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Kids who grow up in farm country learn how to drive early.
在农村长大的孩子很早就学会了开车。
When I was a teenager in the mid-1970s in the foothills of New York's Adirondack Mountains, I and all my friends drove tractors and bashed-up jalopies through the hayfields and on the dirt roads long before any of us had a learner's permit or a driver's license.
上世纪70年代中期，我还是纽约州阿第伦达克山脉脚下的一名少年。那时，我和所有朋友都还没到拿实习驾照或正式驾照的年龄，而我们却都在秣草地和土路上开着拖拉机和破破烂烂的旧车。
So, when it came time to take drivers' ed in high school, we thought we knew it all - until we met our teacher, a former U.S. Marine and retired New York State Trooper named Francis X. Terry.
因此，到了高中接受驾训时，我们都认为自己早已掌握了全部的知识和技能。直到我们遇到了驾训老师、前美国海军陆战队队员、纽约州退休警察弗朗西斯•特里(Francis X. Terry)。
Mr. Terry had steel-gray eyes, enormous hands and a crewcut that looked like something you would use to scrub the bottom of a Sherman tank. He taught drivers' ed the way a drill sergeant teaches push-ups - with precision, relentless discipline and a biting sense of humor.
特里有着深灰色的眼睛和巨大的双手，头上剃着板寸，头发硬的好像可以充当一辆谢尔曼坦克的底盘刷子。他教我们驾车的方式就像是一个军队教官训练俯卧撑――精确、纪律严格，同时还带着一些辛辣的玩笑话。
To this day, more than 35 years after I last laid eyes on him, I can still picture Mr. Terry repeating his lessons to us. Almost every time I drive anywhere, one of his unmistakably worded proverbs comes back to me. Psychologists have shown that you will find messages intrinsically more persuasive when they rhyme or are otherwise easier to remember; Mr. Terry must have instinctively understood that.
直到今天（我上次看到他是在超过35年前），我的脑海中还能浮现出他反复指导我们的一幕。而几乎每次开车时，我也都能回忆起他的某条警句。心理学家已经证实，当一句话押韵或能用其他方式被轻松记住时，你会发现这句话更有内在说服力。特里必然用直觉发现了这一点。
Only recently did I realize that his messages apply at least as much to investing as they do to driving. Here are the pithy expressions Mr. Terry taught us about driving - and how I think they apply to investing as well.
我只是最近才意识到，与开车相比，特里的话至少同样适用于投资。下面是特里在教我们开车时的一些精辟警句，以及我认为这如何适用于投资：
Put Your Head on a Swivel
脑袋转起来
When we backed up or parallel-parked, Mr. Terry would say, 'Put your head on a swivel.' He meant that you need to look to your left, to your right, in front of you and behind you when you back up. He explained that a deer, a dog or a kid on a tricycle could come out of nowhere: 'One second there's nothing there. The next second you just hit something or somebody.'
当我们倒车或平行泊车时，特里会说：“脑袋转起来”。他是指你需要在倒行时左看右看、前看后看。他解释道，可能突然就冒出来一只鹿、一条狗，或者一个骑着三轮车的小孩。他说，第一秒还没有任何东西，第二秒你就会撞上某些东西或某些人。
If any of us looked in the same direction for more than a second or two while we were backing up, Mr. Terry would bark, 'Put your head on a swivel!' If you forgot, he would stomp so hard on the chicken brake that the car would slam to a halt.
如果在倒车时，我们当中任何一人对着单个方向看的时间超过了一秒或两秒，特里就会大喊大叫：“脑袋转起来！”。如果你忘记了，他就会用力踩住刹车，然后车就会突然停下来。
I heard 'Put your head on a swivel' so often at age 16 that I still hear it in my own head, at age 54, every time I back up my car.
我在16岁时听到“脑袋转起来”这句话的次数是如此多，以至于到了54岁，我每次倒车时这句话都还在脑海中回荡。
The investing lesson: Risk is all around you, and the likeliest places to look for it are the places that appear to be the safest. That's where the next danger will come from - just where and when nobody is looking.
投资教育意义：你的周围到处是风险，你最可能发现风险的地方就是那些看上去最安全的地方。下一个危险就会这样出现――在没人看到的地方和没人注意的时候。
Edge On, Edge Off
慢进慢出
Whenever we pulled out of a driveway, parking lot or side road, Mr. Terry would say, 'Edge on.' He wanted us to change direction gradually, carving a slight angle rather than a sudden move off our previous course. Whenever we left the main road onto the shoulder or a fork, Mr. Terry would say, 'Edge off,' urging us to change direction as gently and steadily as possible.
每当我们离开私人车道、停车场或岔路时，特里都会说：“慢点进。”他是希望我们逐步改变方向，转出一个小角度，而不是突然脱离之前的驾驶路线。每当我们离开主路进入路肩和岔路时，特里都会说：“慢点出。”他是在敦促我们以尽可能轻、尽可能稳的方式改变路线。
The corollary to 'Edge on, edge off' was Mr. Terry's most unforgettable apothegm of all: 'STOP does not stand for 'Skid Tires on Pavement.'' Knowing that teenagers - especially boys - love nothing better than screeching to a halt at the last possible second and then squealing off after an infinitesimal rolling pause, Mr. Terry hammered home that you should slow down well before the stop sign, come to a complete stop and accelerate only gradually through the intersection.
