乔布斯座驾的趣闻

译者 梦剧场球童

We were all saddened by the news of Steve Jobs' passing earlier this week. There is no denying the tremendous positive influence he had on the technology and products we use every day. There are many moving tributes to Mr. Jobs in the social media, and I would encourage you to take some time to explore them.

我们都对这周早些时候乔布斯去世的消息感到悲伤。乔布斯在科技上起到毋庸置疑的巨大推动作用，他改变了我们每天使用的产品。乔布斯在社交媒体上也有许多贡献，我鼓励大家花些时间去探究一下。

But for now, I'd like to share something about Steve Jobs that you might not know. It's about his car. Since automotive marketing is what we do here at Polk, I thought it was a relevant tidbit to share. Mr. Jobs drove a silver 2007 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG without a license plate.

但是现在，我想分享的是乔布斯不为人所知的事：关于他的座驾，一辆无车牌的银色2007款的奔驰SL55 AMG。

Why? Nobody knows for sure, and multiple theories have been bandied about in Silicon Valley. Some think it's a high-tech vehicle code distortion field or custom-built mechanized plate retractor. Others insist that overzealous fans swipe the roadster's tags every time they're mounted. I even saw one blogger opine it was because the font on California license plates is so ugly. His theory is that Mr. jobs couldn't stand to mar the aesthetics of a beautiful vehicle with the product of some state assemblyman's sense of style. Maybe it's simply because he could get away with it.

为什么？没人确切地知道，各种传闻已经在硅谷传播。有人认为那是一个高科技变形车牌或者是经过特制的，其他人坚持说是狂热的苹果粉丝每次碰到帮主的座驾都将车牌撬走了。我还看见一个博主的观点是：因为加州的车牌字体实在太丑了，他的理论是乔布斯不会忍受用一块糟糕的车牌玷污一辆漂亮跑车的美学外观。或许仅仅是因为他能违规而不被惩罚。

And that brings us to the other aspect to this mystery. How exactly did Steve Jobs drive a plateless car for four years without ever getting ticketed for the infraction? A search of traffic records confirms that he successfully avoided plate-related fines. Again, theories abound, but I think it's just a matter of playing the odds.

这带给我们另一个疑问。为什么乔布斯能驾驶一辆无牌汽车在四年里没得到过罚单呢？一项关于交通记录的调查证明他成功地逃脱了无牌驾驶的处罚。关于这个的传闻漫天飞，但我认为这仅仅是因为乔布斯运气好。

The one piece of data that is available about Mr. Jobs' AMG (as on all vehicles) is the VIN. Using this, one ambitious blogger ran a Carfax report to assuage his curiosity.  Here's what he learned:

能从乔布斯的AMG上得到的信息只有一个车辆识别码。靠着这个识别码，一个人写了篇Carfax报告来揭秘乔布斯的车 。下面是他了解的：

The vehicle was purchased new (no surprise) in 2006.

这辆汽车是2006年买的新车

It had approximately 21,800 miles on the odometer as of August, 2011.

到2011年8月大概跑了21,800公里

That means Steve Jobs drove only 5,500 miles per year, well under the 12,000-mile U.S. average. Why is this important? Because it means that Mr. Jobs did not drive his car very much, which significantly lowered his odds of getting ticketed.

这表示乔布斯每年仅行驶5,500公里，低于美国公民的平均每年行驶12,000公里。为什么这个数据如此重要？因为这意味着乔布斯先生不常驾驶他的汽车，所以有效降低了他得到罚单的几率。

All of this still doesn't answer the most puzzling question of WHY Steve Jobs chose to drive plateless. Less imaginative types like me, chalk it up to a desire for privacy. But in a state where SL55s are a fairly common sight, and no personal information can be gleaned from a license plate number, the best way to remain anonymous would be to keep the plates on.

所有这些仍不能回答最大的疑问：为什么乔布斯选择无牌照驾驶。像我这种缺乏想象力的人，认为这是乔布斯渴望得到个人隐私的表现。但是SL55s是一款很常见的车，从车牌上不能搜集到任何个人信息，所以隐匿姓名的最好方法是装上车牌。

And this, in the end, is the great paradox of the mystery. Not displaying plates made Steve Jobs' car just as conspicuous and identifiable as a man who, say, always wore jeans, a black turtleneck and New Balance sneakers.

最后，是这个疑问的最大悖论。不装车牌使乔布斯的车像它的主人一样引人关注，就像那个总是穿着牛仔裤，一件黑色套领毛衣和 New Balance 运动鞋的传奇人物。