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BNSF began operations in 1850 with a 12-mile line in northeastern Illinois. Today, it has 390 antecedents whose railroads have been purchased or merged. The company’s extensive lineage is laid out at http://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources/pdf/about-bnsf/History_and_Legacy.pdf.

BNSF于1850年在伊利诺伊州东北部的一条12英里长的线开始运营。如今，它已购买或合并了390条铁路的前身。该公司的广泛血统位于http://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources/pdf/about-bnsf/History_and_Legacy.pdf。

Berkshire acquired BNSF early in 2010. Since our purchase, the railroad has invested $41 billion in fixed assets, an outlay $20 billion in excess of its depreciation charges. Railroading is an outdoor sport, featuring mile-long trains obliged to reliably operate in both extreme cold and heat, as they all the while encounter every form of terrain from deserts to mountains. Massive flooding periodically occurs. BNSF owns 23,000 miles of track, spread throughout 28 states, and must spend whatever it takes to maximize safety and service throughout its vast system.

伯克希尔于2010年初收购了BNSF。自从我们购买该铁路以来，该铁路已在固定资产上投资了410亿美元，比其折旧费用高出200亿美元。铁路运输是一项户外运动，其特点是一英里长的火车必须始终在极端的寒冷和高温下可靠地运行，因为它们始终会遇到从沙漠到山脉的各种地形。定期发生大规模洪水。 BNSF拥有23,000英里的赛道，遍及28个州，并且必须花费一切来最大限度地提高其庞大系统的安全性和服务水平。

Nevertheless, BNSF has paid substantial dividends to Berkshire – $41.8 billion in total. The railroad pays us, however, only what remains after it both fulfills the needs of its business and maintains a cash balance of about $2 billion. This conservative policy allows BNSF to borrow at low rates, independent of any guarantee of its debt by Berkshire.

尽管如此，BNSF仍向伯克希尔分红-总计418亿美元。铁路向我们付款，但是，只有在满足业务需求并保持现金余额约20亿美元。这项保守的政策允许BNSF以低利率借款，而不受伯克希尔哈撒韦对其债务的任何担保。

One further word about BNSF: Last year, Carl Ice, its CEO, and his number two, Katie Farmer, did an extraordinary job in controlling expenses while navigating a significant downturn in business. Despite a 7% decline in the volume of goods carried, the two actually increased BNSF’s profit margin by 2.9 percentage points. Carl, as long planned, retired at yearend and Katie took over as CEO. Your railroad is in good hands.

关于BNSF的另一个说法：去年，其首席执行官卡尔·艾尔（Carl Ice）和他的第二名凯蒂·法默（Katie Farmer）在控制开支的同时，在应对业务大幅下滑的过程中做得非常出色。尽管运载的货物量下降了7％，但这两个公司实际上使BNSF的利润率提高了2.9个百分点。长期计划的卡尔在年底退休，凯蒂（Katie）接任首席执行官。您的铁路状况良好。

BHE, unlike BNSF, pays no dividends on its common stock, a highly-unusual practice in the electric-utility industry. That Spartan policy has been the case throughout our 21 years of ownership. Unlike railroads, our country’s electric utilities need a massive makeover in which the ultimate costs will be staggering. The effort will absorb all of BHE’s earnings for decades to come. We welcome the challenge and believe the added investment will be appropriately rewarded.

与BNSF不同，BHE不支付其普通股股息，这在电力行业非常不常见。在我们拥有21年的所有权之初，这种斯巴达政策一直是这种情况。与铁路不同，我国的电力公司需要进行大规模的改造，最终成本将令人st目结舌。这项努力将吸收BHE未来几十年的全部收入。我们欢迎挑战，并相信增加的投资将得到适当的回报。

Let me tell you about one of BHE’s endeavors – its $18 billion commitment to rework and expand a substantial portion of the outdated grid that now transmits electricity throughout the West. BHE began this project in 2006 and expects it to be completed by 2030 – yes, 2030.

