英文早讀第27篇，選自巴菲特年度信，友才翻譯。
A Word About Par
關于標準
The outstanding item of importance in my selection of partners, as well as in my subsequent relations with them, has been the determination that we use the same yardstick. If my performance is poor, I expect partners to withdraw, and indeed, I should look for a new source of investment for my own funds. If performance is good, I am assured of doing splendidly, a state of affairs to which I am sure I can adjust.
在我選擇合伙人尤為重要的一點，也是在我之后同他們聯系中尤為重要的，是我們使用同樣的準繩。如果我們的表現差，我希望合伙人取回資金，當然，我也應該為我自己的資金尋找新的投資。如果表現是好的，我確定做的很好，我也確信我也可以適應這樣的狀態。
The rub, then, is in being sure that we all have the same ideas of what is good and what is poor. I believe in establishing yardsticks prior to the act; retrospectively, almost anything can be made to look good in relation to something or other.
問題在于，我們確信我們有同樣的對于是好事壞的想法。我相信建立準繩優先于行動；回顧過去，幾乎任何事都可以顯得相對一些事或另一些事更好。
I have continuously used the Dow-Jones Industrial Average as our measure of par. It is my feeling that three years is a very minimal test of performance, and the best test consists of a period at least that long where the terminal level of the Dow is reasonably close to the initial level.
我一直使用道瓊斯工業指數作為我們表現的標準。我感覺三年時很小的表現測試，最好的測試時常應該包含一段道瓊斯最終水平基本與初始水平一致的跨度。
While the Dow is not perfect (nor is anything else) as a measure of performance, it has the advantage of being widely known, has a long period of continuity, and reflects with reasonably accuracy the experience of investors generally with the market. I have no objection to any other method of measurement of general market performance being used, such as other stock market averages, leading diversified mutual stock funds, bank common trust funds, etc.
盡管道瓊斯指數做為表現的衡量方法不是完美的（任何別的也不是），但它的優勢包括廣為人知，長期持續，相對準確反應了投資者在股市的經歷。我對任何其它用來衡量股市表現的方法都不反對，例如其他股市指數，領先的分散共同股票基金，銀行一般信托基金等等。
You may feel I have established an unduly short yardstick in that it perhaps appears quite simple to do better than an unmanaged index of 30 leading common stocks. Actually, this index has generally proven to be a reasonably tough competitor. Arthur Wiesenberger's classic book on investment companies lists performance for the 15 years 1946-60, for all leading mutual funds. There is presently over 20 billion invested in mutual funds, so the experience of these funds represents, collectively, the experience of many million investors. My own belief, though the figures are not obtainable, is that portfolios of most leading investment counsel organizations and bank trust departments have achieved results similar to these mutual funds.
你或許感受到我建立了一個過于挫的尺碼，似乎打敗30個沒有被管理的領先的一般股票是很簡單的。事實上這個指數已經被證明是相當難搞的對手。亞瑟 文森伯格關于投資公司的代表書籍中列出了所有領先的共同基金在1946至1960這15年間的表現。現在大約有200億美金投資到共同基金，因此，總的來說，這些基金的經歷代表著數百萬投資者的經歷。我相信盡管數字無法獲得，大部分領先的投資咨詢機構和銀行信托部門取得的結果與這些共同基金類似。
Wiesenberger lists 70 funds in his "Charts & Statistics" with continuous records since 1946. I have excluded 32 of these funds for various reasons since they were balanced funds (therefore not participating fully in the general market rise), specialized industry funds, etc. Of the 32 excluded because I felt a comparison would not be fair, 31 did poorer than the Dow, so they were certainly not excluded to slant the conclusions below.
