书友分享
From 楚汐
Elon 的梦想之一
火箭飞船和太空旅行
Rocket ships & Space travel
分析外部环境:决定举家搬到洛杉矶,这座因温和稳定的气候而备受航空业青睐的城市,不乏世界顶尖的航空业人才。
分析自身优势:前两次 Zip2 和 PayPal 创业的资金回报及经验累积,在硅谷学到的新技术、计算机及材料科学领域知识,阅读研究晦涩难懂的苏联火箭手册,进行知识储备。
Elon 接触并加入非营利组织火星协会(Mars Society),赞助协会“生命迁徙任务”(Translife Mission)科研,即让一些老鼠关在太空舱里,围绕地球轨道旋转,模拟火星重力,研究老鼠的生存繁衍状态;
Elon 不满足于仅仅将老鼠送入地球轨道的研究,而是希望更进一步研究送老鼠上太空或者类似的更有价值意义的计划;
Elon 退出火星协会组织,自己成立火星生命基金会(the Life to Mars Foundation),与智囊团讨论结果是开展新项目“火星绿洲”(Mars Oasis),该计划需要买下一枚火箭,将机械温室(robotic greenhouse)发射到火星上,研究火星的生存环境;
Elon 打算向俄罗斯购买火箭,最终因价格超预算,谈不拢而告吹;
Elon 花了几个月时间研究太空及背后的物理原理,了解火箭相关的专业技术知识,决定自己造火箭,只要大小适中,能搭载小型卫星和研究设备上太空即可(modest-sized rocket that specialized in carrying smaller satellites and research payloads to space),而后找到一个真正对制造火箭细节了如指掌的人才 Tom Mueller,并组建了志同道合的精英工程师团队;
2002年6月,成立太空探索技术公司(Space Exploration Technologies),即 SpaceX;员工一入职,就被告知公司的目标是“太空行业中的西南航空”(Mission:Southwest Airlines of Space),即制造质量更好、价格更低廉的火箭推进器,并优化装配过程;Elon 为这个目标设置了非常具体的阶段性时间表,来推动员工都能为实现这一目标而努力奋斗;
Elon 宣布 SpaceX的第一枚火箭命名为“猎鹰1号”(Falcon 1,致敬电影《星球大战》里的 Millennium Falcon),承诺“猎鹰1号”将能够搭载1 400磅的载荷,并且只需要花费690万美元;
因部分材料外包费用高进度慢,Elon扩展了公司目标,SpaceX 打算独立从事‘猎鹰’号火箭的全部开发工作,包括两台火箭推进器、涡轮泵、低温贮罐结构和制导系统;
开发研究有一定进展后,便会进行上空试验,在不断的失败中寻找原因,改进研发,再试验,trial and error.
From 重生
From 木心
㊀ His tireless workers
1:Brown
If Musk worked a twenty-hour day, so too did Brown.
得力助手Brown,生活中工作上都是Elon的 loyal assistant,还关注工作环境中细节,细微至留意垃圾桶清洁;工作中涉及与Elon相关事宜认真严肃,而与同事日常交往中热情随和,也是Elon的情绪“晴雨表”。推动SpaceX初期发展的一位功臣。
2:All-star crew:
有经验丰富知识渊博的开国老臣,也有年轻名校毕业、Elon亲选的得力干将。面对Elon制定知道火箭的Timeline的紧迫时间,他们更多是行动。
Chris Thompson, a onetime marine who had managed the production of the Delta and Titan rockets at Boeing, joined as the vice president of operations. Tim Buzza also came from Boeing, where he'd earned a reputation as one of the world's leading rocket testers.Kevin Brogan was employee No. 23 and came from TRW
㊁The first stage of the rocket—the construction of a gas generator
两引擎的调试—Merlin and Kestrel came with challenges,整个过程:error and trial,有工程师们同心协力、屡败屡战,也有Elon的亲历亲为和正确的领导,虽极其期待成功但面对失败时对员工也是谅解的鼓励。测试引擎整个应该和居里夫人提取釉一般艰辛吧,最终Elon也让全世界看到他和这群拼命员工们的成果
What Musk would not tolerate were excuses or the lack of a clear plan of attack.
㊂ His daily life during this period
初当父亲而却意外丧子,内心的悲伤仅向几个亲密朋友透露,未在平时表达过多的伤心之感,因为自己认为谈论这些悲伤之事无益于身边的人和以后的生活,而自己不知道该如何合理对待。过于冷静会伤伤心的人,例如Elon妻子那时的心情。而过多悲伤却无益于将来。而最难的就是“适度”。
I'm not sure why I'd want to talk about extremely sad events. It does no good for the future. If you've got other kids and obligations, then wallowing in sadness does no good for anyone around you. I'm not sure what should be done in such situations
From 叶小静
印象深刻的是Elon对员工的态度。一方面用人不疑,哪怕是没有工作经验的大学生,只要他看中了,就会亲自致电联系,并且委以重任。另一方面,在引擎实验连续遭遇失败的时候,他对工程师的郁闷表示理解,尽管自己也很难过,但在电话中却没有表示出来,不在关键时候给员工施加压力。工程师Mueller也表示:Elon虽然对工作的要求很高,但却竭尽全力为你扫清障碍。也只有这样的老板,才能让大批优秀的人才留在自己身边并且尽心尽力地工作吧。
字词分享
From 楚汐
The rank-and-file engineers at SpaceX tended to be young, male overachievers.
SpaceX的普通工程师都是年轻的小伙子,他们在学校时成绩优异。
rank-and-file, 表示“一般大众的,基层的”,the members of a group or organization who are not leaders;
例:rank-and-file position:基层员工职位
仿句:Sometimes a team leader should ask himself, "What would I think if I were a rank-and-file employee?"
overachiever,可数名词,表示 “成绩优异者”,someone who has much more success than is normal or expected especially at a young age,反义词:underachiever
例句:She is an overachiever who plans to attend a top college.
仿句:If Mary is an overachiever, she could win more attention from her parents.
From ZHAO DAIWEI
He knew all the tricks and how to sneak up on people.
Sneak up on/ behind etc: to come near sb very quietly, so that they do not see you until you reach them
I wish you wouldn’t sneak up on me like that!
Sneak on sb: old-fashioned, informal, to tell someone such as a parent or teacher about sth that another person has done wrong, because you want to cause trouble for that person
A little brat named Oliver sneaked on me.
From 麦芽Wendy
新词分享:
1.pepper him with questions : 不断地问了很多问题
2.the ins and outs of : 前前后后,(某事的)全部细节;
例句:No one knows all the ins and outs of this situation.
3.turn down :
(1).refuse the request or offer 拒绝(请求、提议等)
例句:Without any hesitation , she turned down his proposal.
(2). turn down a radio 关小,调低(音量);
(3). a rate or a level of sth decrease ( 水平)降低,(比例)减少
例句: The divorce rate turned down in the 1950s.
4.gain an edge over the competition在竞争中获得优势
5.fine-tuning 精细地调整
6.on short notice: to take action shortly after notice 在得到通知后马上..., 在最短时间内;
例句: He needs to leave on short notice.
7. at best : under the best of conditions 充其量,至多;也可以用at the best
例句: We can only finish half of it this afternoon at best .