《股票作手回忆录·第十二章·棉花惨败·被专家说服》第22节
After that, one after another of the fellows tried to coax the market to pay for that coat. One day I said I would buy it to keep the office from going broke. But they all said that it wasn’t a sporting thing to do; that if I wanted the coat for myself I ought to let the market give it to me. But Ed Harding strongly approved of my intention and that same afternoon I went to the furrier’s to buy it. I found out that a man from Chicago had bought it the week before. That was only one case. There isn’t a man in Wall Street who has not lost money trying to make the market pay for an automobile or a bracelet or a motor boat or a painting. I could build a huge hospital with the birthday presents that the tight-fisted stock market has refused to pay for. In fact, of all hoodoos in Wall Street I think the resolve to induce the stock market to act as a fairy godmother is the busiest and most persistent.
注释摘要
你看，利弗莫尔在这段话里用了一个让人哭笑不得的词来称呼市场：“神仙教母”。这真是个既贴切又辛辣的比喻。一个男人想买件貂皮大衣，他不去用自己的积蓄，不去盘算这个月的收入，反而坐到行情纸带前，在心里对着那个跳动的数字许愿，就好像那个冰冷的、由无数陌生人贪婪与恐惧交织而成的市场，真能像童话里的仙女一样，挥挥魔棒满足他的物欲。这种想法，在当时和现在看起来都同样荒谬…