经济学人讣告 | 杨百万:第一个吃螃蟹的人
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导读
思维导图
Qianna,对语言有点敏感,对逻辑十分执拗,对摇滚太过着迷
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
How to eat a crab
杨百万:第一个吃螃蟹的人
英文部分选自经济学人20210724期讣告版块
How to eat a crab
YangHuaiding died on June 13th
杨百万:第一个吃螃蟹的人
China’s “first shareholder”, known as “Yang Millions”, was 70
杨怀定(人称“杨百万”、“中国股民第一人”)于2021年6月13日驾鹤西去,享年70岁。
If you had been riding on one of China’s crammed, rickety green trains in 1989, bouncing in a hard-seat carriage, you might have noticed Yang Huaiding sitting nearby. Or you might not. He had taken pains not to stand out, wearing drab clothes and carrying a faded mock-leather travel bag. The black-rimmed glasses, messy hair and stained teeth were his customary look. If he was smoking more than usual, and wiping more sweat, it was because in the bag, layered in newspaper, he had thousands of yuan in ten-yuan notes. He needed a police escort and, at times, he hired one.
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如果你也曾在1989年乘坐过中国拥挤的绿皮火车,坐在硬座车厢里随着颠簸的火车上下摇晃,你也许会发现杨怀定就坐在你的身边(也许不会发现)。他穿着土黄色的衣服,带着一个褪了色的仿皮旅行包,竭力不让自己看着太显眼。一副黑框眼镜、蓬乱的头发、一口牙渍,这是他惯常的形象。如果他使劲抽烟、不停地擦汗,那是因为在他的包里,在一层一层报纸包裹下,藏着十元大钞堆起来的数千元钱。他需要有人保护,有时候会雇人。
注释:
carriage:火车客车车厢
He was travelling to Hefei, in Anhui province, from Shanghai, his hometown, to buy Chinese government bonds. In 1988 the Communist regime, needing to rebuild the economy and shore up its state-owned enterprises, had decided in a limited way to let the public become investors. Bonds could be freely traded, at first, in only seven cities. But Shanghai and Hefei, two of the seven, were only a night’s train ride apart. And Mr Yang had learned, from intense scouring of local papers in the public library, that bonds priced at 94 yuan in relatively poor Anhui, where collective farmers were getting them as part of their wages, were selling at quite a bit more in Shanghai. Hence the travel-bag, containing (since he had no chequebook) a large wodge of his savings.
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他正从家乡上海前往安徽合肥购买国库券。1988年,为了振兴经济、支持国有企业,中国政府有限度地对大众开放了投资。国库券最初只能够在7个城市进行自由交易,上海和合肥正是其中的两个,且只有一夜火车的距离。杨怀定在公立图书馆查阅了大量的本地报纸,了解到在相对贫困的安徽,集体所有制下农民的一部分工资就是以国库券的形式发放的。安徽国库券的价格是94元,而上海的价格要高不少。于是,他便带上旅行包上路了,包里的钱是他绝大部分的储蓄(因为他没有支票簿)。
注释:
shore up:
1 : to support (something) or keep (something) from falling by placing something under or against it They shored up the roof/wall.
2 : to support or help (something) The tax cuts are supposed to shore up the economy.
He was the first man in China to do long-distance bulk trading in government bonds, making a million yuan by it, his first “bucket of gold”. And he had also been the first to buy them. Most others were wary, even afraid, of this bizarre capitalist venture, but he was not. He liked the old saying that the first man to suppose a crab might be edible was either very forward-looking or very hungry. He was both, and later, when he had become a famous name in investing, his business card declared: “Learn from those who have the courage to eat crab...and make friends with them!”
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杨怀定是大规模、长距离国库券交易的中国第一人,从中获利百万元,掘到了“第一桶金”。他也是第一批购买国库券的人。其他许多人都对这项陌生且带有资本主义色彩的投资持谨慎态度,甚至感到害怕,但是他没有。他喜欢那句老话,第一个吃螃蟹的人要么非常有前瞻性、要么就是饿坏了,而他两点兼具。投资成名之后,他的名片上印着:“向有勇气吃螃蟹的人学习,和他们交朋友!”
On April 21st 1988, therefore, he had been at the doors as the bond sale started, with 20,000 yuan (then $5,400) saved from his job as a warehouse-keeper at the Shanghai Ferroalloy Factory and from his wife’s business ventures on the side. That morning he put his money into a single bond; in the afternoon he sold it at a profit of 800 yuan, or more than his annual salary. He was hooked. When in 1990 the government ordered trading to be done through two national stock exchanges, he sailed into the Shanghai securities market as if born to it. His first purchase was 2,000 shares in a maker of television tubes, bought for 100 yuan each and sold in six months for more than 800. Another bucket of gold. He had long since given up the factory for a private trading room in an investment firm where, fortified by giant tea-jars and countless Double Happiness cigarettes, he watched and played the market all day.
