Jobs recalled the incident vividly because it was his first realization that his father did not know everything. Then a more disconcerting discovery began to dawn on him: He was smarter than his parents. He had always admired his father’s competence and savvy. “He was not an educated man, but I had always thought he was pretty damn smart……” Yet the carbon microphone incident, Jobs said, began a jarring process of realizing that he was in fact more clever and quick than his parents. “It was a very big moment that’s burned into my mind. When I realized that I was smarter than my parents, I felt tremendous shame for having thought that. I will never forget that moment.” This discovery, he later told friends, along with the fact that he was adopted, made him feel apart—detached and separate—from both his family and the world. (Chapter 1 Childhood: Silicon Valley)
【譯文】
喬布斯後來生動地回憶了這個事件，彷彿歷歷在目。因為這是他第一次意識到他的父親並不是無所不知，然後他又漸漸明白並發現了一個讓他困惑不安的事實：他比他的父母更聰明。他一直很崇拜父親的能力和悟性。“我父親沒有受過什麼教育，但我一直都覺得他真的很聰明。”但是這次碳粒傳聲器的事件插曲，讓喬布斯開始慢慢意識到他其實比他的父母更聰明更靈敏。這樣的`發現讓他很震驚。“那是一個很重要的時刻，讓我畢生難忘。當我意識到我比我父母更聰明的時候，我的心裡產生了一種巨大的羞愧感。我永遠忘不了那一刻。”他後來告訴朋友，這樣的發現，還有他被收養的事實，讓他感到和家人還有整個世界間的疏遠感，那是一種超然的分離感。
