《股票作手回忆录·第十二章·棉花惨败·被专家说服》第13节
I have told you this story in such detail because it concerned a remarkable man who made me buy what I did not wish to buy. He was the first man who did that to me. There never should have been a second, but there was. You can never bank on there being but one remarkable salesman in the world or on complete immunization from the influence of personality. When Percy Thomas left my office, after I had pleasantly but definitely declined to enter into a working alliance with him, I would have sworn that our business paths would never cross. I was not sure I’d ever see him again. But on the very next day he wrote me a letter thanking me for my offers of help and inviting me to come and see him. I answered that I would. He wrote again. I called. I got to see a great deal of him. It was always a pleasure for me to listen to him, he knew so much and he expressed his knowledge so interestingly. I think he is the most magnetic man I ever met. We talked of many things, for he is a widely read man with an amazing grasp of many subjects and a remarkable gift for interesting generalization. The wisdom of his speech is impressive; and as for plausibility, he hasn’t an equal. I have heard many people accuse Percy Thomas of many things, including insincerity, but I sometimes wonder if his remarkable plausibility does not come from the fact that he first convinces himself so thoroughly as to acquire thereby a greatly increased power to convince others.
注释摘要
这段文字是利弗莫尔整个投机生涯里最深刻的一堂心理课，但讽刺的是，这堂课的入场券不是他主动买的，而是被一个他根本不认识的推销员硬塞到手里的。 利弗莫尔在这节的开头特别说明，他之所以要把那位书店推销员的故事讲得这么详细，是因为这个人成功地让他买下了一套根本不想要、也完全不需要的《瓦尔特·司各特全集》，价值五百美元——在当年那是一笔相当可观的数目。而他之所以拿出…