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因此,1988年4月21日国库券开始销售时,杨怀定已经怀揣2万人民币(按当时的汇率是5400美元)站到了银行门口等开门了。那时,杨怀定在上海铁合金厂当仓库管理员,妻子兼职做生意,这2万元是从他的工资和妻子做生意的收益里攒下来的。那天早上,杨怀定将钱都投在了一种国库券上,当天下午卖出时赚了800元,比他一年的工资收入还多。杨怀定对这种赚钱方式着了迷。1990年,政府下令通过两家国家证券交易所开展证券交易,当时的他一头扎进了上海证券市场,好像天生就是个炒股的料。他的第一笔交易是一家电视显像管制造商的股票,以每股100元的价格买入了2000股,6个月后以每股800多元的价格卖出,又赚了一桶金。当时,杨怀定早已从铁合金厂辞职,在一家投资公司找了间私人交易室。他整天呆在交易室里,用大茶壶解困,一支接一支地抽着红双喜香烟提神,紧盯股市行情,开展股票交易。
By now his name was Yang Baiwan, Millions Yang, and crowds of eager Chinese punters jostled to follow his example. If a warehouse-keeper with only an elementary education, living in a one-room flat, could make such a fortune in the markets, so could they. They hung on his advice, besieging him in the street and at his office door in lunch-breaks, clamouring for tips. He had plenty: “When the front of the exchange is full of bicycles, sell.” “The only money you really have is in your pocket.” “Hunt the bottom, avoid the top.” He wrote five books, gave lectures, and in 1993—when the Shanghai market got too frothy, and he prudently dumped his stock when the index hit 1,500, thereby missing the inevitable crash—was hired as a professor. Though institutional investors rapidly took over from amateur traders, China’s leap to becoming the world’s second-largest stockmarket was largely spurred by people like him.
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此时,杨怀定已成了“杨百万”,众多跃跃欲试的中国股民想要炮制他的神话。他们觉得如果一个仅受过初等教育、家里只有一间房的仓库管理员可以在股市赚这么多钱,那他们也可以。股民们特别想听取杨怀定的建议,中午休市时会在大街上或他的办公室门口将他团团围住,请他给些提示。杨怀定给出了很多建议:“交易所门口停满自行车的时候,把股票抛了。”“钱落袋为安。”“高抛低吸。”他出了五本书,做了多场演讲。1993年,上海股市出现了巨大泡沫,杨怀定在上证指数达到1500点时明智地抛售了手里的股票,躲过了一场不可避免的股市暴跌;同年,他被聘为教授。尽管机构投资者很快替代了散户,但是中国能一跃成为世界第二大证券交易市场,像杨怀定这样的人功不可没。
Wealth did not seem to change him much. After his first windfall he treated himself to some fancy foreign cigarettes and shared them round the factory. He bought a sharp suit or two. But a polo shirt or an anorak was more his style, and he carried on living for some time with his wife and son in the one-room flat where, early on, he had spread out his profits in bundles all over the bed.
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财富似乎并没有让杨怀定改变多少。他赚到第一桶金后,给自己买了些进口好烟,和工厂同事们一起抽。他还买了一两件时髦的西装,但他更喜欢穿POLO衫或者带帽夹克。他和妻儿继续在只有一间房的家里住了一段时间。在炒国债和股票的早期,他把一扎一扎的钱都铺在家里的床上。
His fans called him the Stock God, riding the markets like a rip tide or striding boldly through its ravening flames. He viewed it more like ordinary life (his entire life), with many downs as well as ups. A chunky set of worry beads was also on his desk. When in 2007 on state tv he recommended PetroChina stocks, which then dived, he vowed not to give his tips so casually again. When some people complained, as they loudly did, that his Millions Software didn’t work and that his investment system made them no money, he shrugged. It was no good treating the market like a casino. You had to study it constantly, the companies, the conditions, the mood, before you jumped.
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他的粉丝称呼他为股神,是股票市场的弄潮儿,烈火不侵。他认为股票市场更像是寻常人生(他的整个一生),有许多起起伏伏。他桌子上还放了一大串忘忧珠。2007年,他在中央电视台推荐了中石油的股票,然后该股票暴跌,他发誓从此不会再如此随意地给建议。一些人大声抱怨杨怀定的“杨百万炒股软件”没有用,他的投资系统没让他们赚到钱;杨怀定听了这些话,耸了耸肩。把股票市场当做赌场是无益的。你在投身其中之前,就要持续不断地学习,研究里面的公司、投资环境以及股市的氛围。
He also closely watched what the government was doing. His big break in 1988 had come from a surprising change of policy. Another might come in the very next communiqué out of a plenary session of the Central Committee. And he wanted to be double-sure his rampant capitalist doings stayed within Communist rules. Now he fretted that what he was doing, urging on the economy by buying cheap and selling dear, was profiteering and therefore a crime. Among his many firsts was the first voluntary trip by a Chinese man to a tax office (his father had worked in one), to ask whether he owed any tax on his bond sales.The sweet answer was no.
