英文早读第153篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
Between DRC and B-H, we have four main operating businesses with three of them in my opinion, definitely first class by any of the usual standards of evaluation. The three excellent businesses are all run by men over sisty who are largely responsible for building each operation from scratch. These men are hard working, wealthy, and good - extraordinarily good. Their age is a negative, but it is the only negative applicable to them. One of the reasons I am happy to have a large segment of my capital in B-H and DRC is because we have such excellent men in charge of the operating businesses.
在百货零售公司和伯克希尔哈撒韦之中，我们有4个主要运营业务，在我看来其中3个无论以任何通用评估标准都绝对是一流的。这3个优秀的业务都由超过60岁的人运营，他们从公司起步就对大部分每个做出的决策负责。这些人工作努力、富有且优秀——非常优秀。他们的年龄是劣势，但是这是对他们来说仅有的劣势。我很乐意将我的大部分资金放在伯克希尔哈撒韦和百货零售公司的原因之一就是我们有如此优秀的人在负责这些业务的运营。
We have various annual reports, audits, interim reports, proxy materials prospectuses, etc... applicable to our control holdings and we will be glad to supply you with any item you request. I also solicit your written questions and will send to all partners the questions and answers shortly before yearend. Don't hesitate to ask any question at all that comes to mind - if it isn't clear to you, it probably isn't clear to others - and there is no reason for any of you to be wondering about something that I might clear up.
我们有各类年报、审计报告、中期报告、招股书代理材料等等适用于我们的控股持股并且我们很乐意提供给你需要的任何一项。我也征求你的书面问题，我会将这些问题和答案在年底前简短地寄送给所有合伙人。不要犹豫问任何你脑海中的问题——如果你没搞明白，和有可能其他人也不明白——没有任何理由让你们中任何人在思考那些我可以说清楚的事情。
DRC and B-H presently pay no dividends and will probably pay either no dividends or very modest dividends for some years to come. There are a number of reasons for this. Both parent companies have borrowed money - we want to maintain a good level of protection for depositors at the bank and policyholders at the insurance comany - some of the operating companies have very satisfactory ways to utilize additional capital - and we are hopeful of finding new businesses to both diversify and augment our earning power.
百货零售公司和伯克希尔哈撒韦现在没有付任何分红并且在接下来一些年也将或许不会支付任何分红或者非常微乎其微的分红。这有很多原因。两家母公司都有借款——我们希望能较高水平保护银行的储户和保险公司的投保人——这些运营公司有很令人满意的方式去利用这些额外的资金——我们希望找到新业务来丰富和加强我们的盈利能力。
My personal opinion is that the intrinsic value of DRC and B-H will grow substantially over the years. While no one knows the future, I would be disappointed if such growth wasn't at a rate of approximately 10% per annum. Market prices for stocks fluctuate at great amplitudes around intrinsic value but, over the long term, intrinsic value is virtually always reflected at some point in market price. Thus, I think both securities should be very decent long-term holdings and I am happy to have a substantial portion of my net worth invested in them. You should be unconcerned about short-term price action when you own the securities directly, just as you were unconcerned when you owned them indirectly through BPL. I think about them as businesses, not "stocks", and if the business does all right over the long term, so will the stock.
我个人观点是百货零售公司和伯克希尔哈撒韦公司的内在价值经过很多年都会大幅增长。尽管没有人知道未来，但如果不是以每年大约10%的增长速度我将会有点失望。股票的市场价格会围绕内在价值大幅波动，但是，长期来看，内在价值差不多经常会在某点上在市场价格中反馈出来。因此，我认为这两只股票都会是相当长期的持股并且我很高兴把我净资产的大部分投资在这两家公司。当你直接持有这些股票时你不应该关心短期价格行为，就想当你过去通过巴菲特合伙基金间接持有时一样不关心。我把他们都看做生意，而不是“股票”，如果这个生意长期都做的很好，股票也会是这样。
I want to stress that I will not be in a managerial or partnership status with you regarding your future holdings of such securities. You will be free to do what you wish with your stock in the future and so, of course, will I. I think that there is a very high probability that I will maintain my investment in DRC and B-H for a very long period, but I want no implied moral commitment to do so nor do so nor do I wish to advise others over an indefinite future period regarding their holdings. The companies, of course, will keep all shareholders advised of their activities and you will receive reports as issued by them, probably on a semi-annual basis. Should I continue to hold the securities, as I fully expect to do, my degree of involvement in their activites may vary depending upon my other interests. The odds are that I will take an important position on matters of policy, but I want no moral obligation to be other than a passive shareholder, should my interests develop somewhere.
我想强调说在你未来持有这些股票时我不会处于你们的管理或者合伙的角色。在未来关于你的股票你将自行去做你想做的，当然我也会。我认为有很大可能我会保持我在百货零售公司和伯克希尔哈撒韦的投资很长时间，但是我不想有潜在的道德承诺去做这样或者不这样做或者希望在未来不确定的时段对其他人持股情况提供建议。这些公司，当然，将保持股东熟悉他们的活动，并且你将收到发布的报告，或许每半年这样。当我继续持有这些股票，如我充分希望的那样，我在他们的运行中参与度将取决于我在其他的兴趣上而有不同。有可能我将在政策上有重要的位置，但是我不想比一个被动消极的股东更多道德责任，我的兴趣在别的方面发展。
20.from scratch：从零开始；从头开始；白手起家
21.solicit：恳求；征求
22.hesitate：犹豫；迟疑不决；疑虑；顾虑
23.depositor：储户；存户
24.policyholder：保单持有人；投保人；保险客户
25.augment：增强；加强；扩大
26.managerial：管理的；经理的
27.implied：不言而喻的；暗示的；含蓄的
28.odds：几率；可能性；机会
29.obligation：（已承诺的或法律规定的）义务；责任；职责
