英文早读第219篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
Long Term Results
长期业绩
In measuring long term economic performance - in contrast to yearly performance - we believe it is appropriate to recognize fully any realized capital gains or losses as well as extraordinary items, and also to utilize financial statements presenting equity securities at market value. Such capital gains or losses, either realized or unrealized, are fully as important to shareholders over a period of years as earnings realized in a more routine manner through operations; it is just that their impact is often extremely capricious in the short run, a characteristic that makes them inappropriate as an indicator of single year managerial performance.
在衡量长期经济表现（对比年度的表现）时，我们认为全面采用任何已实现的本金盈利或亏损作为额外的项目是合适的，并且财务报表使用按市值表达公司股票也可以。无论是已实现还是未实现的这类本金盈利或亏损，在数年的时间跨度内，对股东而言与通过常规经营活动实现的盈利同等重要；只是它们的影响在短期内往往极不稳定，这一特点使得它们不适合作为衡量单一年度管理层业绩的指标。
The book value per share of Berkshire Hathaway on September 30, 1964 (the fiscal yearend prior to the time that your present management assumed responsibility) was 19.46 per share. At yearend 1979, book value with equity holdings carried at market value was 335.85 per share. The gain in book value comes to 20.5% compounded annually. This figure, of course, is far higher than any average of our yearly operating earnings calculations, and reflects the importance of capital appreciation of insurance equity investments in determining the overall results for our shareholders. It probably also is fair to say that the quoted book value in 1964 somewhat overstated the intrinsic value of the enterprise, since the assets owned at that time on either a going concern basis or a liquidating value basis were not worth 100 cents on the dollar. (The liabilities were solid, however.)
1964年9月30日（即现任管理层接手之前的会计年度年末），伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司的每股账面价值为19.46美元。到1979年年末，按市值计算权益投资后的每股账面价值为335.85美元。账面价值的增长按年复利计算达到了20.5%。当然，这一数字远高于我们按年度计算的经营收益的任何平均值，这反映出在决定我们股东的总体收益方面，保险业务权益投资的资本增值非常重要。或许还可以合理地说，1964年所公布的账面价值在一定程度上高估了公司的内在价值，因为当时公司所拥有的资产，无论是按持续经营基础还是按清算价值基础计算，其价值都达不到账面所记的100%。（不过，公司的负债是实实在在的。）
We have achieved this result while utilizing a low amount of leverage (both financial leverage measured by debt to equity, and operating leverage measured by premium volume to capital funds of our insurance business), and also without significant issuance or repurchase of shares. Basically, we have worked with the capital with which we started. From our textile base we, or our Blue Chip and Wesco subsidiaries, have acquired total ownership of thirteen businesses through negotiated purchases from private owners for cash, and have started six others. (It's worth a mention that those who have sold to us have, almost without exception, treated us with exceptional honor and fairness, both at the time of sale and subsequently.)
我们取得这样的成绩，所运用的杠杆水平较低（既包括以负债权益比衡量的财务杠杆，也包括以保险业务保费规模与资本基金之比衡量的经营杠杆），而且也没有进行大规模的股票发行或回购。基本上，我们一直是依靠最初的资本来经营。从纺织业务起步，我们（或者我们旗下的蓝芯票证公司和韦斯科金融公司等子公司）通过与私人所有者协商以现金收购的方式，获得了13家企业的全部所有权，并且还创办了另外6家企业。（值得一提的是，那些将企业卖给我们的人，几乎毫无例外地在出售时以及后续都以极高的诚信和公平态度对待我们。 ）
11.extraordinarily：非常；格外；异常的
12.routine：常规的
13.capricious：反复无常的；任性的
