英文早读第157篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
- How would we know if the DRC debentures were called?
8.我们如何知道百货零售公司债券是否被赎回？
All stockholders and debenture holders would find out directly from the company through regular or special reports that the company issues to its security holders. There is no intention at all of calling the debentures.
所有持股人和债券持有者都将从公司发布给股票持有者的常规和特定报告中直接获取。没有任何赎回债券的意图。
- Why did you not register our Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing shares so that the stock, when received by the partners, would be freely marketable?
9.为什么你不注册我们的伯克希尔哈撒韦和百货零售公司的股份，这样当我们合伙人收到这些股票，就可以立刻流通？
We considered this possibility but rejected it for both practical and legal considerations. I will just discuss the practicalities, since they would independently dictate the decision we made.
我们考虑了这个可能性但是拒绝了他，由于实操和法律考量。我将仅讨论这个实操性，因为他们也单独能够决定我们做的决定。
There is presently no existing market for Diversified Retailing, and our holdings of Berkshire Hathaway are probably four or five times the present floating supply of this stock. An attempt to quickly buy or sell a few thousand shares can easily move BH stock several points or more. We own 691,441 shares. Were we to distribute these stocks to you via a registration without an underwriting, and with the possibility that a substantial portion would be offered for sale by many sellers operating individually but virtually simultaneously, there is a real likelihood, particularly in a stock market environment such as we have seen recently, that the market for these two stocks would be little short of chaotic. It has not seemed to me that this was the kind of situation with which I should leave you, both from the standpoint of the price level which might prevail, as well as for the reason that differrent partners might well have to liquidate at widely varying price levels. The more sophisticated partners might have an important edge on the less sophisticated ones, and I believe many partner's might have no chance to realize the prices I anticipate using for yearend valuation. This would rightly seem most unfair to you, since I would have received some allocation of 1969 BPL profits based upon these yearend valuations. If the markets were to become distressed, I would probably come in for criticism, whether I personally bought at lower prices or, perhaps more so, if I refrained from buying.
现在对于百货零售公司没有存在的市场，而我们持有的伯克希尔哈撒韦股票大约是现在流通的四到五倍。试图去快速买卖几千股票就可以很容易移动伯克希尔哈撒韦股票几个百分点或者更多。而我们持有69万1441股。如果我们通过登记这些股份分配给你而不是通过一个承销商，就有可能大量的股票将会被很多卖方出售，虽然是独立的但是几乎同时的，这很有可能，尤其是在当前我们最近看到的股市环境下，这两只股票在市场上将会短期很混乱。对我来说似乎也没有这样的情况我可以抛下你，无论从股价可能盛行的立场，或者从股通的合伙人或许会以区别很大的价格水平清算的原因。更加老练的合伙人有很大优势比那些不老练的合伙人，我相信很多合伙人没有机会获得我在年底估值预测的价格。这对你们来说很不公平，而我将会基于这些年底的估值获得1969年巴菲特合伙基金盈利的分配。如果市场变的糟糕，我也可能会遭到批评，无论我个人以更低的价格购买，或者更多的批评，如果我拒绝购买。
Were we to attempt to sponsor an underwriting in connection with a registration for those partners who might wish to sell, there would be, in my opinion, the likelihood that the result would still be far less than satisfactory. We have just been around this track with our holdings of Blue Chip Stamps, where we watched the price of our stock go from 24 to 16-1/2 after announcement of the underwriting, of which we originally were to be a part. I did not want this sort of result for the partners with respect to their holdings of Berkshire and Diversified.
我们试图发起承销活动去连接这些将希望出售股票的合伙人，在我看来，有可能结果将仍会远低于满意水平。我们刚刚经历了在蓝筹股的持股的发展轨迹，我们看到在承销发布后，我们股票价格从24到了16.5美金，而我们也是这其中一部分。我不想这类结果发生在持有伯克希尔和百货公司的合伙人身上。
It is my belief that, by confining sales to private placements, those partners who wish to sell will realize more for their stock (with the sophisticated partners having no marketing edge on the less knowledge) than would be achieved, through an underwriting at this time. Also, the stock should be more likely to find its way into the hands of long-term investment-minded holders, which should mean less volatile markets in the future. We have had several phone calls from persons indicating that they wish to make private sales - we anticipate there will be no difficulty in effectuating such sales at prices related to our yearend valuations.
我相信，通过限制卖方到私下的场合，这些希望出售的合伙人将会实现更多比同一时间通过承销商出售的股票收益（同时老练的合伙人也不会比不老练的有市场优势）。同时，这些股票也更优可能流向长期投资主义持股者的手中，这意味着将来更小的市场不稳定性。我们已经有几个人电话表明他们希望做私下交易——我们预测按照年底估值的价格实现这些交易没有什么难度。
Those partners who would prefer an underwritten distribution always have the option of having a registration of their own. I will be glad to facilitate this by placing all partners in touch with each other who indicate to me their desire to sell via a registered underwriting, at their expense and through an underwriter of their choice. In this way the expense of an underwriting, which can be considerable, would be borne by the selling partners and not by the partners as a whole.
那些更倾向于承销商分配的合伙人也有选择他们自己的注册的权利。我很高兴可以促使这个通过让所有合伙人可以与那些告诉我希望通过注册的承销商出售的人联系，由他们承担费用并通过他们选择的承销商。在这种情况下承销商的花费，将会很可观的费用，将会由那些出售的合伙人承担而不是所有合伙人作为整体承担。
I have also had partners ask if they could participate in a registered offering in the future if I should sell shares in this manner. I think it is almost certain I will never sell stock via public offering but, should it ever happen, I will be glad to let any of you participate in any underwritten offering in which I might be involved. In all probability, if it ever did happen, your stock would already be "free", although mine would still be restricted. I cannot make the same commitment to you regarding any private sale I might make in the future, just as I can't expect you to restrict any sale options you might have in order to include me.
我也被合伙人问到他们是否可以在将来参与注册发行如果我以这种方式售卖股份。我认为几乎肯定我不会通过公开市场出售股票，但是，如果他发生了，我很高兴让你们任何人参与任何我可能参与的承销发行。极有可能的是，如果他确实发生了，你的股票将会是“自由的”，尽管我的将仍会被限制。考虑到我在将来可能做出的任何私下出售，我不能给你做出同样的承诺，就像我也不希望你像我一样限制任何出售权。
22.independently：独立地；自立地；无关地
23.dictate：命令；支配；决定；规定；摆布
24.floating：浮动的；流动的；不固定的
25.likelihood：可能性；可能
26.chaotic：混乱的；杂乱的
27.prevail：流行；盛行；普遍存在
28.sophisticated：复杂的；先进的；老练的
29.allocation：分配；划拨
30.criticism：批评；批判；评论；指责
31.refrain：避免；克制；抑制；节制
32.sponsor：赞助；主办；自助；倡议；提交
33.confine：限制；监禁；限定
34.placement：安置；安排
35.volatile：不稳定的；易变的
36.effectuate：实现；生效；使发生
37.underwritten：包销；承销；承保
38.facilitate：促进；促使；使便利
39.borne：bear的过去分词，承受、忍受、承担责任
