《股票作手回忆录·第一章·少年与行情板》第12节
But when the Cosmopolitan tacked on that premium they were hitting below the belt. It meant that if the price was 90 when I bought, instead of making my ticket: “Bot Steel at 90⅛,” it read: “Bot Steel at 91⅛.” Why, that stock could advance a point and a quarter after I bought it and I’d still be losing money if I closed the trade. And by also insisting that I put up a three-point margin at the very start they reduced my trading capacity by two-thirds. Still, that was the only bucket shop that would take my business at all, and I had to accept their terms or quit trading. Of course I had my ups and downs, but was a winner on balance. However, the Cosmopolitan people were not satisfied with the awful handicap they had tacked on me, which should have been enough to beat anybody. They tried to double-cross me. They didn’t get me. I escaped because of one of my hunches. The Cosmopolitan, as I said, was my last resort. It was the richest bucket shop in New England, and as a rule they put no limit on a trade. I think I was the heaviest individual trader they had--that is, of the steady, every-day customers. They had a fine office and the largest and completest quotation board I have ever seen anywhere. It ran along the whole length of the big room and every imaginable thing was quoted. I mean stocks dealt in on the New York and Boston Stock Exchanges, cotton, wheat, provisions, metals--everything that was bought and sold in New York, Chicago, Boston and Liverpool.
注释摘要
要理解这段，我们得先看清 Cosmopolitan 这家对赌行到底对利文斯顿使了什么绊子。对赌行在 1900 年前后的美国几乎就是一种合法化的赌场，它不真的替客户买卖股票，而是跟客户对赌：你买涨，它就赌你输。正常交易里，你买入股票后，成交价是按行情纸带上打出的最近一笔真实成交价来算的，通常比报价多个八分之一点的零头。但 Cosmopolitan 给利文斯顿…