英文早读第188篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
Our efforts to expand Home and Automobile Insurance Company into Florida proved disastrous. The underwriting loss from operations in that market will come to over 2 million, a very large portion of which was realized in 1974. We made the decision to drop out of the Florida market in the middle of 1974, but losses in substantial amounts have continued since that time because of the term nature of insurance contracts, as well as adverse development of outstanding claims. We can't blame external insurance industry conditions for this mistake. In retrospect, it is apparent that our management simply did not have the underwriting information and the pricing knowledge neceaasry to be operating in the area. In Cook County, where Home and Auto's volume traditionally has been concentrated, evidence also became quite clear during 1974 that rates were inadequate. Therefore, rates were increased during the middle of the year but competition did not follow; consequently, our volume has dropped significantly in this area as competitors take business from us at prices that we regard as totally unrealistic.
我们努力扩张家庭和汽车保险公司业务到弗洛里达州证明是灾难性的。从那个市场的运营承保损失将超过200万美金，其中很大一部分是在1974年发生的。我们在1974年年中决定了从弗洛里达州市场退出，但是由于保险合同的期限性质大量的损失还在继续，同时未裁决的理赔也在不利进展。我们不能将这个错误责怪于外部保险行业的环境。回顾来看，很明显我们的管理团队根本没有运营这个区域必要的承保信息和定价知识。在库克郡，那是家庭和汽车保险公司业务量传统集中的市场，证据很清晰在1974年费率是不充足的。因此，费率在年中涨价了但是竞争并没有跟进；随后，我们的规模在这里大幅下跌而竞争对手以我们认为完全不现实的价格拿走了我们的生意。
While the tone of this section is pessimistic as to 1974 and 1975, we consider the insurance business to be inherently attractive. Our overall return on capital employed in this area - even including the poor results of 1974 - remains high. We have made every effort to be realistic in the calculation of loss and administrative expense. Because of accruals, this had a double effect at both the bank and corporate level in 1974.
尽管提到1974和1975年这一部分的预期是悲观的，我们仍认为保险业务有着固有吸引力。我们在这个领域所用资金的整体回报率仍然较高，甚至包括1974年糟糕的结果。我们已经竭尽全力在赔付和行政费用的计算上切合实际。但由于应计项目的原因，这在1974年对银行和公司水平都有影响。
Under present money market conditions, we expect bank earnings to be down somewhat in 1975 although we believe they still are likely to compare favorably with those of practically any banking institution in the country.
在现在的资金市场环境下，我们预计银行利润在1975年会有些下滑尽管我们相信他们仍可能和国家其他任何银行机构相比更有优势一些。
28.retrospect：回顾；回想；追溯往事
29.tone：语气；声调；音调；口吻；风格
30.pessimistic：悲观的；悲观主义的
31.inherently：固有的
32.accrual：（投资的）累加；（利息的）自然累积
