英文早讀第39篇，選自巴菲特年度信，友才翻譯。

BUFFETT PARTNERSHIP, LTD.
810 KIEWIT PLAZA
OMAHA 31, NEBRASKA
January 18, 1963
巴菲特合伙公司
基偉特廣場810室
內(nèi)布拉斯加州奧馬哈市31區(qū)
1963年1月18日

The Ground Rules
基本準則

Some partners have confessed (that's the proper word) that they sometimes find it difficult to wade through my entire annual letter. Since I seem to be getting more long-winded each year, I have decided to emphasize certain axioms on the first pages. Everyone should be entirely clear on these points. To most of you this material will seem unduly repetitious, but I would rather have nine partners of ten mildly bored than have one out of ten with any basic misconceptions.
有些合伙人已經(jīng)坦白了（這個詞是合適的）他們有時候發(fā)現(xiàn)通篇讀完我的年度信是困難的。同時我似乎每年變得越來越長篇大論。我決定在前幾頁先著重講一些基本定理。每個人都應該對這些點完全明白。對你們大多數(shù)來說這似乎過于重復，但是我更希望十個人中有9個投資者感到無聊而不是仍有1個人有任何基本觀念地誤解。

1.In no sense is any rate of return guaranteed to partners. Partners who withdraw one-half of 1% monthly are doing just that--withdrawing. If we earn more than 6% per annum over a period of years, the withdrawls will be covered by earnings and the principal will increase. If we don't earn 6%, the monthly payments are partially or wholly a return of capital.
1.對投資人沒有任何回報率的承諾。那些每月取現(xiàn)0.5%的合伙人僅僅就是在取現(xiàn)。如果我們一些年每年賺取超過6%，這些取現(xiàn)將會被利潤覆蓋并且本金會增加。如果沒有賺6%，月度支付將會部分或全部是本金的返還。

2.Any year in which we fail to achieve at least a plus 6% performance will be followed by a year when partners receiving monthly payments will find those payments lowered.
2.任何一年我們表現(xiàn)沒有達到6%，來年合伙人收取的月度支付將會發(fā)現(xiàn)降低了。

3.Whenever we talk of yearly gains or losses, we are talking about market values; that is, how we stand with assets valued at market at yearend against how we stood on the same basis at the beginning of the year. This may bear very little relationship to the realized results for tax purposes in a given year.
3.無論什么時候我們討論年度盈利或虧損，我們都是在討論市值。也就是說，我們在年末在市場的資產(chǎn)評估價相比于年初同樣方法的位置。這里只有微乎其微的和以實現(xiàn)價值的聯(lián)系，而這是為了這一年的稅務處理。

4.Whether we do a good job or a poor job is not to be measured by whether we are plus or minus for the year. It is instead to be measured against the general experience in securities as measured by the Dow-Jones Industrial Average, leading investment companies, etc. If our record is better than that of these yardsticks, we consider it a good year whether we are plus or minus. If we do poorer, we deserve the tomatoes.
4.無論我們做的好或者差，工作都不是由這一年是賺是虧來衡量的。取而代之的是相比于股票一般表現(xiàn)像道瓊斯工業(yè)指數(shù)，領先的投資工資等等來衡量。如果我們的記錄比這些標桿更好，我們認為這是好的一年，無論我們是賺是虧。如果我們做的更差，我們也應該被扔西紅柿。

5.While I much prefer a five-year test, I feel three years is an absolute minimum for judging performance. It is a certainty that we will have years when the partnership performance is poorer, perhaps substantially so, than the Dow. If any three-year or longer period produces poor results, we all should start looking around for other places to have our money. An exception to the latter statement would be three years covering a speculative explosion in a bull market.
5.盡管我更期望是5年期的測試，我感覺3年也是最少的年份來判斷表現(xiàn)。毫無疑問我們會在一些年份合伙基金表現(xiàn)更差，甚至相當差，相比于道瓊斯指數(shù)。如果任何一個3年期或者更長的時期我們也更差，我們都應該尋找其他地方去放置我們的錢。后面這種情況有個例外就是這三年都是牛市投機性的爆炸上漲。

6.I am not in the business of predicting general stock market or business fluctuations. If you think I can do this, or think it is essential to an investment program, you should not be in the partnership.
6.我不會預測大盤市場或者商業(yè)波動。如果你認為我可以做到，或者認為這對于投資項目是必需的，你不應該在我們的投資基金里。

7.I cannot promise results to partners. What I can and do promise is that:
a.Our investments will be chosen on the basis of value, not popularity;
b.That we will attempt to bring risk of permanent capital loss (not short-term quotational loss) to an absolute minimum by obtaining a wide margin of safety in each commitment and a diversity of commitments; and
c.My wife, children and I will have virtually our entire net worth invested in the partnership.
7.我不能對合伙人承諾結果，我所能承諾的是：
a.我們的投資將會基于價值來選擇，而不是熱度；
b.我們試圖將永久資金損失（不是短期的浮虧）帶到絕對最低限度通過在每一筆交易中獲得大幅的安全邊界和多樣的投資
c.同時，我的妻子，孩子和我會將我們幾乎全部凈資產(chǎn)投資到合伙基金。

1.confess：承認（自己感到羞愧或?qū)擂蔚氖拢惶拱祝ㄥe誤或罪行）；供認；悔過
2.wade：跋涉；蹚
3.wade through：涉水通過；艱難地處理；費力地閱讀
4.long-winded：長篇大論的；羅嗦的；嘮嘮叨叨的
5.axiom：公理
6.unduly：過分；過度地
7.no sense：不必；毫無意義；沒道理
8.principal：本金；當事人；委托人；資本；院長；校長；主要的
9.speculative：投機的；試探性的；風險性的；猜測的