特里最令人无法忘记的箴言对“慢进慢出”作了一番引申：停车标志没告诉你要急刹车。他知道青少年（尤其是男孩）最喜欢的就是在最后一秒急刹车，然后在车停未稳之际又踩着油门开起来。特里总是强调，你应该在离停车标志很远时就开始放慢速度，到停车标志时完全停下，而在通过交叉路口时，你只能把油门放慢。
I never look at a stop sign without a slight smile, and I've never done a rolling stop in my life.
直到现在，我还从来没有紧张地看到停车标志已经近在眼前，也从来没有急刹车。
The investing lesson: Making a sudden change in your plan is usually a mistake. Making a sudden, big change in your plan almost always is.
投资教育意义：突然对计划做改动通常是一个错误，突然对计划做大幅改动几乎总是个错误。
Get in the Ground-Viewing Habit
养成观察地面的习惯
Every time an approaching car would even slightly vary its speed or direction - slowing down, speeding up, veering slightly toward the middle of the road - Mr. Terry would remind us, 'Get in the ground-viewing habit.' He trained us to look at the car's front tires.
每次当一辆正在靠近的车改变速度或方向――减速，加速，或稍微转向路中间时，即使变化幅度很小，特里也会提醒我们：“养成观察地面的习惯。”他训练我们观察汽车的前轮。
The tip was especially useful when you were driving along a line of parked or idling cars; the first sign that any of them might pull out in front of you was a tire that suddenly turned sharply. If we saw the tires turn, we would know what the driver was about to do, regardless of whether he had the courtesy to use a turn signal.
当你沿着一排停着的汽车行驶时，这个技巧尤其重要。如果其中有一辆车可能突然冲到你面前，第一个迹象就是轮胎突然转起来。如果我们看到轮胎转起来，我们就都知道这辆车接下来要做什么了，无论司机是否礼貌地打了转向灯。
Mr. Terry also told us an unforgettable story from his days as a state trooper. One sunny autumn day, a driver had parked his car without noticing that the front tire ended up buried to the hubcap in a freshly raked pile of leaves. Before the driver could walk into the store, the clerk stepped out and said, 'You'd better go right back out to your car, sir.' The clerk had seen what the driver had overlooked: a puff of smoke coming out of the pile of leaves under his tire.
特里还告诉我们一件他当州警察时记忆深刻的事情。一个阳光明媚的秋日，一名司机停车时没有注意到轮胎被埋在了一堆新扫的树叶中。司机还没有走到商店里，店员就走出来对他说：先生，你最好回去看看你的车。这名店员看到一股烟从他轮胎下面的树叶堆里冒出来，而这恰恰被司机忽略了。
By the time the driver got to the curb, the front tire burst into flames; by the time Mr. Terry arrived on the scene, the car was an inferno. I still glance down at my tires every time I get in or out of my car.
当司机回到路边时，前轮胎已经着火了，当特里赶到现场时，汽车已经被烧毁。现在我每次上下车都要看一看轮胎。
The investing lesson: It's what is beneath eye-level that matters. Look at base rates to determine what is most likely to happen, on average, under similar circumstances. When an initial public offering earns a hot return that tempts you to buy the next one, ask what the average performance of IPOs is ( much lower than the average stock). When someone says that a rise in interest rates will crush the bond market, see what has happened in the past and ask what a 1% hike in rates would do. (At today's yields, it would knock about 5% off the price of a diversified bond fund.)
投资教育意义：视线下方的情况才至关重要。在相似的环境下，看看基本利率再决定通常最可能发生什么。如果有一个首次公开募股(IPO)交易收益丰厚，吸引你再购买一只新股，想想IPO的平均表现（通常比普通股票差得多）。如果有人说利率上升将导致债券市场崩盘，看看过去发生的情况，想想加息一个百分点会带来什么影响。（在目前的收益率水平，加息一个百分点将导致一只多样化债券基金的价格下跌大约5%。）
Give Him Room and Let Him Zoom
给他点空间，让他洋洋自得
Nothing frustrates a teenage driver as much as having another driver speed past you with a honk and a cloud of dust. The urge to stand on the gas pedal and go barreling after the other car is almost overpowering. 'Give him room and let him zoom,' Mr. Terry would say. Then he would pause and say the same thing every time: 'Mark my words. When we get to the next stoplight, he'll be right in front of us.'
一个司机按着喇叭一溜烟超过了你，对于一个十几岁正血气方刚的司机来说，没有什么事情比这更让人气愤了。你几乎抑制不住要踩油门追上去，但特里说：给他点空间，让他洋洋自得。然后每次他都会停下来说：记住我的话，到了下一个红灯，你就追上他了。
We would get to the next stoplight, and sure enough: There would be the red Camaro that had just passed us. Suddenly the guy who had seemed so cool looked like a fool.
我们会开到下一个红灯，果然追上了刚才超过我们的红色科迈罗(Camaro)。刚刚还看上去还神奇十足的那个家伙，这会儿看上去倒像个傻瓜。
The investing lesson: People who try to get rich quick don't end up any farther along - and take a lot more risk, and incur a lot more cost, to get there. You don't get bonus points in investing for arriving at your destination ahead of time. The only thing that matters is getting there in one piece.
投资教育意义：那些试图迅速致富的人最终并不会走得更远，反而要承担更多风险，付出更多成本。投资时你不会因为先到目的地而获得额外奖赏。唯一重要的是毫发无损地到达目的地。
I don't know where you are now, Mr. Terry. But thanks for making me a safe driver - and investor.
特里，我不知道你现在在哪里，但谢谢你让我成为了一名稳健的司机和稳健的投资者。
