《股票作手回忆录·第十四章·游戏永不变·人性永不变》第6节
That was in substance what all my big creditors said. That is one side of Wall Street for you. It wasn’t merely careless good nature or sportsmanship. It was also a mighty intelligent decision, for it was clearly good business. I appreciated both the good will and the business gumption. These creditors gave me a release on debts amounting to over a million dollars. But there were the two minor creditors who wouldn’t sign off. One of them was the eight-hundred-dollar man I told you about. I also owed sixty thousand dollars to a brokerage firm which had gone into bankruptcy, and the receivers, who didn’t know me from Adam, were on my neck early and late. Even if they had been disposed to follow the example set by my largest creditors I don’t suppose the court would have let them sign off. At all events my schedule of bankruptcy amounted to only about one hundred thousand dollars; though, as I said, I owed well over a million. It was extremely disagreeable to see the story in the newspapers. I had always paid my debts in full and this new experience was most mortifying to me. I knew I’d pay off everybody some day if I lived, but everybody who read the article wouldn’t know it. I was ashamed to go out after I saw the report in the newspapers. But it all wore off presently and I cannot tell you how intense was my feeling of relief to know that I wasn’t going to be harried any more by people who didn’t understand how a man must give his entire mind to his business--if he wishes to succeed in stock speculation.
注释摘要
在这一段里，拉里·利文斯顿讲到了他处理债务时遇到的两种截然不同的债权人，而这段故事恰好把华尔街的一个侧面暴露得淋漓尽致。我们先看历史背景。利文斯顿说的“release”（债务豁免）在二十世纪初的美国是真实存在的程序，债权人签一份文件，声明放弃对某一笔债务的追索权。这和后来经由法院的正式破产清算不完全是一回事，它更多是一种私人契约。那些大债权人愿意签字放他一…