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But the business imploded after a failed expansion into retail: Cut-rate auto parts that Carpoff and a new partner had custom-ordered, in bulk, from Mexico came back so poorly machined that one of his own mechanics refused to use them. [qh]
不过，在向零售业扩张失败后，修车生意就垮了: 卡波夫和一位新合作伙伴从墨西哥大批量定制了廉价汽车零部件，但由于这些零部件加工质量太差，连他自己的一位修理工都拒绝使用它们。[qh]
“I was here to fix cars, not break them,” Marc Angelo, who worked at the repair shop, said when I visited his garage last year. [qh]
马克·安吉洛曾在这家修车店工作。当我去年拜访他的车库时，他说：“我是来修车的，不是来破坏车的。”[qh]
By 2007, Roverland was dead, the Carpoffs’ mortgage was in default, and creditors were suing.[qh]
到2007年，Roverland(修车铺)倒闭了，卡波夫夫妇的抵押贷款违约了，债权人纷纷提起诉讼。[qh]
Again, Carpoff tried selling drugs. [qh]
卡波夫再次尝试贩毒。[qh]
He pitched his weed to a medical-marijuana dispensary in Santa Cruz, but was turned away after lab tests found his cannabis to be extremely low-grade—“full of chemicals and crap,” the dispensary’s founder told me.[qh]
他把自己弄的大麻推销给了圣克鲁斯的一家医用大麻药房，但被拒了，因为实验室检测发现他提供的大麻品质低劣——“充满了化学物质以及无用物质，”这家药房的创始人告诉我。[qh]
That’s when a former Roverland customer called with a fateful job offer: How would Jeff like to sell solar panels?[qh]
就在这时，一位前Roverland客户打来电话，给了他一个非常重要的工作机会: 杰夫愿意卖太阳能电池板吗?[qh]
Carpoff began talking about the gig with a neighbor, who wanted panels for his weekend house but worried they’d get stolen when he wasn’t there. [qh]
卡波夫和一位邻居开始谈起这份临时工作。这位邻居想为他的周末度假房安装太阳能电池板，但担心他不在的时候这些电池板会被偷走。[qh]
Carpoff started to wonder: Did panels have to be on the roof, where thieves could snatch them? What if you bolted the panels to a trailer? [qh]
卡波夫开始琢磨: 电池板一定要放在屋顶处，小偷能偷走的地方吗? 如果把电池板固定在拖车上呢?[qh]
That way, you could roll them into your barn or garage when you were away—or hitch them to your truck to take with you.[qh]
这样，当离开时，你可以把电池板卷进车库里，或者把它们拴在卡车上随身携带。[qh]
The title of his first patent application just about summed it up: “Trailer With Solar Panels.” [qh]
他提交的首份专利申请的标题概括了这些想法: “携带太阳能电池板的拖车”。[qh]
Not even Carpoff was sure it made any sense.[qh]
就连卡波夫也不确定这有什么意义。[qh]
Most people in Silicon Valley have likely never heard of Martinez, even those who speed past it on I-680 en route to Lake Tahoe. [qh]
硅谷的大多数人可能从未听说过马丁内斯(城市)，即使是那些行驶在I-680路上，从这座城市飞驰而过，前往太浩湖的人也是如此。[qh]
But the world’s tech capital is just an hour’s drive to the south, and the myth of it, even closer: In every Bay Area garage is a tinkerer, and behind every tinkerer’s billion-dollar idea are the discerning investors who get in first, for pennies.[qh]
但是，这个世界科技之都距离南边只有一个小时的车程，距离这座城市的神话也更近: 在湾区的每个车库里都有一个修补匠，在每个修补匠价值数十亿美元的想法背后，都是眼光敏锐的投资者，他们以极低的价格抢占先机。[qh]
Dave Watson, a software consultant and an off-roading enthusiast who’d serviced his vehicles at Roverland, had stayed in touch with its former owner. [qh]
戴夫·沃森是一名软件顾问，也是一名越野爱好者，他曾在Roverland维修过汽车，他一直与前老板保持着联系。[qh]
After hearing Carpoff muse about solar on wheels, Watson gathered a group of local entrepreneurs in a parking lot to see Carpoff’s odd-looking trailer. [qh]
在听了卡波夫关于太阳能车轮的灵感后，沃森召集了一群当地企业家在停车场观看卡波夫的奇怪拖车。[qh]
It had potential, they thought. [qh]
他们认为这个拖车有潜力。[qh]
Its two rows of solar panels—five per row—were attached to rotating beams, a clever design that let you lock them upright for aerodynamic transport on highways, then tilt them sunward once you’d parked.[qh]
拖车的两排太阳能电池板(每排五块)连接在旋转的横梁上，这是一种巧妙的设计，可以让你将它们垂直锁定，以便在高速公路上进行空气动力学运输，以及在停车时将它们朝太阳倾斜。[qh]
This wasn’t some niche anti-theft accessory; it was an all-purpose generator, towable anywhere for green power on the go. [qh]
这不是什么小众的防盗配件; 这是一个万能的发电机，可以拖到任何地方，提供路途中的绿色能源。[qh]
