Apple co-founder Steve Jobs used the last interview before his death to explain to his children why "I wasn't always there for them", it was revealed today.
Stricken with terminalcancer and too ill to climb stairs the 56-year-old, whose death was announced on Wednesday, wanted to ensure that his biography was ultimately a love letter to his family.
"I wanted my kids to know me", he told Pulitzer Prize nominee and author Walter Isaacson, when asked why he agreed to a tell-all book despite living a famously private life.
"I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did", he added poignantly at his home in Palo Alto, California.
On that final visit last month Isaacson found Jobs coiled up in pain in a downstairs bedroom where he had moved to avoid going up and down stairs, "but his mind was still sharp and his humour vibrant", Isaacson said today.
He is survived by his wife Laurene Powell Jobs and their three children Eve, Erin and Reed but he also fathered a love child with his high school sweetheart Chrisann Brennan.
Lisa Brennan-Jobs, 33, was only accepted by her father two years later after a court-ordered blood test proved she was his.
Ms Brennan-Jobs has made a living for herself, after graduating from Harvard University, as a journalist and writer.
The biography, simply titled Steve Jobs, was at the top of the best-seller lists within hours of Apple's announcement of his death.
It is top of the Amazon chart, number three on Barnes & Noble.com and most fittingly the book also tops Apple's own chart: the iTunes books best-seller list.
Due to this incredible demand, publisher Simon & Schuster has announced that the release date has been moved up from November 21 to October 24.


据英国《每日邮报》2011年10月7日报道，苹果公司创始人史蒂夫•乔布斯在他去世前的最后一次采访中，向他的孩子们解释了为什么他"一直没能陪在他们身边"，这一真相今日得以披露。

在晚期癌症的折磨下，病得太重以至于上楼都有困难的乔布斯于上周三离世，享年56岁。生前他希望自己的传记最终可以成为一封写给家人的情书。
"我希望我的孩子了解我"，当乔布斯被问及为何他过着名人那种隐私的生活，却同意将之公诸于众时，他这样告诉沃尔特•艾萨克森，普利策奖的提名者，知名作家。
"我一直没能陪在他们身边，我希望他们明白原因，希望他们理解我所做的一切"，在加州帕洛阿尔托的家中，乔布斯令人心酸地补充道。

在上个月最后的那次访谈中，艾萨克森发现乔布斯被疾病的痛苦所缠绕，他坐在楼下的卧室里，搬到这里是为了避免上下楼梯，"但他的思维依旧犀利，言谈也很幽默"，艾萨克森说。

他留下了妻子劳伦娜•鲍威尔•乔布斯和三个孩子伊娃、艾伦和利德，但其实他与高中时期的恋人克丽丝•布伦南还有一个私生女。

丽萨•布伦南•乔布斯，现年33岁，在通过法庭下令的血缘测试，证明其父是乔布斯两年后，才被乔布斯接受认可。

布伦南•乔布斯早已自己谋生，从哈佛大学毕业后，她成为了一名记者和作家。
在苹果宣布乔布斯死亡后的几小时内，这本被简单题名为《史蒂夫•乔布斯》的传记登上了畅销书排行榜的榜首。
它也是亚马逊（Amazon）书店的销售榜首，巴恩书店（Barnes & Noble.com）排行第三名，而最为理所应当的是，这本书也占据了苹果公司自身榜单的榜首：iTunes畅销书排行榜冠军。

由于令人难以置信的需求量，出版商西蒙与舒斯特公司（Simon & Schuster）已经宣布发布日期将由11月21日提前至10月24日。

• interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
• cancer [´kænsə] n.癌；毒瘤 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• downstairs [,daun´steəz] ad.在楼下 a.楼下的 (初中英语单词)
• humour [´hju:mə] n.幽默，诙谐 (初中英语单词)
• release [ri´li:s] vt&n.释放；放松；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• sweetheart [´swi:thɑ:t] n.爱人；情人 (高中英语单词)
• harvard [´hɑ:vəd] n.哈佛大学 (高中英语单词)
• announcement [ə´naunsmənt] n.通告；宣布；言谈 (高中英语单词)
• incredible [in´kredəbəl] a.不能相信的；惊人的 (高中英语单词)
• publisher [´pʌbliʃə] n.书籍出版者；发表者 (高中英语单词)
• terminal [´tə:minəl] n.终点(站) a.末端的 (英语四级单词)
• biography [bai´ɔgrəfi] n.传记(文学) (英语四级单词)
• ultimately [´ʌltimitli] ad.最后，最终 (英语四级单词)
• amazon [´æməzən] n.女战士 (英语四级单词)