英文早讀第204篇，選自巴菲特年度信，友才翻譯。
Capital Cities possesses both extraordinary properties and extraordinary management. And these management skills extend equally to operations and employment of corporate capital. To purchase, directly, properties such as Capital Cities owns would cost in the area of twice our cost of purchase via the stock market, and direct ownership would offer no important advantages to us. While control would give us the opportunity ‐ and the responsibility ‐ to manage operations and corporate resources, we would not be able to provide management in either of those respects equal to that now in place. In effect, we can obtain a better management result through non‐control than control. This is an unorthodox view, but one we believe to be sound.
首都城市公司兼具非凡的資產(chǎn)與卓越的管理能力。而且這些管理技能在運(yùn)營(yíng)和公司資金運(yùn)用方面都發(fā)揮得淋漓盡致。若直接購(gòu)置像首都城市公司所擁有的那些資產(chǎn)，成本大概會(huì)是我們通過股市收購(gòu)成本的兩倍左右，并且直接持有資產(chǎn)對(duì)我們而言并無重大優(yōu)勢(shì)。雖然擁有控制權(quán)能賦予我們管理運(yùn)營(yíng)和公司資源的機(jī)會(huì)與責(zé)任，但在這兩方面，我們無法提供比現(xiàn)有管理層更出色的管理。實(shí)際上，不控股反而能讓我們獲得更好的管理成效。這是一種非傳統(tǒng)的觀點(diǎn)，但我們認(rèn)為它是合理的。
Banking
銀行業(yè)務(wù)
In 1977 the Illinois National Bank continued to achieve a rate of earnings on assets about three times that of most large banks. As usual, this record was achieved while the bank paid maximum rates to savers and maintained an asset position combining low risk and exceptional liquidity. Gene Abegg formed the bank in 1931 with 250,000. In its first full year of operation, earnings amounted to 8,782. Since that time, no new capital has been contributed to the bank; on the contrary, since our purchase in 1969, dividends of $20 million have been paid. Earnings in 1977 amounted to 3.6 million, more than achieved by many banks two or three times its size.
1977年，伊利諾伊國(guó)民銀行的資產(chǎn)收益率持續(xù)保持在多數(shù)大型銀行的三倍左右。和往常一樣，該銀行在向儲(chǔ)戶支付最高利率的同時(shí)，維持著低風(fēng)險(xiǎn)與超強(qiáng)流動(dòng)性相結(jié)合的資產(chǎn)狀況，從而取得這一佳績(jī)。吉恩阿貝格于1931年以25萬美元?jiǎng)?chuàng)立了這家銀行。在首個(gè)完整運(yùn)營(yíng)年度，其盈利達(dá)8782美元。從那以后，再?zèng)]有新的資金注入銀行；相反，自1969年我們收購(gòu)該銀行以來，已支付了2000萬美元的股息。1977年的盈利為360萬美元，比許多規(guī)模為其兩三倍的銀行盈利還要多。
Late last year Gene, now 80 and still running a banking operation without peer, asked that a
successor be brought in. Accordingly, Peter Jeffrey, formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of American National Bank of Omaha, has joined the Illinois National Bank effective March 1st as President and Chief Executive Officer.
去年年底，現(xiàn)年80歲且仍經(jīng)營(yíng)著一家無可匹敵的銀行的吉恩，提出需要引入一位繼任者。因此，彼得杰弗里已于3月1日起加入伊利諾伊國(guó)民銀行，擔(dān)任行長(zhǎng)兼首席執(zhí)行官。他之前是奧馬哈美國(guó)國(guó)民銀行的行長(zhǎng)兼首席執(zhí)行官。
Gene continues in good health as Chairman. We expect a continued successful operation at Rockford’s leading bank.
吉恩作為董事長(zhǎng)，身體依然康健。我們期待這家羅克福德地區(qū)的龍頭銀行，在他的帶領(lǐng)下繼續(xù)成功運(yùn)營(yíng)。
Blue Chip Stamps
藍(lán)芯票證公司
We again increased our equity interest in Blue Chip Stamps, and owned approximately 36 1/2% at the end of 1977. Blue Chip had a fine year, earning approximately 12.9 million from operations and, in addition, had realized securities gains of 4.1 million. Both Wesco Financial Corp., an 80% owned subsidiary of Blue Chip Stamps, managed by Louis Vincenti, and See’s Candies, a 99% owned subsidiary, managed by Chuck Huggins, made good progress in 1977. Since See’s was purchased by Blue Chip Stamps at the beginning of 1972, pre‐tax operating earnings have grown from 4.2 million to 12.6 million with little additional capital investment. See’s achieved this record while operating in an industry experiencing practically no unit growth. Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. may obtain the annual report of Blue Chip Stamps by requesting it from Mr. Robert H. Bird, Blue Chip Stamps, 5801 South Eastern Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90040.
我們?cè)俅卧龀至怂{(lán)籌印花公司的股權(quán)，截至1977年底，持股比例約達(dá)36.5%。藍(lán)籌印花公司在1977年表現(xiàn)出色，運(yùn)營(yíng)收益約為1290萬美元，此外，還實(shí)現(xiàn)了410萬美元的證券投資收益。由路易斯文森蒂管理的藍(lán)籌印花公司持股80%的子公司韋斯科金融公司，以及由查克哈金斯管理的持股99%的子公司喜詩(shī)糖果，在1977年均取得了良好進(jìn)展。自1972年初喜詩(shī)糖果被藍(lán)籌印花公司收購(gòu)以來，幾乎沒有額外的資本投入，但其稅前運(yùn)營(yíng)收益已從420萬美元增長(zhǎng)至1260萬美元。喜詩(shī)糖果能取得這一成績(jī)，還是在所在行業(yè)幾乎沒有銷量增長(zhǎng)的情況下實(shí)現(xiàn)的。伯克希爾哈撒韋公司的股東若想獲取藍(lán)籌印花公司的年報(bào)，可向羅伯特·H·伯德先生索取，地址為加利福尼亞州洛杉磯市東南大道5801號(hào)，郵編90040。
27.unorthodox：非正統(tǒng)的
28.peer：同齡人；同輩
29.successor：繼承人；繼任者；接替者
30.accordingly：因此；相應(yīng)的
