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 pilgrimage began. 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 intercepted by his wife, Laurene. She would apologetically explain 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 preventive health 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 eulogies multiplied 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.

　　在他去世前几个月里，乔布斯的房子周围都安排了警卫，他的私人车道两边停有两辆黑色SUV汽车。10月6日星期四，随着网上悼词的骤增以及台湾、纽约、上海和法兰克福的苹果专卖店都贴满了苹果迷的手工祝福卡片，SUV汽车也跟着撤离，现在乔布斯家的小道上都放满了人们送来的花、蜡烛和一个个被小心地咬了一口的苹果。

　　“Everyone always wanted a piece of Steve,” said one acquaintance who, in Mr. Jobs’s final weeks, was rebuffed when he sought an opportunity to say goodbye. “He created all these layers to protect himself from the fan boys and other peoples’ expectations and the distractions that have destroyed so many other companies.

　　一位被婉拒与乔布斯告别的熟人说道：“每个人都想要分享乔布斯，他把自己层层保护起来，与他的粉丝、其他人隔绝，也避免了来自其他公司的干扰。”

　　“But once you’re gone, you belong to the world.”

　　“可是一旦你离开，你便属于全世界。”

　　Mr. Jobs's biographer, Mr. Isaacson, whose book will be published in two weeks, asked him why so private a man had consented to the questions of someone writing a book. “I wanted my kids to know me,” Mr. Jobs replied, Mr. Isaacson wrote Thursday in an essay on Time.com. “I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”

　　为乔布斯写传记的作家艾萨克森的著作将在两周内发表。艾萨克森在周四的《时代》杂志文章中写到，曾经问过他为什么如此注重隐私的一个人会接受一个作家的访问。乔布斯的回答是：“我想要我的孩子了解我，我总是无法经常陪伴他们，所以我想要他们知道原因并试着理解我所做的一切。”

　　Because of that privacy, little is known yet of what Mr. Jobs's heirs will do with his wealth. Unlike many prominent business people, he has never disclosed plans to give large amounts to charity. His shares in Disney, which Mr. Jobs acquired when the entertainment company purchased his animated film company, Pixar, are worth about $4.4 billion. That is double the $2.1 billion value of his shares in Apple, perhaps surprising given that he is best known for the computer company he founded.

　　由于隐私保护，现在还不知道乔布斯的继承人会如何使用这笔遗产。与其他著名企业家不同，乔布斯从来没有公开提过有要将遗产献给慈善事业的计划。他将皮克斯电影公司卖给迪士尼后，拥有迪士尼44亿美元的股份，两倍于他在苹果21亿美元的股份，这一点似乎让人讶异，因为他是因苹果电脑公司而闻名于世的。

　　Mr. Jobs's emphasis on secrecy, say acquaintances, led him to shy away from large public donations. At one point, Mr. Jobs was asked by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates to give a majority of his wealth to philanthropy alongside a number of prominent executives like Mr. Gates and Warren E. Buffett. But Mr. Jobs declined, according to a person with direct knowledge of Mr. Jobs's decision.

　　乔布斯的友人称，乔布斯强调隐私这点让他避开了一些大型的公共捐赠活动。有一次，微软创始人比尔·盖茨建议乔布斯将他的大部分遗产捐赠给慈善事业，当时在他们旁边还有另外几位著名的企业家，如沃伦·巴菲特，但是乔布斯婉拒了。

　　Now that Mr. Jobs is gone, many people expect that attention will focus on his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, who has largely avoided the spotlight, but is expected to oversee Mr. Jobs's fortune. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Mrs. Powell Jobs worked in investment banking before founding a natural foods company. She then founded College Track, a program that pairs disadvantaged students with mentors who help them earn college degrees. That has led to some speculation in the philanthropic community that any large charitable contributions might go to education, though no one outside Mr. Jobs's inner circle is thought to know of the plans.

　　如今乔布斯已经离世，许多人便将期待的目光转向了她的妻子劳伦。劳伦很少在镜头前抛头露面，但她有望监管乔布斯的财产。她是宾夕法尼亚大学和斯坦福大学商学院毕业的高材生，在创办天然食品公司之前曾供职投资银行，她还曾创建“学院追踪”项目，为学业落后的学生和导师牵线搭桥，帮助他们获得大学学位。这在慈善团体中引发了某些猜测：乔布斯是否在教育领域投入了大量慈善捐助。但是，其实乔布斯的核心圈子以外的人士对计划一无所知。

　　Mr. Jobs himself never got a college degree. Despite leaving Reed College after six months, he was asked to give the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.

　　乔布斯本人从未获得过大学学位。尽管入学六个月以后就离开了里德学院，他仍获邀在斯坦福大学发表2005年度毕业演讲。

　　In that address, delivered after Mr. Jobs was told he had cancer but before it was clear that it would ultimately claim his life, Mr. Jobs told his audience that “death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent.”

　　彼时，乔布斯已获知自己罹患癌症，但尚未明确是否会因此死去。在那篇演讲中，乔布斯对听众们谈到，“死亡很可能是生命唯一的也是最佳的发明。它是推动生命变革的发动机。”

　　The benefit of death, he said, is you know not to waste life living someone else's choices.“Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition。”

　　他说道：“死亡的好处在于，你明白了不应将生命浪费在为他人的选择而活上，“不要让他人喧哗纷扰的见解淹没了自己内心的声音。最重要的是，要有勇气追寻自己的心，跟随自己的直觉。”

　　In his final months, Mr. Jobs became even more dedicated to such sentiments. “Steve's concerns these last few weeks were for people who depended on him: the people who worked for him at Apple and his four children and his wife,” said Mona Simpson, Mr. Jobs's sister. “His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us.”

　　在他最后的日子里，乔布斯更加忠实于这一信念。乔布斯的妹妹莫娜·辛普森说，“最后的几周里，乔布斯最牵挂的是那些依靠他的人：苹果公司的员工、四个孩子和自己的妻子。临终时，他语调温柔，饱含歉意。他为即将离我们而去而难过。”