當代寓言

A parable for our times
當代寓言


出處:網路流傳
中文編譯：老編西歪


Once upon a time in a place overrun with monkeys,
a man appeared and announced to the villagers that
he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers,
seeing that there were many monkeys around, went
out to the forest, and started catching them.
從前有一個到處都是猴子地方，一名男子出現向村民宣布，
他將以每隻十元的價錢購買猴子。村民瞭解附近有很多猴子
，他們走進森林開始抓猴子。

The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply
started to diminish, they became harder to catch,
so the villagers stopped their effort.
該名男子花了數千美元購買每隻十塊錢的猴子，猴
子數量開始減少，村民們越來越難抓到，因此他們
不再熱衷了。

The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching
monkeys again. But soon the supply diminished even further and
they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to
their farms and forgot about monkey catching.
該名男子隨後宣布，他將出價每隻猴子20美元。
這又讓村民們重新開始努力抓猴子。但很快供應
量更為減少，他們幾乎很難再抓到了，因此人們
開始回到自己的農場，淡忘了抓猴子這件事。

The man increased his price to $25 each
and the supply of monkeys became so
sparse that it was an effort to even see a
monkey, much less catch one.
該名男子增加價格到每隻25美元，
但是猴子的供應變得更稀少，再怎
麼努力都很難見到一隻猴子，更別談抓猴子了。

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50!
However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his
assistant would now buy on his behalf.
該名男子現在宣布，每隻猴子他出價50美元！
然而從這時候他離開了，去城裡辦一些事務，現在
他的助手代表他繼續從事購買猴子的業務。

While the man was away the assistant told the villagers.
'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man
has bought. I will sell them to you at $35 each and when
the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him
for $50 each.'
這名男子離開後，助理告訴村民，瞧瞧該名
男子購買在大籠子裡的這些猴子，我每隻用
35美元賣給你們，等該名男子從城裡回來，
你們可以將它們每隻50美元賣給他。

The villagers rounded up all their savings
and bought all the monkeys.
村民們匯集了所有的積蓄，
購買了全部的猴子。

They never saw the man nor his assistant again
他們從此再也沒有見到這名男子和他的助理了。

and once again there were monkeys everywhere.
村子裡又再次變成到處都是猴子的地方。

Now you have a better understanding
of how the stock market works.
現在你該更進一步了解，
股票市場是如何運作的了。