文森伯格在他的圖表與統計中列舉了70家基金從1946年間的連續記錄。我排除了其中的32家基金，因為各種原因，例如他們是平衡基金（因此不能完全參與到市場上漲），特定工業基金等等。這32家排除的基金我覺得拿來比較是不公平的，但是31家表現低于道瓊斯指數，因此他們當然不會排除在下面的結論中。
Of the remaining 38 mutual funds whose method of operation I felt was such as to make a comparision with the Dow reasonable, 32 did poorer than the Dow, and 6 did better. The 6 doing better at the end of 1960 had assets of about 1 billion, and the 32 doing poorer had assets of about 6-1/2 billion. None of the six that were superior beat the Dow by more than a few percentage points a year.
在這剩余的38家我認為他們的操作方法與道瓊斯指數比較是合理的基金中，32家表現低于道瓊斯指數，6家表現更好。這6家表現更好的基金在1960年末擁有資產大約10億美金，這32家表現更差的積極擁有資產大約65億美金。這6家中沒有一家明顯領先道瓊斯指數多個百分點。
Below I present the year-by-year results for our period of operation (excluding 1961 for which I don't have exact data, although rough figures indicate no variance from the 1957-60 figures) for the two largest common stock open-end investment companies (mutual funds) and the two largest closed-end investment companies:
下面我按年化結果從我們的運作期間（排除了1961年，因為我不知道具體的數據，盡管粗略數據表明同1957年到1960年間的數據沒有區別）呈現了兩家最大的一般股市開放投資公司（共同基金）和兩家最大的封閉式投資公司：
Massachusetts Investors Trust has net assets of about 1.8 billion; Investors Stock Fund about 1 billion; Tri-Continental Corporation about .5 billion; and Lehman Corporation about 350 million; or a total of over 3.5 billion.
馬薩諸塞投資者信托擁有凈資產大約18億美金；投資者股市基金大約10億美金；三大陸公司大約5億美金；雷曼公司大約3.5億美金；總計超過35億美金。
I do not present the above tabulations and information with the idea of indicting investment companies. My own record of investing such huge amounts of money, with restrictions on the degree of activity I might take in companies where we had investments, would be no better, if as good. I present this data to indicate the Dow as an investment competitor is no pushover, and the great bulk of investment funds in the country are going to have difficulty in bettering, or perhaps even matching, its performance.
我呈現上面的圖表和信息不是為了控告投資公司。投資如此大規模的資金，同時限制我在投資的公司中可能采取的行動，我的表現不會更好，甚至一樣好。我呈現這些數據是表明道瓊斯指數作為投資對手，不是容易被打敗的，國家大量的投資基金打敗，甚至媲美他的表現都是困難的。
Our portfolio is very different from that of the Dow. Our method of operation is substantially different from that of mutual funds.
我們的投資組合與道瓊斯指數構成非常不同。我們的操作方法也與那些共同基金差別巨大。
However, most partners, as all alternative to their investment in the partnership, would probably have their funds invested in a media producing results comparable to the Dow, therefore, I feel it is a fair test of performance.
然而，大部分合伙人完全有權切換他們的投資在這些合伙基金中，他們更希望他們的資金投資在表現相對道瓊斯指數更好的地方，因此我認為這是完全公平的對標。
6.subsequent：隨后的；之后的；后來的
7.yardstick：準繩；（好壞或成敗的）衡量標準；標尺
8.splendid：華麗的；壯麗的；壯觀的；豪華的；雄偉的；非常好的
9.rub：擦；摩擦（尤指引起疼痛的）；問題；困難
10.establish：建立；設立；確立；創立；使立足
11.retrospective：回顧的；涉及以往的
12.continuity：連續性；連接；一致性
13.diversified：多樣化的；分散經營的
14.unduly：過分；過度；不適當的
15.collectively：共同地；集體地；總的來說
16.counsel：顧問；勸告；忠告；建議
17.exclude：排除；把……排斥在外；防止……進入；不放在考慮之列
18.slant：傾斜；歪斜；有傾向性的陳述；有偏向的報道；斜面；歪斜的
19.tabulation：列表；造表
20.indict：起訴；控告
21.pushover：容易打敗的對手；容易做的事情
22.alternative：可供替代的；非傳統的；另類的
