旧金山——如果按苹果(Apple)的意愿，本周应该像五岁孩子的圣诞节一样。
SAN FRANCISCO — If Apple had its way, this week would play out like Christmas for 5-year-olds.
先是急切地期盼，然后是巨大的惊喜，最后是强烈的满足感。
First, unbelievable anticipation. Then, great surprise. At the end, immense satisfaction.
周三，最新款iPhone将在这里一个能容纳7000人的礼堂里发布。然而届时可能会更像一个偷偷摸摸早就看过自己礼物的十岁孩子的圣诞节。
When the latest iPhone is unveiled here Wednesday in a 7,000-seat auditorium, it probably will instead be more like Christmas for a sneaky 10-year-old who long ago peeked at his present.
谢谢。
Thanks.
就只有这个？
That’s it?
任何人，只要是对iPhone的关注，到了知道本月会发布新品的程度，就已经知道它会是什么样子了：机身更薄、速度更快、Plus款配置了更好的摄像头。
Anyone who cares enough about the iPhone to know that a new model is being released this month already knows what it is supposed to be like: a little thinner, a little faster and equipped with superior cameras on the Plus model.
然而，目前为止最具争议的特性是，有一个东西将消失：耳机插孔。
By far the most controversial feature, however, is the one that will be missing: a headphone jack.
这一标准技术元素可追溯至1878年，来自人工电话交换系统。它似乎正在步入软盘和折叠地图的后尘。
A standard element of technology that can be traced to 1878 and the invention of the manual telephone exchange, the jack is apparently going the way of the floppy disk and the folding map.
未来将是一个无线世界。
The future will be wireless.
可能没有耳机插孔这件事，我们是凭借一个全球信息链得知的，它和苹果产品的供应和制造链形影不离。
We know about this potential absence thanks to a global information chain, one that shadows the supply and manufacturing chain that produces Apple’s products.
而这个信息链的目的，则是搜寻和苹果有关的传言：早在传言成为事实之前就开始传播传言，讨论传言，再讨论更多传言。
The shadow chain is intended to ferret out Apple rumors: promoting them, discussing them and then discussing them some more, long before they become facts.
对苹果来说，这座传言工厂既是一种机会，也是一种负担，它的存在表明自己魅力犹存，但也是在警告人人都在关注它。
This rumor mill is both a gift to Apple and a burden, a sign that it has not lost its magic and a warning that everyone is on watch for the moment it does.
没有哪家公司被像这么持续不断地追踪过。
No other company is tracked quite so relentlessly.
在联合创始人史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)的领导下，苹果有能力做到保密，且对此不遗余力——无论方式合法与否。
Under its co-founder Steve Jobs, Apple relished its ability to keep news under wraps and went to great lengths — legally and otherwise — to make sure it remained that way.
还有一个事，我们设法做到了保密，乔布斯1999年介绍蓝莓色和橘红色等颜色的iMac时欢快地说。
There is one more thing, and we’ve managed to keep it secret, Jobs exulted in 1999 as he introduced iMacs in colors like blueberry and tangerine.
难以置信，但我们做到了。
It’s hard to believe, but we did it.
在四年前的一次会议上，乔布斯的接任者蒂姆•库克(Tim Cook)强调了这个目标。
It was an ambition that his successor, Tim Cook, underlined at a conference four years ago.
我们将加强对产品的保密，他说。
We’re going to double down on secrecy on products, he said.
但事情并未朝这个方向发展。
Things have not quite worked out that way.
史蒂夫•乔布斯在世的时候，还能指望他们带来惊喜，关注苹果动态的分析师基尼•蒙斯特(Gene Munster)说。
When Steve Jobs was around, there was still that hope they could surprise you, said Gene Munster, an Apple analyst.
现在，这个希望基本不复存在。
Today, that hope is largely gone.
对于苹果将在本周发布的惊喜之作，揭秘工作在去年十一月就开始了，当时离iPhone 6s发布、并在第一个周末热卖过去不到三个月。
The long road to unraveling this week’s surprises began in November, less than three months after the iPhone 6s had debuted to gangbuster first-weekend sales.
日本网站Mac Otakara以传闻为标题，撰文称苹果将在下一代iPhone中取消耳机插孔。该网站被认为是一个总体上可靠的iPhone生产厂商信息来源。
The Japanese website Mac Otakara, considered a generally reliable source of information that has ties to the factories manufacturing the phone, wrote about Apple removing the jack in the next iPhone under the heading rumor.
文章称，对尚未准备好进入无线生活的人来说，可通过苹果常用于充电的接口，将有线耳机插入iPhone。
For anyone not ready to go wireless, the story said, wired earphones would plug into the iPhone via Apple’s Lightning connector, which is typically used for charging power.
传统耳机大概要借助转换器。
Traditional headphones would presumably work through a converter.
此事影响重大。
This was big.
