《股票作手回忆录·第三章·初到纽约·对赌行的赢法为何失灵》第4节
I didn’t explain to you how natural it was for me to trade there exactly as I had done in the bucket shops, where all I did was to bet on fluctuations and catch small but sure changes in prices. Nobody offered to point out the essential differences or set me right. If somebody had told me my method would not work I nevertheless would have tried it out to make sure for myself, for when I am wrong only one thing convinces me of it, and that is, to lose money. And I am only right when I make money. That is speculating. They were having some pretty lively times those days and the market was very active. That always cheers up a fellow. I felt at home right away. There was the old familiar quotation board in front of me, talking a language that I had learned before I was fifteen years old. There was a boy doing exactly the same thing I used to do in the first office I ever worked in. There were the customers--same old bunch--looking at the board or standing by the ticket calling out the prices and talking about the market. The machinery was to all appearances the same machinery that I was used to. The atmosphere was the atmosphere I had breathed since I had made my first stock-market money--$3.12 in Burlington. The same kind of ticker and the same kind of traders, therefore the same kind of game. And remember, I was only twenty-two. I suppose I thought I knew the game from A to Z. Why shouldn’t I?
注释摘要
这段独白揭示了一个年轻投机者在认知转型期的典型困境。利弗莫尔描述的，是他在正规纽约证券交易所经纪行第一次交易时的心理状态，这种状态建立在一种危险的错觉之上：他以为搬家只是换个地方，却不知道整个游戏的底层规则已经完全改变。 要理解他的困惑，先得明白两样东西。一是“对赌行”，它在1900年前后遍布美国各地，是一种非法的、空壳化的赌场。顾客的钱并不真正进入交易所…