In his annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett said the first-ever webcast of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting would allow them to check that he and Charlie Munger, his business partner, “hadn’t drifted off into la-la land”.

沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)在致投资者的年度信件中表示，伯克希尔哈撒韦(Berkshire Hathaway)年会在历史上首次网络直播将让他们确信，他和商业合作伙伴查理•孟格(Charlie Munger)“没有进入昏昏沉沉的状态”。

The webcast on Saturday confirmed that Mr Buffett, 85, and Mr Munger, 92, were entirely cogent as they conducted the event while nibbling fudge and peanut brittle and sipping Coca-Cola.

最近现场直播的股东大会证实了85岁的巴菲特和92岁的孟格仍然思路清晰，他们一边主持大会，一边小口吃着软糖和花生糖，啜饮着可口可乐。

Many shareholders had queries about Coca-Cola, which is 9.3 per cent owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Andrew Ross Sorkin, the author, asked the questions on their behalf. Mr Buffett was opposed to investing in cigarettes, even though they were addictive and profitable because of “societal attitudes”. Yet a Tufts University study had concluded that sugared drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths a year. Mr Sorkin said: “Please explain directly why we Berkshire Hathaway shareholders should be proud to own Coke.”

许多股东对伯克希尔哈撒韦持有可口可乐公司(Coca-Cola) 9.3%股份有疑虑。作家安德鲁•罗斯•索尔金(Andrew Ross Sorkin)代表这些股东提出了质疑。巴菲特出于“社会态度”反对投资香烟，即便它们让人上瘾而且非常赚钱。然而，塔夫斯大学(Tufts University)的一项研究得出结论称，据估计含糖饮料每年可能导致18.4万成年人死亡。索尔金表示：“请直接解释我们伯克希尔哈撒韦股东为什么应该对拥有可口可乐感到自豪。”

Mr Buffett said he consumed 700 calories of Coke a day. He wished he had a twin who had eaten only broccoli his entire life. “I know I would have been happier and I think the odds are fairly good I would have lived longer,” he said.

巴菲特表示，他一天喝含700卡路里的可口可乐。他希望自己有个一生只吃西兰花的孪生兄弟，他说：“我知道我将会更快乐，而且我认为自己更长寿的几率相当高。”

Coke drinkers just needed to reduce the rest of their calorie intake. In any case, many more women than men lived beyond 100. If you wanted to live longer, “have a sex change,” he said. This insouciant response was wrong for five reasons.

喝可乐的人只需要削减他们从其他食物摄入的卡路里就行了。无论如何，100岁以上的女性比男性多得多。他说，如果你希望活得更长久些，“不如去变性”。这种漫不经心的回应是错误的，原因有如下5点。

First, the shareholders had asked a serious question. They deserved more than being laughed off.

首先，股东问的是一个严肃的问题。他们的问题不应被一笑置之。

Second, not everyone is as adept as Mr Buffett at calculating their daily calorie intake and compensating for their Coke consumption by cutting back on other food and drink.

其次，并非所有人都和巴菲特一样擅长计算每天摄入的卡路里热量，并为了喝可乐而减少其他食物和饮料的摄入。

In his letter to shareholders, Mr Buffett wrote with compassion about those who had lost their jobs because of the otherwise beneficial effects of competition and did not have the skills to find other work. Society owed them “a variety of safety nets aimed at providing a decent life”. It is many of these same people who go in search of sugar hits to satisfy their hunger. The problem is that Coke can be a particularly damaging way to do this. This is the third reason Mr Buffett’s amused shrug was wrong.

在致股东的信中，巴菲特满怀同情心地提到那些因为总体有益的竞争而失业、而且没有技能找到其他工作的人。社会欠他们“多重安全网，以提供体面生活”。在这些人当中，有许多人寻找甜品来消除饥饿感。问题在于，用可口可乐来消除饥饿感尤其有害，这是巴菲特诙谐回应是错误做法的第三个原因。

Researchers such as Robert Lustig of the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine say that liquid sugar is especially dangerous, partly because it suppresses hunger less than sugar ingested in other forms. That is why you are far better off eating fruit than drinking fruit juice, which is also a big seller for Coca-Cola.

加州大学旧金山医学院(University of California San Francisco School of Medicine)的罗伯特•勒斯蒂格(Robert Lustig)等研究人员表示，液态糖尤其危险，一定程度上是因为它消除饥饿感的效果不如以其他形式摄入的糖。这就是为什么你喝果汁远远不如吃水果的原因——可口可乐公司也在大量销售果汁。

The fourth reason Mr Buffett should have taken the Coke question seriously is that politicians around the world are waking up to the dangers of sugared drinks and taking action against them.

巴菲特应该严肃对待可口可乐问题的第四个原因是，世界各地的政界人士认识到了含糖饮料的危险，并采取行动抵制含糖饮料。

In March, George Osborne, the UK chancellor, announced a tax on these drinks, saying: “I am not prepared to . . . say to my children’s generation: ‘I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease. But we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing.’”

今年3月，英国财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)宣布对这些饮料征税，他表示：“我不准备……对我的下一代说：‘对不起，我们知道含糖饮料有问题。我们知道它引发了疾病。但我们回避做出艰难决定，我们什么也没做。’”

Other countries, including Mexico, already have a sugar tax. There is political risk attached to fizzy drinks. A chief executive with a large stake in a company that makes them should explain how he is going to deal with it.

包括墨西哥在内的其他国家已经征收了糖税。含糖碳酸饮料存在政治上的风险。一名持有含糖饮料公司一大笔股权的首席执行官应该解释他如何处理这种风险。

The fifth reason Mr Buffett’s dismissive response was wrong is that it was at odds with what the company itself says. Coca-Cola makes enormous efforts to show that it takes seriously the concerns expressed by politicians, doctors and the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

巴菲特不以为然的回应是错误的的第五个原因是，它与可口可乐自身的说法有抵触。可口可乐竭力表明，它认真对待政客、医生以及伯克希尔哈撒韦股东表达的关切。

Coke’s 69-page sustainability report has a chunky section outlining the company’s promotion of low and zero calorie drinks and of smaller cans and bottles, its restrictions on advertising to children under 12 and its sponsorship of exercise activities. When it comes to “public health challenges such as obesity, we are working to ensure we do our part,” the report said.

在可口可乐长达69页的可持续发展报告里，有很大一部分列举了该公司推广低卡和无卡饮料、推出小包装饮料、限制向12岁以下儿童打广告，以及赞助健身活动。该报告表示，“就解决肥胖等公众健康挑战来说，我们正在努力确保我们做出自己的贡献”。

According to Muhtar Kent, Coke’s chief executive, these and other efforts, such as the responsible use of water and the promotion of opportunities for women, are the key to “sustainable business growth”.

可口可乐首席执行官穆泰康(Muhtar Kent)表示，这些努力加上其他努力，比如负责任地使用水资源以及提升妇女就业机遇，是“可持续商业增长”的关键。

There are sceptics who do not take these Coke activities seriously, seeing them as a cover for the continued sale of highly profitable and health-damaging drinks. Mr Buffett’s jocular response to his shareholders did little to rebut this view.

有一些人对可口可乐的这些活动不以为然，认为它们只不过是该公司继续销售高利润率和有害健康的饮料的幌子。巴菲特对股东的诙谐回应无助于驳斥这种观点。