A Chronicle of Calamity

一部灾难编年史

Now let’s take a moment to look at some of the major financial developments of the past few years:

让我们花点时间回顾一下过去几年中一些重大的金融动态：

The worst market crash since the Great Depression, with U.S. stocks losing 50.2% of their value—or $7.4 trillion—between March 2000 and October 2002.

美国股市在2000年3月至2002年10月间经历了自大萧条以来最糟糕的市场崩溃，股值蒸发了50.2%，损失了7.4万亿美元。

Far deeper drops in the share prices of the hottest companies of the 1990s, including AOL, Cisco, JDS Uniphase, Lucent, and Qualcomm—plus the utter destruction of hundreds of Internet stocks.

上世纪90年代最炙手可热的几家公司，包括美国在线、思科系统、JDS Uniphase、朗讯技术和高通公司的股价经历了更为惨烈的暴跌，此外数百家互联网股票也遭到了彻底的毁灭。

Accusations of massive financial fraud at some of the largest and most respected corporations in America, including Enron, Tyco, and Xerox.

美国一些最大且最受尊敬的公司，包括安然、泰科和施乐，遭受了大规模财务欺诈的指控。

The bankruptcies of such once-glistening companies，as Conseco, Global Crossing, and WorldCom.

曾经光彩夺目的公司如康塞科、环球通讯和世界通信的破产。

Allegations that accounting firms cooked the books, and even destroyed records, to help their clients mislead the investing public.

有指控称会计师事务所伪造账目，甚至销毁记录，以帮助其客户误导投资大众。

Proof that security analysts on Wall Street praised stocks publicly but admitted privately that they were garbage.

证据表明，华尔街的证券分析师公开赞扬股票，但私下里承认它们是垃圾。

A stock market that, even after its bloodcurdling decline, seems overvalued by historical measures, suggesting to many experts that stocks have further yet to fall.

一家即便在骇人听闻的下跌之后，根据历史标准似乎仍被高估的股票市场，这暗示着许多专家认为股票的跌幅尚未结束。

A relentless decline in interest rates that has left investors with no attractive alternative to stocks.

持续下降的利率使得投资者没有其他吸引人的选择，只能投资于股票市场。

An investing environment bristling with the unpredictable menace of global terrorism and war in the Middle East.

一个充满了全球恐怖主义不可预测威胁以及中东战争的投资环境。

解释一下：A Chronicle of Calamity 这个句子

"A Chronicle of Calamity" 这个短语可以解释如下：

• "Chronicle" 是指记录历史事件的详细和连续的账目，常常是按照时间顺序排列的。这个词来源于中世纪的编年史，是历史学家或编年史作者用来详细记录事件的文体。


• "Calamity" 指的是灾难或不幸，通常是严重的并且带来了很多伤害或破坏的事件。

所以，"A Chronicle of Calamity" 字面上的意思是“灾难编年史”，指的是详细记录了一系列灾难或不幸事件的文献、书籍或叙述。这个短语可能用来描述一个文本或故事，它详细地讲述了一段时间内发生的各种灾害，如自然灾害、战争、瘟疫等。这样的叙述可能是历史性的，也可能是虚构的，但通常都会给人一种对过去悲惨事件的深刻理解。

Much of this damage could have been (and was!) avoided by investors who learned and lived by Graham’s principles. As Graham puts it, “while enthusiasm may be necessary for great accomplishments elsewhere, on Wall Street it almost invariably leads to disaster.” By letting themselves get carried

许多这样的损失本可以（而且确实）被那些学习并遵循格雷厄姆原则的投资者所避免。正如格雷厄姆所言：“虽然在其他地方，热情可能是伟大成就的必要条件，但在华尔街，它几乎总是导致灾难。”通过让自己被情绪所左右

on Internet stocks, on big “growth” stocks, on stocks as a whole—many people made the same stupid mistakes as Sir Isaac Newton. They let other investors’ judgments determine their own. They ignored Graham’s warning that “the really dreadful losses” always occur after “the buyer forgot to ask ‘How much?’” Most painfully of all, by losing their self-control just when they needed it the most, these people proved Graham’s assertion that “the investor’s chief problem—and even his worst enemy—is likely to be himself.”

在互联网股票、大型“增长”股票、以及股票市场整体上，许多人犯下了与艾萨克·牛顿爵士相同的愚蠢错误。他们让其他投资者的判断决定了自己的判断。他们忽视了格雷厄姆的警告：“真正可怕的损失”总是在“买家忘记问‘值多少钱？’”之后发生。最痛苦的是，正是在他们最需要自制力的时候，这些人失去了自控，证实了格雷厄姆的说法：“投资者的主要问题——甚至最坏的敌人——很可能就是他自己。”