英文早读第20篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
The tenth director was the company attorney, who held ten shares. The eleventh was a banker with ten shares who recognized the problems of the company, actively pointed them out, and later added to his holdings.The next two directors were the top officers of Sanborn who owned about 300 shares combined. The officers were capable, aware of the problems of the business, but kept in a subservient role by the Board of Directors. The final member of our cast was a son of a deceased president of Sanborn. The widow owned about 15,000 shares of stock.
第十位董事会成员是公司律师，他拥有10股。第11位是一个拥有10股的银行家，他发现了公司的这些问题，积极地指出他们，并在后来增加了他的持仓。接下来两位董事是三伯恩高级管理层，他们联合拥有大约300股。这些管理层是胜任的，能够意识到业务的问题，但是保持对董事会的顺从。最后一位董事会成员是去世的三伯恩公司总裁的儿子。遗孀拥有大约15000股。
In late 1958, the son, unhappy with the trend of the business, demanded the top position in the company, was turned down, and submitted his resignation, which was accepted. Shortly thereafter we made a bid to his mother for her block of stock, which was accepted. At the time there were two other large hoildings, one of about 10,000 shares (dispersed among customers of a brokerage firm) and one of about 8,000. These people were quite unhappy with the situation and desired a separation of the investment portfolio from the map business, as did we.
在1958年后期，这个儿子对业务趋势不满，要求在公司担任高级位置，被拒绝了，随后提交了辞呈却被接受了。之后很快我们向他妈妈开出一笔她股票地交易，并被接受了。与此同时，有两个其它大股东，一个拥有大约10000股（分散在经纪业务公司的顾客中），一个拥有大约8000股。他们都对当前情况非常不满意，并期望将投资组合从地图业务中分开，正如我们想法一样。
Subsequently our holdings (including associates) were increased through upon open market purchased to about 24,000 shares and the total represented by the three groups increased to 46,000 shares. We hoped to separate the two businesses, realize the fair value of the investment portfolio and work to re-establish the earning power of the map business. There appeared to be real opportunity to multiply through utilization of Sanborn's wealth of raw material in conjunction with electronic means of converting this data to the most usable form for the customer.
之后我们的持股（包括联合的）通过公开市场交易增加到大约24000股，并且这三家总的持股增加到了46000股。我们希望分割这两个业务，实现投资组合的公平价值和努力重新建立地图业务的盈利能力。这似乎有机会实现倍增，通过利用三伯恩有价值的原始数据，结合电子方法将这些数据转化为对顾客最易于使用的形式。
There was considerable opposition on the Board to change of any type, particularly when initiated by an outsider, although management was in complete accord with our plan and a similar plan had been recommanded by Booz, Allen & Hamilton (Management Experts). To avoid a proxy fight (which very probably would not have been forthcoming and which we would have been certain of winning) and to avoid time delay with a large portion of Sanborn's money tied up in blue-chip stocks wich I didn't care for at current prices, a plan was evolved talking out all stockholders at fair value who wanted out. The SEC ruled favorably on the fairness of the plan. About 72% of the Sanborn stock, involving 50% of the 1,600 stockholders, was exchanged for portfolios securities at fair value. The map business was left with over 1.25 million in government and municipal bonds as a reserve fund, and a potential corporate capital gains tax of over 1 million was eliminated. The remaining stockholders were left with a slightly improved asset value, substantially higher earnings per share, and an increased dividend rate.
董事会对任何形式的改变都有相当大的反对，尤其是被一个外人发起，尽管管理层想法与我们的计划完全一致，并且一个相似的计划已经被管理专家提议了。为了避免代理人争论（他大概率不会发生，并且即使发生我们也基本会赢），同时为了避免时间拖延，伴随着大部分三伯恩的钱以目前价格捆绑在我毫不关心的蓝筹股上，一个计划实施劝说所有股东以公允价格出售。SEC对这个计划的公平性很认可。大约72%的三伯恩股份，包括1600名股东中的50%，以公允的价格将他们的股票换成了投资组合的股票。地图业务换来了国家和地方政府的125美金债权作为备用资金，同时潜在的超过100万美金企业所得税被免除了。剩下的股东获得了微微提升的资产价值，大幅增长的每股盈利和增加的股息率。
Necessarily, the above little melodrama is a very abbreviated description of this investment operation. However, it does point up the necessity for secrecy regarding our portfolio operations as well as the futility of measuring our results over a short span of time such as a year. Such control situations may occur very infrequently. Our bread-and-butter business is buy undervalued securities and selling when the undervaluation is corrected along with investment in special situations where the profit is dependent on corporate rather than market action. To the extent that partnership funds continue to grow, it is possible that more opportunities will be available in "control situations".
必要的，以上小的剧情是这次投资行为非常简略的描述。然后，他确实指出保密的必要性，考虑到我们的投资公司操作，同时在短期内比如一年来评判我们的结果是徒劳的。这种控股的情况很少发生。我们主要的业务是购买被低估的股票并在低估被修正时卖掉，以及一些特殊情况下投资利润取决于公司而不是市场行为。在某种程度上，合伙基金资金继续增长，可能会有更多机会可以实现控股投资。
The auditors should be mailing your financial statement and tax information within about a week. If you have any questions at all regarding either their report or this letter, be sure to let me know.
大家应该寄送你们的财务声明和税务信息在一周之内。如果你有关于报告或者这封信的任何问题，请让我知道。
Warren E. Buffett 1-30-61
沃伦 E. 巴菲特，1961年1月30日
66.attorney：律师（尤指出庭律师）；（业务或法律事务的）代理人
67.capable：有能力；能力强的；足以胜任的
68.subservient：顺从的；恭顺的；卑躬屈膝地；驯服的
69.widow：遗孀；寡妇
70.turn down：拒绝（某人的请求）；关小；调低；减少；降低
71.resignation：辞职；辞呈；顺从；听任
72.disperse：分散；散布；驱散；传播
73.brokerage：经纪业务
74.subsequent：随后的；之后的；后来的
75.associate：联想；联合；交往；表示同意；混在一起；表明支持
76.establish：建立（正式关系）；设立；确立；创立；使立足
77.multiply：乘；乘以；繁殖；成倍增加；多重的；多样的；复合的
78.utilize：应用；使用；运用；利用
79.raw：未经加工的；生的；未经处理的；真实的；原始的；自然状态的；未经训练的；未煮的
80.conjunction：连词（如and，but，or）；结合；同时发生
81.considerable：相当大的；相当多的；值得注意的；著名的；值得尊敬的
82.opposition：反对；反对党；对立
83.initiate：开始；发起；使加入；接纳；创始；传授
84.in accord with：与……一致；与……相符
85.forthcoming：即将到来的；即将发生的；现成的
86.favorable：有利的；顺利的；赞许的；令人愉快的
87.municipal：市政的；地方政府的；地方自治的
88.corporate：法人的；公司的；全体的；共同的；社团的
89.melodrama：情节剧；通俗剧；戏剧性的行为
90.abbreviate：缩写；缩略
91.secrecy：保密；秘密
92.futility：徒劳；无用；无益
93.bread and butter：（某人或某公司的）主要收入来源；面包黄油片
