《股票作手回忆录·第六章·旧金山地震·做空联合太平洋》第4节
I walked over to a table where there were some blank order pads. My friend followed me. I wrote out an order to sell a thousand Union Pacific at the market and handed it to the manager. He was smiling when I wrote it and when he took it. But when he read the order he stopped smiling and looked at me. “Is this right?” he asked me. But I just looked at him and he rushed it over to the operator. “What are you doing?” asked my friend. “I’m selling it!” I told him. “Selling what?” he yelled at me. If he was a bull how could I be a bear? Something was wrong. “A thousand UP.,” I said. “Why?” he asked me in great excitement. I shook my head, meaning I had no reason. But he must have thought I’d got a tip, because he took me by the arm and led me outside into the hall, where we could be out of sight and hearing of the other customers and rubbering chairwarmers. “What did you hear?” he asked me. He was quite excited. UP. was one of his pets and he was bullish on it because of its earnings and its prospects. But he was willing to take a bear tip on it at second hand.
注释摘要
这段文字的戏剧张力，首先来自那个动作本身：在一张空白委托单上填下卖出指令。1906年的经纪行里，下单是一项公开的社交行为。你走到一张放着空白委托单的桌子前，拿起笔写下买卖品种和数量，所有人的目光都可以落在你的笔尖上。经理接过单子时的微笑，是职业性的、不加设防的——毕竟这一天行情走强，联合太平洋在涨，来度假的客户多半只是顺手买入一点，活跃一下账户。他低头读单…