英文早讀第175篇，選自巴菲特年度信，友才翻譯。

Textile Operations
紡織業(yè)務(wù)

As predicted in last year's annual report, the textile industry experienced a pickup in 1972. In recent years, Ken Chace and Ralph Rigby have developed an outstanding sales organization enjoying a growing reputation for service and reliability. Manufacturing capabilities have been restructured to complement our sales strengths.
正如在去年年度報(bào)告中預(yù)測的，紡織行業(yè)在1972年有所好轉(zhuǎn)。在最近這些年，肯蔡司和拉夫萊戈比已經(jīng)建立了一個(gè)杰出的銷售組織，在服務(wù)與可依賴方面的贊譽(yù)不斷提升。制造能力也被重構(gòu)用來滿足我們的銷售優(yōu)勢。

Helped by the industry recovery, we experienced some payoff from these efforts in 1972. Inventories were controlled, minimizing close-out losses in addition to minimizing capital requirements; product mix was greatly improved. While the general level of profitability of the industry will always be the primary factor in determining the level of our textile earnings, we believe that our relative position within the industry has noticeably improved. The outlook for 1973 is good.
受益于行業(yè)復(fù)蘇，我們也在1972年收到了來自于這些努力的益處。存貨是可控的，除了最小化資金需求外清倉損失也降到了最低；產(chǎn)品組合也大幅提升。盡管行業(yè)的一般盈利水平經(jīng)常是決定我們紡織業(yè)務(wù)盈利水平的首要因素，我們?nèi)韵嘈盼覀冊谛袠I(yè)內(nèi)的相對(duì)地位已經(jīng)明顯提升了。對(duì)1973年的預(yù)期是良好的。

Insurance Underwriting
保險(xiǎn)承保

Our exceptional underwriting profits during 1972 in the large traditional area of our insurance business at National Indemnity present a paradox. They served to swell substantially total corporate profits for 1972, but the factors which produced such profits induced exceptional amounts of new competition at what we believe to be a non-compensatory level of rates. Over-all, we probably would have retained better prospects for the next five years if profits had not risen so dramatically this year.
我們1972年在國家保障公司的大型傳統(tǒng)領(lǐng)域保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)杰出承保利潤呈現(xiàn)的很矛盾。他們1972年為公司整體盈利承擔(dān)了很大一部分，但是導(dǎo)致這些利潤的因素引起了大量新競爭對(duì)手，我們相信他們給出了無法實(shí)現(xiàn)賠付能力水平的費(fèi)率。整的來說，如果利潤去年沒有增長這么大，我們或許仍對(duì)接下來五年保持更好的預(yù)期。

Substantial new competition was forecast in our annual report for last year and we experienced in 1972 the decline in premium volume that we stated such competition implied. Our belief is that industry underwriting profit margins will narrow substantially in 1973 or 1974 and, in time, this may produce an environment in which our historical growth can be resumed. Unfortunately, there is a lag between deterioration of underwriting results and tempering of competition. During this period we expect to continue to have negative volume comparisons in our traditional operation. Our seasoned management, headed by Jack Ringwalt and Phil Liesche, will continue to underwrite to produce a profit, although not at the level of 1972, and base our rates on long-term expectations rather than short-term hopes. Although this approach has meant dips in volume from time to time in the past, it has produced excellent long-term results.
去年年度報(bào)告中我們預(yù)測大量新對(duì)手，和當(dāng)面臨這些競爭時(shí)我們會(huì)在1972年面臨保險(xiǎn)規(guī)模下跌。我們相信行業(yè)承保利潤率在1973或者1974年會(huì)大幅縮小，最后，這或許會(huì)帶來一個(gè)我們歷史增值率重新恢復(fù)的環(huán)境。不幸的是，在承保結(jié)果惡化和競爭緩和之間存在時(shí)間差。在這段時(shí)期，我們預(yù)期繼續(xù)在我們的傳統(tǒng)業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模上不利。我們由杰克令懷特和菲爾萊舍爾帶領(lǐng)的富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的管理團(tuán)隊(duì)將繼續(xù)產(chǎn)生承保利潤，盡管不如1972年的水平，但仍會(huì)讓我們的費(fèi)率基于長期預(yù)期而不是短期訴求。盡管在過去這條路意味著時(shí)不時(shí)地規(guī)模下跌，但他仍會(huì)產(chǎn)生優(yōu)秀的長期結(jié)果。

Also as predicted in last year's report, our reinsurance division experienced many of the same competitive factors in 1972. A multitude of new organizations entered what has historically been a rather small field, and rates were often cut substantially, and we believe unsoundly, particularly in the catastrophe area. The past year turned out to be unusually free of catastrophes and our underwriting experience was good.
同樣如去年報(bào)告中預(yù)期的，我們的再保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)在1972年經(jīng)歷了很多同樣的競爭因素。大量的新組織進(jìn)入了這個(gè)歷史上一直是相對(duì)小的領(lǐng)域，費(fèi)率也經(jīng)常被大幅減小，我們認(rèn)為是荒謬的，尤其是在災(zāi)難險(xiǎn)領(lǐng)域。去年結(jié)果很不尋常的沒有災(zāi)難發(fā)生，我們的承保結(jié)果是好的。

George Young has built a substantial and profitable reinsurance operation in just a few years. In the longer term we plan to be a very major factor in the reinsurance field, but an immediate expansion of volume is not sensible against a backgroud of deteriorating rates. In our view, underwriting exposures are greater than ever. When the loss potential inherent in such exposures becomes an actuality, repricing will take place which should give us a chance to expand significantly.
喬治楊在僅僅幾年時(shí)間就建立了一個(gè)大型的盈利的再保險(xiǎn)業(yè)務(wù)。長期來看我們計(jì)劃成為再保險(xiǎn)領(lǐng)域的非常大玩家，但是保險(xiǎn)規(guī)模立即擴(kuò)張是不明智的，在費(fèi)率衰退的背景下。在我們看來，承保暴雷風(fēng)險(xiǎn)比過去大得多。當(dāng)隱藏在這些雷點(diǎn)潛在的損失變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實(shí)時(shí)，重新定價(jià)將會(huì)發(fā)生，這會(huì)讓我們有機(jī)會(huì)大幅擴(kuò)張。

8.pickup：改善；改進(jìn)；好轉(zhuǎn)
9.reputation：名譽(yù)；名聲
10.payoff：報(bào)酬；結(jié)果；結(jié)清；算清
11.in addition to：除了……之外
12.noticeably：明顯地；顯著地
13.paradox：悖論；矛盾的人事物
14.swell：膨脹；增大；擴(kuò)大；隆起
15.induce：誘導(dǎo)；引起；誘使
16.compensatory：補(bǔ)償?shù)?；賠償?shù)?；補(bǔ)償性的
17.in time：及時(shí)；最后；終于；遲早
18.resumed：（中斷后）繼續(xù)；重新開始；恢復(fù)
19.lag：滯后；落后；間隔
20.deterioration：惡化；退化
21.temper：使溫和；使緩和
22.seasoned：老練的；富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的
23.dip：（通常指暫時(shí)的）減少；下降；衰退
24.from time to time：不時(shí)地；偶爾
25.multitude：群眾；眾多；大量；人群；民眾
26.unsoundly：謬誤的
27.close-out：清倉