Bill Gates has revealed how he used to keep tabs on his employees by memorising all of their number plates to see when they were arriving and leaving the office.
比爾·蓋茨近日自曝曾把所有員工的車牌號都熟記下來，以此來監視員工的上下班時間。

The Microsoft co-founder has given an insight into his early years as a boss back when the technology company was in its infancy during the late 70s, employing only handful of people compared to thousands today.
這位微軟創始人之一向我們吐露了他早年當老板的一些內幕，那是在上世紀70年代末，相比于今天擁有數千人的公司，當時他的科技公司尚處于起步階段，只有為數不多的幾個員工。

The billionaire, known today for his mild manner and philanthropy, was a much harder figure in the early years of his career, where he was regarded as a hard negotiator and demanding boss.
如今，這位億萬富翁溫文爾雅和樂善好施的形象已廣為人知，但在創業早期，他給人留下的印象要強硬得多。人們認為他是一個難對付的談判者和苛刻的老板。

In an interview for the BBC's Desert Island Discs broadcast on the other day, Gates admitted being 'fanatical about work' in Microsoft's early days, sometimes to the misfortune of co-workers.
日前在BBC“荒島唱片”節目的訪談中，他承認在微軟創立初期自己“對待工作很狂熱”，這有時對同事來說是一種不幸。

'I had to be a little careful not to try and apply my standards to how hard they worked,' he said.
他說：“我必須要提醒自己不能再用我的標準來要求員工努力工作了?！?/p>

'You know, I knew everyone's licence plates so I could look out in the parking lot and see when people coming in, when people were leaving.
“我知道每個人的車牌，所以只要看一看停車場，就可以得知員工的上下班時間?！?/p>

'Eventually I had to loosen up as the company got to a reasonable size.'
“但最后因為公司發展到了一定的規模，我不得不放松這種標準。”

Gates also spoke of his relationship with Apple founder Steve Jobs.
蓋茨也談到了他和蘋果創始人史蒂夫·喬布斯的關系。

He said: 'For some periods we were complete allies working together - I wrote the original software on Apple 2.
他說：“有一段時間，我們在一起工作，是彼此最堅實的盟友。那時我正在為蘋果2編寫原始程序?！?/p>

'Sometimes he would be tough on you, sometimes he would be very encouraging. And he got really great work out of people.'
“他有時對你要求嚴苛，有時又會給人鼓勵。他可以把人的潛能極大地激發出來?！?/p>

Talking about when he saw Jobs a few months before he died in 2011, Gates said: 'In the early years the intensity had always been about the project, and so when Steve got sick it was far more mellow in terms of talking about our lives and our kids.
蓋茨談到與喬布斯最后一次會面是在2011年他去世前幾個月，蓋茨說：“早些年，我們的談話內容主要是關于產品項目，但當喬布斯生病后，我們的談話內容就輕松很多，更多是在談論生活和孩子。

'He and I gave a joint interview together and I talked about how I envied his incredible design skills. Steve was an incredible genius and I was more of an engineer than he was.
“有一次我們一起參加了一個訪談節目，我談到我十分羨慕他驚人的設計能力。史蒂夫是一個絕妙的天才，和他相比，我只能算是一個工程師。

'It was fun that it was more of a friendship that reflective, although tragically then he couldn't overcome the cancer and died.'
“很有趣，我們的關系更像朋友，但悲劇的是，喬布斯沒能戰勝癌癥，最后離開人世?！?/p>

The 60-year-old also revealed how he was 'disruptive' as a teenager, forcing his parents to send him to a psychologist.
60歲的蓋茨還自曝青少年時喜歡搞破壞，迫使父母帶他去看心理醫生。

Gates said his parents taught him the value of 'giving back' to society, a lesson developed into a philanthropic philosophy culminating in he and his wife Melinda setting aside much of their vast fortune to help the world's poor.
蓋茨談到父母曾教給他“回報”社會的價值觀，后來蓋茨將其發展成了一種慈善哲學，他和妻子梅琳達對此作了最好的闡述，他們捐獻巨額財富來幫助世界上的窮人。

Talking about his relationship with his parents - his father was a successful lawyer, his mother a teacher who sat on a number of corporate boards - he said: 'They set a very good example of being engaged in giving back.'
蓋茨的父親是一名成功的律師，母親是一名教師，主持過多次公司董事會。在談到與父母的關系時，他說：“他們為我樹立了回報社會的一個好榜樣。”

As a child he devoured books, especially biographies, and considered a future as a lawyer or scientist so he could 'work on hard problems'.
孩童時期，蓋茨就對書籍如饑似渴，尤其是傳記作品。他立志要成為律師或科學家，去“解決一些難題”。

Computing became an obsession and he would spend five hours a day learning programming, skipping gym classes to further his knowledge.
計算機技術出現后，他便癡迷其中。他每天用5個小時學習編程，為了更深入的學習，他還逃掉體育課。

Gates met Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at school - the pair managed to rig the school's schedule so Gates could sit near the 'nice girls' in class - and he eventually dropped out of Harvard to set up the company when he was just 19.
蓋茨在學校遇見了保羅·艾倫——微軟的另一位創始人。他倆成功修改了學校的課程表，這樣蓋茨便可以和“可愛女生”同班上課。最后他從哈佛大學輟學，年僅19歲就創立了自己的公司。

By 1979, at 23, Microsoft was grossing 2.5 million dollars a year.
1979年，蓋茨23歲，但他創立的微軟一年的總收入已達250萬美元。

For his Desert Island Discs, Gates picked Under Pressure, by Queen and David Bowie, Willie Nelson's Blue Skies, and The Two Of Us by The Beatles, among others.
在這次荒島唱片節目中，蓋茨挑選了皇后樂隊和大衛·鮑伊的《承受壓力》，威利·尼爾森的《藍色天空》和披頭士的《我們兩個》。

He also selected copies of the world's great lectures on DVD as his luxury item, and chose to take Steven Pinker's The Better Angels Of Our Nature as his book.
他還選擇了世界最棒演講的DVD和史蒂芬?平克的《人性中的善良天使》一書作為自己的珍藏。

Vocabulary

keep tabs on: 監視，密切注意
rig: 操縱

英文來源：每日郵報
譯者：由薈圓
審校&編輯：丹妮