Over the last few months, a steady stream of visitors to Palo Alto, Calif., called an old friend’s home number and asked if he was well enough to entertain visitors, perhaps for the last time.
过去几个月里，不断有人到加州的帕洛阿尔托(旧金山)想要拜访他们的老朋友乔布斯，并打电话询问他能否接待这些客人，也许是见最后一面。
In February, Steven P. Jobs had learned that, after years of fighting cancer, his time was becoming shorter. He quietly told a few acquaintances, and they, in turn, whispered to others. And so a pilgrimagebegan. The calls trickled in at first. Just a few, then dozens, and in recent weeks, a nearly endless stream of people who wanted a few moments to say goodbye, according to people close to Mr. Jobs. Most were interceptedby his wife, Laurene. She would apologeticallyexplain that he was too tired to receive many visitors. In his final weeks, he became so weak that it was hard for him to walk up the stairs of his own home anymore, she confided to one caller.
在与癌症多年战斗之后，今年2月，乔布斯已经察觉自己的健康每况愈下，他悄悄地把这个消息告诉给了几个老朋友，然后这些人又悄悄告诉别人。先是慰问电话，渐渐的，越来越多的人想要来跟乔布斯告别，但是乔布斯的妻子劳伦·鲍威尔婉拒了一些人的拜访，她抱歉地解释到，乔布斯已经没有太多的精力接待访客。她告诉其中一个拜访者，乔布斯在生命的最后几个星期内几乎已经无法上楼梯。
Some asked if they might try again tomorrow. Sorry, she replied. He had only so much energy for farewells. The man who valued his privacy almost as much as his ability to leave his mark on the world had decided whom he most needed to see before he left.
有人问他们能否隔天再来拜访，但是劳伦婉言谢绝了，因为乔布斯的精力有限。他注重隐私的程度就如同他对这个世界的影响力那般强烈，他已经决定在临走之前见几个他觉得需要见的人。
Mr. Jobs spent his final weeks —as he had spent most of his life —in tight control of his choices. He invited a close friend, the physician Dean Ornish, a preventivehealth advocate, to join him for sushi at one of his favorite restaurants, Jin Sho in Palo Alto. He said goodbye to longtime colleagues including the venture capitalist John Doerr, the Apple board member Bill Campbell and the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger. He offered Apple’s executives advice on unveiling the iPhone 4S, which occurred on Tuesday. He spoke to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. He started a new drug regime, and told some friends that there was reason for hope.
在生命的最后几周，就像他毕生一直所坚持的那样，乔布斯做出了自己的选择。他邀请亲密朋友，内科医师和健康预防倡导者迪安·奥尼什，在他最爱的一家餐馆一起吃寿司;他跟多年的老同事告别，他们包括：风险资本家约翰·杜尔、苹果董事会成员比尔·坎贝尔、迪士尼董事长罗伯特·伊格尔;他为即将发布的iPhone 4S向苹果高管们给出了建议(iPhone 4S于周二发布);他和自己的传记作家沃尔特·艾萨克森谈了谈;他接受了新的药物注射;他告诉一些朋友，生活总是会有希望的。
But, mostly, he spent time with his wife and children “Steve made choices,” Dr. Ornish said. “I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done.’ ”
但是，多数时间，他还是与妻子和孩子呆在一起。奥尼什医生表示：“史蒂夫做出了选择，我曾经问过他是不是很高兴有孩子，他的回答是‘这比我做的所有事都好上一万倍’。”
“But for Steve, it was all about living life on his own terms and not wasting a moment with things he didn’t think were important. He was aware that his time on earth was limited. He wanted control of what he did with the choices that were left.”
“但是对史蒂夫来说，人生最重要的是按自己的意愿做事，而不要把时间浪费在自己认为不重要的事情上。他知道自己时日无多，在最后的时间里他更要做自己想做的事。”
In his final months, Mr. Jobs’s home was surrounded by security guards. His driveway’s gate was flanked by two black S.U.V.’s. On Thursday, as online eulogiesmultiplied and the walls of Apple stores in Taiwan, New York, Shanghai and Frankfurt were papered with hand-drawn cards, the S.U.V.’s were removed and the sidewalk at his home became a garland of bouquets, candles and a pile of apples, each with one bite carefully removed.
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