让我告诉您BHE的一项努力-180亿美元的承诺，用于返工和扩大过时的电网的很大一部分，现在该电网已在整个西部地区传输电力。 BHE于2006年开始了该项目，并预计将在2030年完成–是的，到2030年。

The advent of renewable energy made our project a societal necessity. Historically, the coal-based generation of electricity that long prevailed was located close to huge centers of population. The best sites for the new world of wind and solar generation, however, are often in remote areas. When BHE assessed the situation in 2006, it was no secret that a huge investment in western transmission lines had to be made. Very few companies or governmental entities, however, were in a financial position to raise their hand after they tallied the project’s cost.

可再生能源的出现使我们的项目成为社会的必需品。从历史上看，长期盛行的以煤为基础的发电位于人口密集的地区附近。但是，风能和太阳能发电新世界的最佳场所通常位于偏远地区。当BHE在2006年评估情况时，必须对西方输电线路进行巨额投资已不是什么秘密。但是，在计算项目成本后，很少有公司或政府机构有财务实力可以举手。

BHE’s decision to proceed, it should be noted, was based upon its trust in America’s political, economic and judicial systems. Billions of dollars needed to be invested before meaningful revenue would flow. Transmission lines had to cross the borders of states and other jurisdictions, each with its own rules and constituencies. BHE would also need to deal with hundreds of landowners and execute complicated contracts with both the suppliers that generated renewable power and the far-away utilities that would distribute the electricity to their customers. Competing interests and defenders of the old order, along with unrealistic visionaries desiring an instantly-new world, had to be brought on board.

应该指出的是，BHE决定继续进行的决定是基于对美国政治，经济和司法系统的信任。在产生有意义的收入之前，需要投资数十亿美元。传输线必须跨越各州和其他司法管辖区的边界，每个州都有自己的规则和选区。 BHE还需要与数百个土地所有者打交道，并与产生可再生能源的供应商和将电力分配给客户的遥远的公用事业公司签订复杂的合同。竞争激烈的利益集团和旧秩序的捍卫者，以及渴望获得即时世界的不切实际的远见卓识者，必须被带入。

Both surprises and delays were certain. Equally certain, however, was the fact that BHE had the managerial talent, the institutional commitment and the financial wherewithal to fulfill its promises. Though it will be many years before our western transmission project is completed, we are today searching for other projects of similar size to take on.

惊喜和延误都是可以肯定的。但是，同样可以肯定的是，BHE具有管理人才，机构承诺和财务能力，可以兑现其承诺。尽管西部传输项目还需要很多年才能完成，但我们今天仍在寻找其他类似规模的项目来进行。

Whatever the obstacles, BHE will be a leader in delivering ever-cleaner energy.

无论遇到什么障碍，BHE都将成为提供更清洁能源的领导者。

The Annual Meeting

年会

Last year, on February 22nd, I wrote you about our plans for a gala annual meeting. Within a month, the schedule was junked.

去年2月22日，我写信给您介绍我们的年度联欢晚会计划。一个月之内，日程安排就被取消了。

Our home office group, led by Melissa Shapiro and Marc Hamburg, Berkshire’s CFO, quickly regrouped. Miraculously, their improvisations worked. Greg Abel, one of Berkshire’s Vice Chairmen, joined me on stage facing a dark arena, 18,000 empty seats and a camera. There was no rehearsal: Greg and I arrived about 45 minutes before “showtime.”

我们的家庭办公室小组由伯克郡首席财务官梅利莎·夏皮罗（Melissa Shapiro）和马克·汉堡（Marc Hamburg）领导，很快进行了重组。奇迹般地，他们的即兴作品奏效了。伯克希尔郡副主席之一格雷格·阿贝尔（Greg Abel）和我一起在舞台上面对黑暗的竞技场，18,000个空座位和一台摄像机。没有彩排：格雷格和我在“放映时间”前约45分钟到达。

Debbie Bosanek, my incredible assistant who joined Berkshire 47 years ago at age 17, had put together about 25 slides displaying various facts and figures that I had assembled at home. An anonymous but highly-capable team of computer and camera operators projected the slides onto the screen in proper order.

