英文早读第52篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。

Despite the relatively pleasant results of the first half the admonitions stated two paragraphs earlier hold in full force. At plus 14% versus plus 10% for the Dow, this six months has been a less satisfactory period than the first half of 1962 when we were minus 7.5% versus minus 21.7% for the Dow. You should completely understand our thinking in this regard which has been emphasized in previous letters.
尽管上半年度相对令人满意的结果，前两段声明的告诫仍然充满火力。+14%相比于道琼斯指数+10%，这六个月和1962年上半年同期的-7.5%相比于道琼斯指数-21.7%就比较不令人满意。你应该充分理解我们在这方面的想法，他在之前的信中已经强调过了。

During the first half we had an average net investment in "generals" (long positions in general minus short positions in generals) of approximately 5,275,000. Our overall gain from this net investment in generals (for a description of our investment categories see the last annual letter) was about 1,100,000 for a percentage gain from this category of roughly 21%. This again illustrates the extent to which the allocation of our resources among various categories affects short-term results. In 1962 the generals were down for the year and only an outstanding performance by both of the other two categories, "work-outs" and "controls," gave us our unusually favorable results for that year.
在上半年，我们在“一般类”范畴中的平均净投资（一般类买入仓减去卖出仓）大约527.5万美金。我们从这些一般类（对于投资范畴的描述看上一封年度信）净投资中的总收益大约110万美金，这一类百分比收益大约21%。这也说明了我们的资源在不同范畴的分配影响短期结果的程度。在1962年，一般类在这年是下跌的，仅仅剩下两类范畴，“套利类”和“控制类”的出色表现给了我们那一年不同寻常的令人满意的结果。

Now this year, our work-outs have done poorer than the Dow and have been a drag on performance, as they are expected to be in rising markets. While it would be very nice to be 100% in generals in advancing markets and 100% in work-outs in declining markets, I make on attempt to guess the course of the stock market in such a manner. We consider all three of our categories to be good business on a long-term basis, although their short-term price behavior characteristics differ substantially in various types of markets. We consider attempting to gauge stock market fluctuations to be a very poor business on a long-term basis and are not going to be in it, either directly or indirectly through the process of trying to guess which of our categories is likely to do best in the near future.
现在这一年，我们的套利类表现比道琼斯指出要差，已经成为我们表现的拖累，正如在上涨市场中所预期的一样。尽管在上涨市场一般类将会100%好，在下降市场套利类将会100%好，我也不会去尝试按这种方式股市的进展。我们认为所有这三种范畴在长期来看都是好的生意模式，尽管他们的短期价格行为特点在不同类型市场差别很大。我们认为尝试估算股市波动长期来看是差的生意模式，我们不会到这个领域，无论是直接的还是间接的，通过尝试猜测我们策略中的哪一种将会在未来表现最好。

Investment Companies
投资公司

Shown below are the usual statistics on a cumulative basis for the Dow and Buffett Partnership. Ltd. (including predecessor partnerships) as well as for the two largest open-end (mutual funds) and two largest closed-end investment companies following a diversified common-stock investment policy:
下面展示了按年累计的常规数据，有道琼斯指数和巴菲特合伙公司（包括前序的合伙基金），同样包括两家最大的开放式（共同基金）和两家最大的封闭投资公司，他们有着不同的股市投资策略：

The results continue to show that the most highly paid and respected investment advice has difficulty matching the performance of an unmanaged index of blue-chip stocks. This in no sense condemns these institutions or the investment advisers and trust departments whose methods, reasoning, and results largely parallel such investment companies. These media perform a substantial service to millions of investors in achieving adequate diversification, providing convenience and peace of mind, avoiding issues of inferior quality, etc. However, their services do not include (and in the great majority of cases, are not represented to include) the compounding of money at a rate greater than that achieved by the general market.
这个结果继续表明这些最高昂支付和尊重的投资建议在媲美不需要管理的蓝筹股指数表现上有些难度。批评这些机构或投资顾问和信托部门，他们的方法，推理和结果和这些投资公司很相似，是没有意义的。这些媒介扮演了重要的服务给百万计投资者，在实现充足的多样化，提供便捷和内心平静，避免低级质量等等。然而，他们的服务不包括（在绝大多数情况下不包括），资金以高于股市大盘的速度复合增长这条。

7.gauge：测量；判定；估计；估算；事实；依据；尺度；标准
8.cumulative：累积的；累计的；渐增的
9.predecessor：前任；原先的东西；被替代的事物
10.footnote：脚注
11.condemn：谴责；指责；判处；宣判；证明
12.adequate：足够的；充足的；合格的；合乎需要的

13. diversification：多元化；多样化；变化
    14.inferior：较差的；次的；较低的；级别低的