英文早讀第201篇，選自巴菲特年度信，友才翻譯。

Insurance Underwriting
保險(xiǎn)承保

Our insurance operation continued to grow significantly in 1977. It was early in 1967 that we made our entry into this industry through the purchase of National Indemnity Company and National Fire and Marine Insurance Company (sister companies) for approximately 8.6 million. In that year their premium volume amounted to 22 million. In 1977 our aggregate insurance premium volume was 151 million. No additional shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock have been issued to achieve any of this growth.
1977年，我們的保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)繼續(xù)顯著增長(zhǎng)。1967年初，我們通過以約860萬美元收購(gòu)國(guó)民賠償公司和國(guó)民火災(zāi)與海運(yùn)保險(xiǎn)公司（二者為姊妹公司）進(jìn)入這一行業(yè)。當(dāng)年，它們的保費(fèi)收入總計(jì)2200萬美元。1977年，我們的保險(xiǎn)保費(fèi)總收入達(dá)到1.51億美元。而實(shí)現(xiàn)這所有增長(zhǎng)過程中，伯克希爾哈撒韋公司并未增發(fā)任何股份。

Rather, this almost 600% increase has been achieved through large gains in National Indemnity’s traditional liability areas plus the starting of new companies (Cornhusker Casualty Company in 1970, Lakeland Fire and Casualty Company in 1971, Texas United Insurance Company in 1972, The Insurance Company of Iowa in 1973, and Kansas Fire and Casualty Company in late 1977), the purchase for cash of other insurance companies (Home and Automobile Insurance Company in 1971, Kerkling Reinsurance Corporation, now named Central Fire and Casualty Company, in 1976, and Cypress Insurance Company at yearend 1977), and finally through the marketing of additional products, most significantly reinsurance, within the National Indemnity Company corporate structure.
確切地說，這近600%的增長(zhǎng)是通過多種途徑實(shí)現(xiàn)的。在國(guó)民賠償公司傳統(tǒng)的責(zé)任險(xiǎn)領(lǐng)域取得了大幅增長(zhǎng)，同時(shí)創(chuàng)立了新公司（1970年成立了內(nèi)布拉斯克恩豪斯可意外保險(xiǎn)公司，1971年成立了萊克蘭火災(zāi)與意外保險(xiǎn)公司，1972年成立了得克薩斯聯(lián)合保險(xiǎn)公司，1973年成立了愛荷華保險(xiǎn)公司，1977年末成立了堪薩斯火災(zāi)與意外保險(xiǎn)公司；以現(xiàn)金收購(gòu)了其他保險(xiǎn)公司（1971年收購(gòu)了家庭與汽車保險(xiǎn)公司，1976年收購(gòu)了克爾克林再保險(xiǎn)公司（現(xiàn)名為中央火災(zāi)與意外保險(xiǎn)公司），1977年末收購(gòu)了賽普拉斯保險(xiǎn)公司；最后，在國(guó)民賠償公司的企業(yè)架構(gòu)內(nèi)，通過推廣更多產(chǎn)品，尤其是再保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)實(shí)現(xiàn)增長(zhǎng)。

In aggregate, the insurance business has worked out very well. But it hasn’t been a one‐way street. Some major mistakes have been made during the decade, both in products and personnel. We experienced significant problems from (1) a surety operation initiated in 1969, (2) the 1973 expansion of Home and Automobile’s urban auto marketing into the Miami, Florida area, (3) a still unresolved aviation “fronting” arrangement, and (4) our Worker’s Compensation operation in California, which we believe retains an interesting potential upon completion of a reorganization now in progress. It is comforting to be in a business where some mistakes can be made and yet a quite satisfactory overall performance can be achieved. In a sense, this is the opposite case from our textile business where even very good management probably can average only modest results. One of the lessons your management has learned ‐ and, unfortunately, sometimes re‐learned‐is the importance of being in businesses where tailwinds prevail rather than headwinds.
總體而言，保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展得非常好。但這并非一帆風(fēng)順。在過去十年里，我們?cè)诋a(chǎn)品和人員方面都犯了一些重大錯(cuò)誤。我們遇到了一些嚴(yán)重問題：（1），1969年開展的擔(dān)保業(yè)務(wù)；（2），1973年家庭與汽車保險(xiǎn)公司將城市汽車保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)拓展至佛羅里達(dá)州邁阿密地區(qū)；（3），一項(xiàng)至今仍未解決的航空 “代出單” 安排；（4），我們?cè)诩永Ｄ醽喼莸墓ｋU(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)，不過我們認(rèn)為，隨著目前正在進(jìn)行的重組完成，該業(yè)務(wù)仍有可觀的潛力。好在身處保險(xiǎn)行業(yè)，即便犯了一些錯(cuò)誤，整體業(yè)績(jī)?nèi)阅芰钊藵M意。從某種意義上說，這與我們的紡織業(yè)務(wù)恰恰相反，在紡織業(yè)，即便管理十分出色，可能也只能取得一般的成績(jī)。你們的管理層學(xué)到的一個(gè)教訓(xùn)——不幸的是，有時(shí)還得重新學(xué)習(xí)——就是處于順境行業(yè)而非逆境行業(yè)的重要性。