《股票作手回忆录·第十四章·游戏永不变·人性永不变》第22节
Cotton, of which I was long fifteen thousand bales, bought in the last half hour of the trading the previous afternoon, opened down five hundred points. Some break! It meant an overnight loss of three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. While it was perfectly clear that the only wise play in stocks and wheat was to cover on the break I was not so clear as to what I ought to do in cotton. There were various things to consider, and while I always take my loss the moment I am convinced I am wrong, I did not like to take that loss that morning. Then I reflected that I had gone South to have a good time fishing instead of perplexing myself over the course of the cotton market. And, moreover, I had taken such big profits in my wheat and in stocks that I decided to take my loss in cotton. I would figure that my profit had been a little more than one million instead of over a million and a half. It was all a matter of bookkeeping, as promoters are apt to tell you when you ask too many questions.
注释摘要
这一段集中展现了利弗莫尔投机生涯中一次极具戏剧性的打击，也把他作为一个有血有肉的人的弱点暴露得非常真实。我们先来还原当时的历史背景。他提到的“Unrestricted Warfare note”，指的是1917年1月31日德国政府向美国发出的无限制潜艇战照会，宣布德国潜艇将不加警告地攻击所有驶向英国和爱尔兰水域的船只，包括中立国商船。这个消息彻底打破了美国…