耳机是最基本的功能之一，因而这是一件会影响到各类用户的事情，MacRumors.com总编埃里克•斯利夫卡(Eric Slivka)说。
Headphones are one of the most basic functions, so this is something that’s going to affect users of all kinds, said Eric Slivka, editor-in-chief of MacRumors.com.
我马上意识到，在新品发布之前，这一直会是一个极具争议的话题。
I immediately knew it would be an extremely controversial topic all the way until launch.
到了今年1月初，消费者的情绪达到高潮。
By early January, emotions were at a fever pitch.
SumofUs.org上的一封网上请愿书谴责苹果制造了更多电子垃圾——大概是指因为无法再在iPhone上使用被丢弃的耳机。请愿书征集到了逾30万个签名。
An online petition from SumofUs.org, which more than 300,000 people have signed, denounced Apple for creating more electronic waste — presumably, headphones that will no longer work with the iPhone and be thrown out.
一些评论人士解释称，即便人们可借助适配器使用旧耳机，他们也要购买新的东西。
Some commentators explained that even if people used adapters with their old headphones, they were gaining things, too.
其他评论人士则指出，人们抱怨苹果不再创新，现在有了创新，人们还是在抱怨。
Other commentators noted that people complained that Apple never innovated anymore, and yet here it was innovating, and people were complaining anyway.
然后又出现了耳机插口根本不会消失的传言。
Then came the rumor that the headphone jack was not going away after all.
中文网站快科技发布了一张自称是新款iPhone内部结构的照片，上面耳机插孔赫然在目。
The Chinese website Mydrivers.com published a photo of what it said were the innards of the new iPhone with the jack right there.
谣言工厂一直在骗我们吗？Cult of Mac问道。
Has the rumor mill been lying to us? wondered Cult of Mac.
当然不是！
Surely not!
两周前，随着盛大发布活动的临近，评论数量增加，就连苹果的另一位联合创始人史蒂夫•沃茲尼亚克(Steve Wozniak)也加入了讨论。
Two weeks ago, with the volume of commentary picking up as the big reveal approached, even Apple’s other co-founder, Steve Wozniak, weighed in.
如果去掉3.5毫米耳机插孔，会惹怒很多人，他对《澳大利亚金融评论报》(Australian Financial Review)表示。
If it’s missing the 3.5-millimeter earphone jack, that’s going to tick off a lot of people, he told the Australian Financial Review.
但他接着又妥协地说了一句：我们拭目以待。
But he added a conciliatory note: We’ll see.
苹果善于引领未来，我愿意跟随它的脚步。
Apple is good at moving toward the future, and I like to follow that.
或许和突然被迫面对相比，预先警告未来可能会出现的情况要更好一些。
Perhaps it is better to be forewarned about what the future holds rather than be forced to confront it abruptly.
我们提供了缓冲，AppleInsider的总编尼尔•修斯(Neil Hughes)说。
We soften the blow, said Neil Hughes, managing editor of AppleInsider.
你能想象如果没人料到这一点，而苹果直到周三才公布这个消息的情形吗？人们会疯的。
Can you imagine that if no one saw it coming and Apple just dropped this on Wednesday? People would lose their minds.
拒绝就本文置评的苹果，很有可能并不这么认为。
Apple, which declined to comment for this article, most likely has a different view.
2004年底，苹果起诉多家网站，称它们公布的未发布产品的细节，实际上是偷来的财产。
In late 2004, it went after several websites, including AppleInsider, saying that when they posted details about unreleased products, they were publishing stolen property.
起初苹果胜诉，但上诉法院的裁决发生了逆转。
At first Apple found success in court but the ruling was sharply reversed on appeal.
法院责令苹果支付70万美元，用于支付相关网站的诉讼费用。苹果总的来看像是一个恶霸。
It was ordered to pay $700,000 to cover the sites’ legal fees and generally looked like a bully.
多年来，在苹果位于加利福尼亚州库比提诺的园区商店里，有一种T恤，上面写着，我参观了苹果园区。
For several years, Apple sold a T-shirt in its Cupertino, California, campus store that read, I visited the Apple campus.
但我只能说这么多。
But that’s all I am allowed to say.
苹果在最近一次发布会上调侃了自己的严密安保措施。
A recent Apple presentation poked fun at its extensive security measures.
但即便这家公司可以拿自己开涮了，它的理念并没变。
But even if the company can now have a laugh or two at its own expense, its philosophy has not changed.
你们还记得自己还是个小孩子的时候，会在平安夜特别兴奋，因为不知道楼下会有什么吗？在2月的年度股东会议上，库克在被问及传闻中的苹果汽车时说。
Do you remember when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve, it was so exciting, you weren’t sure what was going to be downstairs? Cook said when asked about the rumored Apple car at the annual shareholders’ meeting last February.
就是这样，这个平安夜会很漫长的。
Well, it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while.