我令人难以置信的助手黛比·波萨内克（Debbie Bosanek）于47年前加入伯克希尔，当时年仅17岁，他整理了约25张幻灯片，展示了我在家里收集的各种事实和数据。一个由计算机和摄像头操作员组成的匿名但功能强大的团队将幻灯片以适当的顺序投影到屏幕上。

Yahoo streamed the proceedings to a record-sized international audience. Becky Quick of CNBC, operating from her home in New Jersey, selected questions from thousands that shareholders had earlier submitted or that viewers had emailed to her during the four hours Greg and I were on stage. See’s peanut brittle and fudge, along with Coca-Cola, provided us with nourishment.

雅虎将诉讼程序流向了创纪录的国际听众。 CNBC的Becky Quick在她位于新泽西州的家中经营，从格雷格和我上台四个小时内，从股东提交的成千上万个问题中选择了问题，或者观众已经通过电子邮件向她发送了问题。 See的花生糖和软糖以及可口可乐为我们提供了营养。

This year, on May 1st, we are planning to go one better. Again, we will rely on Yahoo and CNBC to perform flawlessly. Yahoo will go live at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (“EDT”). Simply navigate to https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream.

今年，5月1日，我们计划做得更好。同样，我们将依靠Yahoo和CNBC完美地表现。雅虎将于下午1点上线。东部夏令时间（“ EDT”）。只需导航至https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream。

Our formal meeting will commence at 5:00 p.m. EDT and should finish by 5:30 p.m. Earlier, between 1:30-5:00, we will answer your questions as relayed by Becky. As always, we will have no foreknowledge as to what questions will be asked. Send your zingers to BerkshireQuestions@cnbc.com. Yahoo will wrap things up after 5:30.

我们的正式会议将于下午5:00开始。美国东部时间（EDT），应在下午5:30结束。早些时候，在1：30-5：00之间，我们会回答由贝基转达的问题。和往常一样，我们无法预知会被问到哪些问题。请将您的评论发送到BerkshireQuestions@cnbc.com。雅虎将在5:30之后结束提交。

And now – drum roll, please – a surprise. This year our meeting will be held in Los Angeles . . . and Charlie will be on stage with me offering answers and observations throughout the 31¤2-hour question period. I missed him last year and, more important, you clearly missed him. Our other invaluable vice-chairmen, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel, will be with us to answer questions relating to their domains.

现在-请击鼓-一个惊喜。今年我们的会议将在洛杉矶举行。 。 。查理（Charlie）将在我的舞台上为我提供在整个31¤2小时的提问环节。去年我想念他，更重要的是，你很想念他。我们其他宝贵的副主席Ajit Jain和Greg Abel将与我们一起回答有关其领域的问题。

Join us via Yahoo. Direct your really tough questions to Charlie! We will have fun, and we hope you will as well.

通过Yahoo加入我们。将您真正棘手的问题转给查理！我们会很开心的，希望您也一样。

Better yet, of course, will be the day when we see you face to face. I hope and expect that will be in 2022. The citizens of Omaha, our exhibiting subsidiaries and all of us at the home office can’t wait to get you back for an honest-to-God annual meeting, Berkshire-style.

当然，更好的是我们面对面见面的那一天。我希望并期望到2022年。奥马哈市民，我们的参展子公司以及我们在内政部的所有人都迫不及待地想让您回到伯克希尔式的诚实的年度大会。

February 27, 2021                Warren E. Buffett 

  2021年2月27日                                           Chairman of the Board                          

 沃伦·巴菲特
  董事会主席

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