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同时,他密切关注政府的动向。他在1988年的第一桶金就得益于政策的突然转向,另一桶应该来自于中央委员会全体会议后的一张公报。他想百分之百确定自己大胆的资本主义行为符合社会主义规章制度。现在,他担心他所做的通过低买高卖推动经济的行为是投机倒把,是犯罪。在他的众多第一中,他还是中国第一个自愿主动到税务部门(他的爸爸曾经在税务部门工作过)咨询自己的证券交易过程是否要交税的人。(税务部门)的回答让他很开心:不需要。
In fact, he was fairly sure he was a hero of the people. Chinese state tv said as much in 1998, when he was named “Man of the 20th Anniversary . And he made the case himself. The revolution’s goal, he said, was to make people rich, and that was what a stockmarket did. It was a socialist university of finance without walls; anyone could play it, learn from it and become as rich as he was, or richer. He had set the example, picked up the crab, boiled it, cracked it open and feasted. Then all China had shared it and immediately decided that they loved it, too.
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事实上,他相当确定自己是一个人民英雄。1998年,中央电视台把他评为“二十年风云人物”时也同样这么形容他。这个称号是他自己挣来的。他说,改革的目的是让人民变得富裕,而开放股票市场正是在实现这一目标。股票市场是一所没有围墙的社会主义金融大学,任何人都可以参与进来,从中学习,然后变得像他一样富有,甚至超越他。他树立了一个榜样,拿起了螃蟹,煮熟掰开,大快朵颐,然后整个中国都尝到了甜头,并立刻爱上了这道美味。
翻译组:
Alex,不务正业的理工男
Vicky,少儿英语老师+笔译新人
Diamond,男,搬砖工,理工科永久性脑损伤,学习翻译的小学生
校对组:
Lee,爱骑行的妇女之友+Timberland粉
Nikolae,新手人民教师,声优探索者,乃木坂47与AKB49
Rachel,学理工科,爱跳芭蕾,热爱文艺的非典型翻译(年年备战一口)
感谢其他平台编辑作者:
B站地址:
https://space.bilibili.com/522030734
编辑:Daisy,勤勤恳恳工具人,B站客服的好朋友
知乎地址:
zhihu.com/people/damon0922
编辑:jill,会展经济,想跨界英专的英语学渣
微博地址:
https://weibo.com/u/2375202237
编辑:Erin,在校大学生一枚,TE爱好者
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观点|评论|思考
本次感想
Kemay,决心练好笔译的未来口译员
作为一个从未接触过股票市场的外语专业学生党来写本文感想非常诚惶诚恐。想到自己之前买的一大堆教育类基金,甚至不忍打开支付宝看自己的每日收益。这篇感想更多是从一个普通非金融专业学生的视角,来分享一下当代青年学子眼中的股票市场。如果您已是股市老手请跳过这篇感想,或者当看一乐呵。
最初了解股票还是小学的时候,父母上班时不能盯股票,我便挑起了大梁,时刻(在游戏的间隙)紧盯(瞄一眼)父母交代的几只股票,准确报出密密麻麻的数字。当然,这并不是一个少年自此成长为理财高手的励志故事,直到今日我对股票的认识还是“喜红不见绿”。只记得当时在家里卖掉老房子后,父母在买套房和投资股市中选择了后者,而那一年是2007年,后来可不就2008了嘛。再后来,再次接触股市是大学辅修金融《资产投资》课堂上,老师让我们操作模拟股票软件。我早就听说我们学校有一位老师上世纪末靠股票赚了几百万,一直以为任课老师就是那个传奇,所以认真听讲,想要复制神话。但奇怪的是老师每节课都会用一半的时间来劝戒大家,年轻人不要轻易炒股。后来遇到一个金融专业的学姐,向其询问缘由,学姐答道,同一时间段还有一位老师炒股赔了两套房呢,教这门课的是赔了的那位。虽然没有证据,但是我觉得学校这样安排肯定另有深意。(据传那位传奇老师赚钱后就辞职了,开了几家医院)
上了研究生以来认识了一些很有经济头脑的伙伴,其中一个股票基金赚的都很溜的是一位国关专业学生。在去年我只知道在网上买口罩酒精的时候,对方在分析医疗和食品的基金股票(她推荐的基金收益率70%+);今年五月我们一起听一个线上的教育改革学术会议,回来她就说教育类基金卖一卖(但是我并没有在意)。这大概就是文中提到的“前瞻性”,换句话说是“一叶知秋”“究其本质”的能力。
我个人是很少相信“born for it”这种论调的。我们很多人想要复制股神奇迹,又想逃避付出相应的精力,单纯把失败的原因归在缺乏运气和勇气上。这就好比我们看到一个因为缺少食物的濒死之人,却一口咬定他的死是因为他没有精神追求一样荒谬。对最基础的具体避而不谈,却聚焦于上层的抽象。
当然,我不否认勇气和运气的因素,如果你和我一样,是个积蓄不多又对时事知之甚少,对大政方针缺乏分析,也觉得自己确实没什么勇气和运气的人,不妨将精力聚焦在自己所必须要做的基础具体上,也并非所有人都要成为炒股大军中的一员。如果你想做尝试,不妨遵循那句老话“别把鸡蛋放在同一个篮子里”,虽然难以盆满钵满,但也大概率不会血本无归。
最后,因为时代的变迁,股神的投资奇迹或许难以复制,但是股神专注、前瞻的精神却值得各行各业的我们学习。