事来回答，而故事的重心就是友谊，公司却被抛到一旁。

 

“Well,” he says looking at Geschke, “when he got released by the FBI from being kidnapped. That was a pretty good day.”

「嗯，」他望着葛希克说，「那就是当被绑架的他被联邦调查局干员解救出来时，那就是相当美好的一天。」

 

Not a bad day for Geschke, either. He had been abducted from Adobe’s parking lot by two men who demanded $650,000 in ransom. For days he was held bound and blindfolded, before FBI agents found him at a house in Hollister, California, and arrested his abductors, who were later convicted.

那天显然对葛希克来说也是个好日子。他是在奥多比停车场上被两名男子绑架，并要求六十五万美元赎金。之后的几天，他一直被挟持起来，手脚被捆绑，眼睛也被蒙住，一直到联邦调查局干员在加州荷利斯特一栋房子里发现了他，并逮捕绑匪，他们后来被判有罪。

 

But Geschke remembers it for more than just that day.

但葛希克记得的不只是那天而已。

 

“John and his wife, Marva,” Geschke says, “were a huge support network for my wife, Nan, and for our family, for which I’ll always be grateful.”

「约翰和他太太玛瓦，」葛希克说，「对我太太南恩和我家人来说，是很大的支持力量，对此我将永远感恩。」

 

The truth is, not even great companies last forever. Great friendships, however, are another matter.

事实是，即使是超级大公司也无法永久长存，不过，伟大的友谊可就是另一回事了（译注：意指友谊却可以长存）。

 

−by Mike Cassidy

 

单词发音

 

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decades on end 数十年如一日 if something happens or continues for days, months etc. on end, it continues for several days, months, or weeks without stopping

pick up the thread(s) 接着说(做), 继续说(做) to try to start something again, especially after problems prevented you from continuing it

tend [tɛnd] v.【口】注意，关心[（+to）]

telling [ˋtɛlɪŋ] adj. 流露感情的

abduct [æbˋdʌkt] v. 绑架；劫持  to force someone to go somewhere, often using threats or violence

ransom [ˋrænsəm] n. 赎金

hold [hold] v. 拘留，扣留

blindfold [ˋblaɪnd͵fold] v. 蒙住……的眼睛；蒙住（眼睛）

abductor [æbˋdʌktɚ] n. 绑架者；劫持者

convict [kənˋvɪkt] v. 判……有罪

 

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

titan [ˋtaɪtn] n. 巨人；巨物 a person is very important, powerful, strong, big or clever

legacy [ˋlɛgəsɪ] n. 留给后人的东西; 遗产；遗赠 something that is a part of the history that someone will leave behind

balk [bɔk] v. 畏怯，犹豫[（+at）] to be unwilling to do something or to allow something to happen

launch [lɔntʃ] v. 出版；将……投放市场 to begin something or introduce something new such as a product

put (one’s) stamp on 留下明显的印记于…; 留下深刻的印象于… to leave an identifying mark or impression on something

alliance [əˋlaɪəns] n. 结盟；联盟 a formal agreement between companies that have agreed to cooperate to achieve a common goal

the top of the pile 最重要的是… the most important things among a very large amount of anything

insightful [ˋɪn͵saɪtfəl] adj. 具洞察力的 having a clear, deep and sometimes sudden understanding of a complicated problem or situation

support network 支持力量 a group of people who provide emotional and practical help to someone in serious difficulty

 

 

Adobe`s San Jose Headquarters