All of us who work as research analysts or stockbrokers have made recommendations we would rather not talk about. They come up in conversation at the worst moments, usually when you are sitting in an office in Mayfair explaining to a multimillionaire hedge fund manager exactly where he has got it all wrong. You annoy your host by pushing things too far or appearing a mite too self-satisfied, and he interrupts your stream of thought and inquires, languidly as a viper: “What about your Buy on Amalgamated Widgets?”
幹我們這一行的人——研究分析師或者股票經紀人——都提出過我們自己再也不願提起的建議。在最糟糕的時刻,它們在談話中冒了出來。這個時候,你通常是坐在梅費爾區(Mayfair)的某個辦公室裏,向一位擁有幾百萬身家的對沖基金經理解釋,他的投資究竟哪裏出了錯。你把話題扯得太遠,或者表現得有點自滿,惹惱了他,於是他打斷你的思路,像毒蛇一樣陰森森地問道:「關於你推薦買入Amalgamated Widgets的事呢?」