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Warren Buffett has done a lot of good for investors. That is why so much of the financial world is celebrating his half century as an owner of Berkshire Hathaway, the textile company he has transformed into a conglomerate like no other.
沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)让投资者受益巨大。这也是在巴菲特执掌伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)半个世纪之际金融界许多人对他赞不绝口的原因，因为巴菲特把这家纺织公司转变成为一家无可匹敌的综合企业。
But the Oracle of Omaha also has been a big help to dentists — and I would suggest that side of Mr Buffett merits consideration, too, as we take stock of the man who has made value investing a key canon of today’s capitalist creed.
但是，这位“奥马哈先知”(Oracle of Omaha)也极大地帮助了牙科医生——我认为，在我们盘点这位让价值投资成为如今资本主义经典信条的人物时，这也是他值得考虑的一面。
One of the more intriguing themes of Mr Buffett’s career has been his big bet on the enduring appeal of sugar — from cane or corn or other sources. Although his portfolio runs the gamut from banks and insurers to railroad, manufacturing and energy companies, it includes substantial holdings in candy, ice cream, chewing gum, soft drinks and the heavily sweetened condiment that is ketchup.
巴菲特投资生涯中比较耐人寻味的一个主题是，对糖的持久吸引力的大笔押注——从甘蔗到玉米再到炼糖的其他原料。尽管他的投资组合覆盖银行、保险、铁路、制造业和能源公司等各个领域，但还有很大一部分是对糖果、冰激凌、口香糖、软饮料以及番茄酱这类重甜味调味品公司的持股。
Mr Buffett flashed his financial sweet tooth in 1972 when he acquired See’s Candies for $25m. He has since been quoted as calling the California sweets maker a “dream business” because it can increase profits without much new capital and thereby throw off cash for other investments by Berkshire.
1972年，巴菲特以2500万美元收购了时思糖果(See’s Candies)，展现了他对投资糖果企业的金融胃口。从那之后，他称这家加州糖果制造商为“梦幻企业”的说法常被引用，而他之所以这样说，是因为它不需要很多新资本就可以提升利润，因此可以腾出现金用于伯克希尔的其他投资。
At last report, these also included interests in Coca-Cola, a sugary drinks maker; Wrigley, a chewing gum and confectionery concern; Heinz, the ketchup kings (at least in my house); as well as owning Dairy Queen, a self-described US-based purveyor of “crave-satisfying treats and food”, including its legendary soft-serve ice cream.
在最近一份投资报告中，巴菲特的“甜蜜”投资清单还包含对含糖饮料制造商可口可乐(Coca-Cola)的持股；口香糖和糖果公司箭牌(Wrigley)；番茄酱霸主（至少在我家是这样）亨氏(Heinz)；以及Dairy Queen——一家自述为提供“满足渴望的美食”（包括其传奇般的软冰激凌）的美国食品商。
From a public health standpoint, Mr Buffett could obviously find better things to do with his money. Sugar can be bad for people. Eating too much of it can help make them obese and raise the risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If you don’t brush your teeth promptly, as our mothers used to tell us, tooth decay can result.
从公众健康的角度来讲，巴菲特显然能够找到更好的投资选项。糖可能会对人的健康有害。吃糖过多可能会造成人们肥胖，增加患心脏病及2型糖尿病的风险。如果你不像妈妈过去常教导的那样及时刷牙，可能造成蛀牙。
But Mr Buffett has never really made it his business to change the world through new technologies, miracle cures or what have you. He has a social conscience as he is making clear by leaving most of his fortune to charity; but in allocating capital, he generally avoids the questions that the late Robert Kennedy used to raise on the campaign trail when he would say: “Some people see things as they are and say, why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?”
但是巴菲特从未以通过新技术、灵丹妙药或诸如此类的事物改变世界为己任。他有一颗社会公德心，他把大部分财富献给慈善的行动可以表明这一点；但在进行资本配置时，他通常会避免已故的罗伯特•肯尼迪(Robert Kennedy)曾在竞选造势时提出的问题——“有人看到已发生的事，问‘为什么’？而我梦想的是从未发生的事情，问‘为什么不呢’？”
Rather, Mr Buffett’s greatness — and anyone who has done something as well as he has for so long is great — has been defined by his acceptance of the world as he has found it.
相反，巴菲特的伟大——任何在如此长的时间里把某件事做得像他一样好的人都是伟大的——在于对他所发现的世界本来面目的接受。
He works within the context of the human condition, such as it is, and gives the people what they want, provided he feels that he can get away with it.
