英文早读第38篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。

Valuing Dempster at 50 per share, our overall gain (before any payments to partners) to October 31st for the Partnership has been 5.5%. This 22.3 percentage-points advantage over the Dow, if maintained until the end of the year, will be among the largest we have ever had. About 60% of this advantage was accomplished by portfolio other than Dempster, and 40% was the result of increased value at Dempster.
给邓普斯特每股股价50美金，到10月31日我们的合伙基金总收益是5.5%（在任何给合伙人的支付前）。这个22.3个比道琼斯指数百分点的领先，如果直到年终仍保持，将会是我们所获得的最好结果之一。大约60%的领先由邓普斯特以外的投资组合获得，大约40%是邓普斯特估值增长的结果。

I want all partners and prospective partners to realize the results described above are distinctly abnormal and will recur infrequently, if at all. This performance is mainly the result of having a large portion of our money in controlled assets and workout situations rather than general market situations at a time when the Dow declined substantially. If the Dow had advanced materially in 1962, we could have looked very bad on a relative basis, and our sucess to date in 1962 certainly does not reflect any ability on my part to guess the market (I never try), but merely reflects the fact that the high prices of generals partially forced me into other categories or investment. If the Dow had continued to soar, we would have been low man on the totem pole. We fully expect to have years when our method of operation will not even match the results of the Dow, although obviously I don't expect this on any long-term basis or I would throw in the towel and buy the Dow.
我想所有合伙人和潜在合伙人意识到上述结果明显是不寻常的，如果有的话也很少重现。这个表现主要是我们大量资金在控股类资产和套利类而不是一般类股票的结果，同时道琼斯指数需要大幅下跌。如果道琼斯指数在1962年实质上涨，我们相比看起来将很糟糕，1962年到今天的成功当然不能反映我任何预测市场的能力（我从未尝试），但只不过反映了一个事实一般类股票市场的高价位部分促使我进入到其他范畴或投资中。如果道琼斯指数继续繁荣，我们或许会成为很低级的玩家。我们很希望有些年份我们的运作方法无法和道琼斯指数表现媲美，尽管很显然我不认为这会是长期的表现，否则我们认输并去购买道琼斯指数。

I'll cut this sermon short with conclusion that I certainly do not want anyone to think that the pattern of the last few years is likely to be repeated; I expect future performance to reflect much smaller advantage on average over the Dow.
我把这段冗长的说教剪短为一个结论就是我肯定不想有人认为过去几年的类型会重复；我觉得未来的表现反映出比道琼斯指数平均更小的领先优势。

Each letter ends with the request that you let me know about anything that isn't clear. Please be sure that you do this. We are all geared up with secretarial help, a new typewriter, etc., and we want to be sure that this letter and agreement are understood by all.
每封信结尾都要求你需要让我知道关于任何不明确的事。请确信你是这样做的。我们都为秘书性工作，一个新打字机等做好了准备，我们希望确保这封信和合伙协议被你们所有人理解。

Cordially,
Warren E. Buffett
真诚的
沃伦 E. 巴菲特

P/S: There are no prizes for being the last ones to get in the agreement and commitment letter, so please get to it as soon as possible. Remember the commitment letter can be amended by a postcard or a phone call--we are just trying to get the bulk of the work out of the way well before December 31st so we can concentrate on getting the audit, tax information, etc., out pronto at yearend.
注释：对于最后寄出合伙协议和承诺函的人没有任何奖励，因此请尽快寄出。记住承诺函是可以被修改的通过明信片或者一个电话——我们仅仅事为了在12月31日前将大量的工作剥离出来这样我们可以集中处理将审计，税务信息等等在年末尽快出结果。

30.secretarial：秘书的；秘书性的
31.typewriter：打字机
32.merely：仅仅，只不过