英文早读第221篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
That combination - the inflation rate plus the percentage of capital that must be paid by the owner to transfer into his own pocket the annual earnings achieved by the business (i.e., ordinary income tax on dividends and capital gains tax on retained earnings) - can be thought of as an "investor's misery index". When this index exceeds the rate of return earned on equity by the business, the investor's purchasing power (real capital) shrinks even though he consumes nothing at all. We have no corporate solution to this problem; high inflation rates will not help us earn higher rates of return on equity.
通货膨胀率加上持有人在将业务实现的年度利润放到自己钱包时必须支付的资金比例（例如分红的一般收入个税和留存利润的资本利得税）结合在一起，可以被看作“投资者麻烦指数”。当这个指数超过业务赚取的资本回报率，投资者的购买力（真正的资金）会缩水，即使他什么都没有消费。我们对这个问题没有方案，高的通货膨胀率不会帮助我们砖砌高的资金回报率。
Our friendly but sharp-eyed commentator on Berkshire has pointed out that our book value at the end of 1964 would have bought about one-half ounce of gold and, fifteen years later, after we have plowed back all earnings with much blood, sweet and tears, the book value produced will buy about the same half ounce. A similar comparison could be drawn with Middle Eastern oil. The rub has been that government has been exceptionally able in printing money and creating promises, but is unable to print gold or create oil.
我们那位友好但是目光犀利的关于伯克希尔的评论员指出我们在1964年末的账面利润可以购买大约0.5盎司黄金，15年后，在我们付出很多酸甜苦辣心酸汗水后积累的所有利润，产生的账面价值将可以购买大约同样0.5盎司。通过对比中东石油也会得到相似的结论。问题一直是政府尤其有能力印钱和承诺，但是不会印黄金或生产石油。
We intend to continue to do as well as we can in managing the internal affairs of the business. But you should understand that external conditions affecting the stability of currency may very well be the most important factor in determining whether there are any real rewards from your investment in Berkshire Hathaway.
我们试图继续在业务内部事务管理做到我们能做的那样好。但是你应该理解影响货币稳定性的外部因素在决定你在伯克希尔哈撒韦的投资是否有任何真正回报上同样是最重要的因素。
Sources of Earnings
利润来源
We again present a table showing the sources of Berkshire's earnings. As explained last year, Berkshire owns about 60% of Blue Chip Stamps which, in turn, owns 80% of Wesco Financial Corporation. The table shows both aggregate earnings of the various business entities, as well as Berkshire's share. All of the significant capital gains or losses attributable to any of the business entities are aggregated in the realized securities gain figure at the bottom of the table, and are not included in operating earnings.
我们再一次呈现一个表格来展示伯克希尔利润的来源。如同去年解释的，伯克希尔持有蓝芯票证大约60%股份，相应的持有威斯克金融公司80%股份。这个表格展示了这些不同公司的整体利润，以及伯克希尔股份对应的利润。所有对公司盈亏有重要因素都涵盖在了表格底部的已结算股票盈利数据中，将不会包含在运营利润中。
20.ordinary：普通的；一般的；平凡的；平常的
21.misery：痛苦；悲惨
22.sharp-eyed：目光敏锐的
23.commentator：评论员
24.rub：摩擦；擦；问题；困难
