巴菲特1979年度信（十二）。2025-03-07

英文早读第228篇，选自巴菲特年度信，友才翻译。

The very long-term bond contract has been the last major fixed price contract of extended duration still regularly initiated in an inflation-ridden world. The buyer of money to be used between 1980 and 2020 has been able to obtain a firm price now for each year of its use while the buyer of auto insurance, medical services, newsprint, office space - or just about any other product or service - would be greeted with laughter if he were to request a firm price now to apply through 1985. For in virtually all other areas of commerce, parties to long-term contracts now either index prices in some manner, or insist on the right to review the situation every year or so.
超长期债券已经成为在充满通胀的世界最后能发起的主要长期固定价格合约了。在1980年到2020年间这些资金借款人现在仍能够每年获得一个固定价格使用这些资金；而那些对汽车保险，医疗服务，印刷，办公空间，或者任何其它的产品或服务的购买方来说，如果他要求直到1985年都是一个固定价格将会被嘲笑。在几乎所有其它商业领域，会将长期合约要么按某种形式与指数挂钩，或者有权利大约每年评估情况。

A cultural lag has prevailed in the bond area. The buyers (borrowers) and middlemen (underwriters) of money hardly could be expected to raise the question of whether it all made sense, and the sellers (lenders) slept through an economic and contractual revolution.
在债券领域仍然存在文化滞后。资金借款人和中介几乎不会提出这个问题是否合理，而出资人却只能在经济和契约革命期间浑然不觉。

For the last few years our insurance companies have not been a net purchaser of any straight long-term bonds (those without conversion rights or other attributes offering profit possibilities). There have been some purchases in the straight bond area, of course, but they have been offset by sales or maturities. Even prior to this period, we never would buy thirty or forty-year bonds; instead we tried to concentrate in the straight bond area on shorter issues with sinking funds and on issues that seemed relatively undervalued because of bond market inefficiencies.
最近这些年，我们的保险公司不再是任何直销长期债券（那些没有可转换权或其它提供盈利可能性的）的净购买者。有一些在直销债券领域的购买，但当然，他们已经被出售或者到期抵消。甚至在这个时期之前，我们也不会购买三十或四十年的债券，作为替代，我们会尝试聚焦在短期直销债券领域使用沉睡资金，或在那些由于债券市场不充分而产生相对低估的标的上。

73.duration：持续时间；期间
74.ridden：充满（某种不良事物）的；满是……的
75.greet：打招呼；欢迎；迎接
76.laughter：笑声；笑