英文早读第206篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
A second complication arising from the merger is that the 1977 figures shown in this report are different from the 1977 figures shown in the report we mailed to you last year. Accounting convention requires that when two entities such as Diversified and Berkshire are merged, all financial data subsequently must be presented as if the companies had been merged at the time they were formed rather than just recently. So the enclosed financial statements, in effect, pretend that in 1977 (and earlier years) the Diversified-Berkshire merger already had taken place, even though the actual merger date was December 30, 1978. This shifting base makes comparative commentary confusing and, from time to time in our narrative report, we will talk of figures and performance for Berkshire shareholders as historically reported to you rather than as restated after the Diversified merger.
第二个由于合并引起的复杂度是在这封报告中呈现的1977年数据与我们去年邮寄给你的报告中展现的数据不同。会计规则要求当两个类似百货零售公司和伯克希尔公司的实体合并时，所有的财务数据随后必须以假设他们在成立时就合并来呈现，然不是仅仅从最近开始。因此附录的财务报表，事实上，假设在1977年（和更早一些年份）百货零售与伯克希尔的合并已经发生，尽管实际的合并日期是1978年12月30日。这个转变使对比评价令人困惑，所以时不时在我们的叙事性报告中，我们将会按照过去报告给你的方式而不是在合并后重新编制的方式来为伯克希尔股东谈论数据和业绩。
With that preamble it can be stated that, with or without restated figures, 1978 was a good year. Operating earnings, exclusive of capital gains, at 19.4% of beginning shareholders' investment were within a fraction of our 1972 record. While we believe it is improper to include capital gains or losses in evaluating the performance of a single year, they are an important component of the longer term record. Because of such gains, Berkshire's long-term growth in equity per share has been greater than would be indicated by compounding the returns from operating earnings that we reported annually.
有了上述的前言，采用或不采用重申的数据，1978年都是不错的。营业利润，不包括资本增长，是初始股东投资的19.4%，与1972年的记录水平就差一点点。尽管我们相信在单一年份包含资本增长或损失来评估业绩是不合适的，但他们仍是长期记录的重要构成。因为这些增长，伯克希尔公司每股长期增长将会比通过我们年度报告的营业利润符合回报高的多。
For example, over the last three years - generally a bonanza period for the insurance industry, our largest profit producer - Berkshire's per share net worth virtually has doubled, thereby compounding at about 25% annually through a combination of good operating earnings and fairly substantial capital gains. Neither this 25% equity gain from all sources nor the 19.4% equity gain from operating earnings in 1978 is sustainable. The insurance cycle has turned downward in 1979, and it is almost certain that operating earnings measured by return on equity will fall this year. However, operating earnings measured in dollars are likely to increase on the much larger shareholders' equity now employed in the business.
例如，在过去三年，是我们最大的利润来源保险行业繁荣的时期，伯克希尔每股净值几乎翻倍，因此好的营业利润和相当大的资本增值在一起年度复合回报率大约为25%。这来自于所有来源的25%公司增长或者在1978年来自于营业利润增长的19.4%都不是可持续的。保险周期在1979年已经转为下降，几乎肯定这一年按资本回报衡量营业利润将会下跌。然而，按美元衡量营业利润可能会增长，因为大量股东资金现在被放到了这个业务上。
11.convention：公约；协定；协议
12.narrative：叙述的；叙事体的
13.preamble：序言；前言；开场白
14.restated：重申；重新表述
15.fraction：小部分；分数；小数
16.bonanza：富饶；兴盛；繁荣
17.sustainable：可持续的；合理利用的