他在人类现实环境（尽管不尽如人意）以内工作，为人们提供他们想要的东西，只要他认为自己能够超然事外。
He is a crowd pleaser with a refined sense of crowd dynamics. The subtlety of his thinking can be discerned in the classic scene in the book Barbarians at the Gate in which Mr Buffett, then a director and leading shareholder of Salomon Brothers, is asked by John Gutfreund, the investment bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, about the wisdom of bidding for RJR Nabisco, the maker of cigarettes and snack foods.
他能够取悦大众，拥有对大众心态的精确感知。他思想的微妙之处，可以从《门口的野蛮人》(Barbarians at the Gate)一书中的一个经典场景中看出：当时作为所罗门兄弟(Salomon Brothers)董事和主要股东的巴菲特，被这家投资银行的董事长兼CEO约翰•古德菲瑞德(John Gutfreund)问及对竞购香烟及食品公司RJR纳比斯科(RJR Nabisco)的见解。
Mr Buffett said at the time — this was in 1988 — that he thought it would be a good deal for Salomon. “I’ll tell you why I like the cigarette business,” Mr Buffett was quoted as telling Mr Gutfreund. “It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It’s addictive. And there’s fantastic brand loyalty.”
那是1988年，巴菲特当时表示，他认为这对所罗门来说是一笔好交易。“我来告诉你我为什么喜欢香烟行业，”巴菲特是这样对古德菲瑞德说的，“香烟的成本只要1美分，但售价可以达到1美元。香烟让人上瘾。而且香烟拥有不可思议的品牌忠实度。”
But Mr Buffett decided against using any of his own money to back the bid. Mr Buffett reckoned it was a bad deal for him because he didn’t need the grief of owning a tobacco company at that stage of his life, a position he expounded upon six years later when he told a Berkshire annual meeting that such investments “are fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes” and those of the Clinton administration.
但是巴菲特决定不用自己的钱来支持这项竞购。巴菲特认为，这对他来说是笔糟糕的交易，因为在当时的人生阶段他不想为拥有一家烟草公司而烦恼——6年后在伯克希尔的年度会议上，他详细解释了当时的立场：这样的投资“充斥着与社会态度相关的问题”，还要应对克林顿当局的刁难。
In this sense, investing in the sweet things in life is a way for Mr Buffett to have his cake and eat it, too. As See’s Candies taught Mr Buffett all those years ago, sugary treats have similarities to cigarettes: they are cheap to make and hard for some people to resist. But they don’t generate the same sort of political heat and can be happily consumed in the proper quantities, as the 84-year-old Mr Buffett’s personal example suggests. He has made a great show of his love for Cherry Coke over the years, putting his mouth where his money is in this case.
从这层意义来讲，对巴菲特来说，投资生活中常见的甜品行业是鱼和熊掌兼得的一个方式。就像时思糖果多年前就教会巴菲特的，甜品和香烟有着相似之处：它们制作成本都很低，而且让一些人难以抗拒。但糖果不会像烟草一样激起政治抵触，可以让人愉悦地适量享用——84岁的巴菲特本人的例子就是证明。多年来，他显示了自己对樱桃味可口可乐的极大喜爱，在这个投资上，他的口味与投资品味保持一致。
Swilling all that soda also has not hurt the Buffett brand, either. We all have our vices (one of mine is drinking too much coffee but I will leave it at that), and every time Mr Buffett feeds his sugar habit in public he seems more a man of the people, a regular Joe capable of relating to other citizens of the republic.
狂饮汽水同样也没有损坏巴菲特的形象。我们都有自己的不良嗜好（我的一个不良嗜好是喝咖啡太多，但我会顺其自然），每次巴菲特在公开场合满足自己的糖瘾时，他看起来更像普罗大众、一个能与共和国的其他公民扯上关系的普通人。
It is a remarkable achievement for the multi-billionaire son of a US congressman. But Mr Buffett has pulled it off. He has come to resemble one of those characters we know from the gentle television advertisements where people find peace, love and/or understanding over a can of soda or stick of gum. Try as we might to resist, they always look kind of sweet.
对于美国议员的儿子兼亿万富翁而言，这是一项卓越的成就。但是巴菲特确实做到了。他已经变得像是我们从温情的电视广告中看到的那些人物一样，能从一瓶汽水或者一块口香糖中感受到平静、爱意和理解。尽管我们试着去抗拒，但他们看起来总是有几分甜蜜。
