英文早读第39篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。
BUFFETT PARTNERSHIP, LTD.
810 KIEWIT PLAZA
OMAHA 31, NEBRASKA
January 18, 1963
巴菲特合伙公司
基伟特广场810室
内布拉斯加州奥马哈市31区
1963年1月18日
The Ground Rules
基本准则
Some partners have confessed (that's the proper word) that they sometimes find it difficult to wade through my entire annual letter. Since I seem to be getting more long-winded each year, I have decided to emphasize certain axioms on the first pages. Everyone should be entirely clear on these points. To most of you this material will seem unduly repetitious, but I would rather have nine partners of ten mildly bored than have one out of ten with any basic misconceptions.
有些合伙人已经坦白了（这个词是合适的）他们有时候发现通篇读完我的年度信是困难的。同时我似乎每年变得越来越长篇大论。我决定在前几页先着重讲一些基本定理。每个人都应该对这些点完全明白。对你们大多数来说这似乎过于重复，但是我更希望十个人中有9个投资者感到无聊而不是仍有1个人有任何基本观念地误解。
1.In no sense is any rate of return guaranteed to partners. Partners who withdraw one-half of 1% monthly are doing just that--withdrawing. If we earn more than 6% per annum over a period of years, the withdrawls will be covered by earnings and the principal will increase. If we don't earn 6%, the monthly payments are partially or wholly a return of capital.
1.对投资人没有任何回报率的承诺。那些每月取现0.5%的合伙人仅仅就是在取现。如果我们一些年每年赚取超过6%，这些取现将会被利润覆盖并且本金会增加。如果没有赚6%，月度支付将会部分或全部是本金的返还。
2.Any year in which we fail to achieve at least a plus 6% performance will be followed by a year when partners receiving monthly payments will find those payments lowered.
2.任何一年我们表现没有达到6%，来年合伙人收取的月度支付将会发现降低了。
3.Whenever we talk of yearly gains or losses, we are talking about market values; that is, how we stand with assets valued at market at yearend against how we stood on the same basis at the beginning of the year. This may bear very little relationship to the realized results for tax purposes in a given year.
3.无论什么时候我们讨论年度盈利或亏损，我们都是在讨论市值。也就是说，我们在年末在市场的资产评估价相比于年初同样方法的位置。这里只有微乎其微的和以实现价值的联系，而这是为了这一年的税务处理。
4.Whether we do a good job or a poor job is not to be measured by whether we are plus or minus for the year. It is instead to be measured against the general experience in securities as measured by the Dow-Jones Industrial Average, leading investment companies, etc. If our record is better than that of these yardsticks, we consider it a good year whether we are plus or minus. If we do poorer, we deserve the tomatoes.
4.无论我们做的好或者差，工作都不是由这一年是赚是亏来衡量的。取而代之的是相比于股票一般表现像道琼斯工业指数，领先的投资工资等等来衡量。如果我们的记录比这些标杆更好，我们认为这是好的一年，无论我们是赚是亏。如果我们做的更差，我们也应该被扔西红柿。
5.While I much prefer a five-year test, I feel three years is an absolute minimum for judging performance. It is a certainty that we will have years when the partnership performance is poorer, perhaps substantially so, than the Dow. If any three-year or longer period produces poor results, we all should start looking around for other places to have our money. An exception to the latter statement would be three years covering a speculative explosion in a bull market.
5.尽管我更期望是5年期的测试，我感觉3年也是最少的年份来判断表现。毫无疑问我们会在一些年份合伙基金表现更差，甚至相当差，相比于道琼斯指数。如果任何一个3年期或者更长的时期我们也更差，我们都应该寻找其他地方去放置我们的钱。后面这种情况有个例外就是这三年都是牛市投机性的爆炸上涨。
6.I am not in the business of predicting general stock market or business fluctuations. If you think I can do this, or think it is essential to an investment program, you should not be in the partnership.
6.我不会预测大盘市场或者商业波动。如果你认为我可以做到，或者认为这对于投资项目是必需的，你不应该在我们的投资基金里。
7.I cannot promise results to partners. What I can and do promise is that:
a.Our investments will be chosen on the basis of value, not popularity;
b.That we will attempt to bring risk of permanent capital loss (not short-term quotational loss) to an absolute minimum by obtaining a wide margin of safety in each commitment and a diversity of commitments; and
c.My wife, children and I will have virtually our entire net worth invested in the partnership.
7.我不能对合伙人承诺结果，我所能承诺的是：
a.我们的投资将会基于价值来选择，而不是热度；
b.我们试图将永久资金损失（不是短期的浮亏）带到绝对最低限度通过在每一笔交易中获得大幅的安全边界和多样的投资
c.同时，我的妻子，孩子和我会将我们几乎全部净资产投资到合伙基金。
1.confess：承认（自己感到羞愧或尴尬的事）；坦白（错误或罪行）；供认；悔过
2.wade：跋涉；蹚
3.wade through：涉水通过；艰难地处理；费力地阅读
4.long-winded：长篇大论的；罗嗦的；唠唠叨叨的
5.axiom：公理
6.unduly：过分；过度地
7.no sense：不必；毫无意义；没道理
8.principal：本金；当事人；委托人；资本；院长；校长；主要的
9.speculative：投机的；试探性的；风险性的；猜测的
