In the 1600s, the Dutch East India Company employed hundreds of ships to trade gold, porcelain, spices, and silks around the globe.
在1600年代，荷兰东印度公司雇用了数百艘船只在全球贸易黄金、瓷器、香料和丝绸。
01 / READ
Transcript
But running this massive operation wasn't cheap.
但经营这样一个庞大的运营并不便宜。
In order to fund their expensive voyages, the company turned to private citizens, individuals who could invest money to support the trip in exchange for a share of the ship's profits.
为了资助他们昂贵的航行，公司向私人公民求助，这些个人可以投资资金来支持航行，以换取船只利润的份额。
This practice allowed the company to afford even grander voyages, increasing profits for both themselves and their savvy investors. selling these shares in coffee houses and shipping ports across the continent, the Dutch East India Company unknowingly invented the world's first stock market.
这种做法使得公司能够承担更宏大的航行，增加了他们自己和聪明投资者的利润。通过在咖啡馆和整个大陆的航运港口出售这些股份，荷兰东印度公司在不知不觉中创造了世界上第一个股票市场。
Since then, companies have been collecting funds from willing investors to support all kinds of businesses.
从那时起，公司一直在从愿意投资者那里筹集资金，以支持各种业务。
And today, the stock market has schools, careers, and even whole television channels dedicated to understanding it.
而今天，股票市场有学校、职业，甚至整个电视频道专门用来理解它。
But the modern stock market is significantly more complicated than its original incarnation.
但现代股票市场比其最初的形式复杂得多。
So how do companies and investors use the market today?
那么今天公司和投资者是如何利用市场的呢？
Let's imagine a new coffee company that decides to launch on the market.
我们来想象一家决定在市场上推出的新咖啡公司。
First, the company will advertise itself to big investors.
首先，公司会向大型投资者进行自我宣传。
If they think the company is a good idea, they get the first crack at investing and then sponsor the company's initial public offering or IPO.
如果他们认为公司的想法不错，他们会优先投资，然后赞助公司的首次公开募股（IPO）。
This launches the company onto the official public market where any company or individual who believes the business could be profitable might buy a stock.
这将公司推出到官方公开市场，任何相信业务可能盈利的公司或个人都可以购买股票。
Buying stocks makes those investors partial owners in the business.
购买股票使那些投资者成为企业的部分所有者。
Their investment helps the company to grow and as it becomes more successful, more buyers may see potential and start buying stocks.
他们的投资帮助公司成长，随着公司更成功，更多的买家可能会看到潜力并开始购买股票。
As demand for those stocks increases, so does their price, increasing the cost for prospective buyers and raising the value of the company's stocks. people already own.
当对这些股票的需求增加时，它们的价格也会随之上涨，增加潜在买家的成本，并提升公司已持有股票的价值。
For the company, this increased interest helps fund new initiatives and also boosts its overall market value by showing how many people are willing to invest in their idea.
对公司来说，这种增加的兴趣有助于资助新项目，也通过显示多少人愿意投资他们的想法来提升整体市场价值。
However, if for some reason a company starts to seem less profitable, the reverse can also happen.
然而，如果某种原因使得公司的盈利能力降低，反向情况也可能发生。
If investors think their stock value is going to decline, they'll sell their stocks with the hopes of making a profit before the company loses more value.
如果投资者认为他们的股票价值将会下降，他们会在公司失去更多价值之前出售自己的股票，希望能够获利。
As stocks are sold and demand for the stock goes down, the stock price falls and with it, the company's market value.
随着股票被出售，对股票的需求下降，股票价格下跌，公司的市场价值也随之下降。
This can leave investors with big losses unless the company starts to look profitable again.
这可能会让投资者遭遇巨额损失，除非公司再次看起来有盈利能力。
This seesaw of supply and demand is influenced by many factors.
供求的摇摆受多种因素的影响。
Companies are under the unavoidable influence of market forces such as the fluctuating price of materials, changes in production technology, and the shifting costs of labor.
公司不可避免地受到市场力量的影响，例如材料价格波动、生产技术变化以及劳动成本的变化。
Investors may be worried about changes in leadership, bad publicity, or larger factors like new laws and trade policies.
投资者可能会担心领导层的变化、负面宣传或更大的因素，如新法律和贸易政策。
And of course, plenty of investors are simply ready to sell valuable stocks and pursue personal interests.
当然，很多投资者仅仅是准备出售有价值的股票并追求个人利益。
All these variables cause day-to-day noise in the market, which can make companies appear more or less successful.
所有这些变量在市场中造成日常噪音，这可能使公司看起来更成功或不那么成功。
And in the stock market, appearing to lose value often leads to losing investors and in turn losing actual value.
在股市中，似乎失去价值往往会导致失去投资者，从而失去实际价值。
Human confidence in the market has the power to trigger everything from economic booms to financial crisis.
人们对市场的信心能够触发从经济繁荣到金融危机的一切。
And this difficult to track variable is why most professionals promote reliable long-term investing over trying to make quick cash.
而这个难以追踪的变量就是为什么大多数专业人士提倡稳定的长期投资而不是试图快速获利。
However, experts are constantly building tools in efforts to increase their chances of success in this highly unpredictable system.
然而，专家们不断地开发工具，以提高他们在这个高不确定性系统中成功的机会。
But the stock market is not just for the rich and powerful.
但股市不仅仅是富人和权贵的专属。
With the dawn of the internet, everyday investors can buy stocks in many of the exact same ways a large investor would.
随着互联网的兴起，普通投资者可以以大型投资者的许多相同方式购买股票。
And as more people educate themselves about this complex system, they too can trade stocks, support the businesses they believe in, and pursue their financial goals.
随着更多人认识到这个复杂系统，他们也可以交易股票，支持自己相信的企业，并追求自己的财务目标。
The first step is getting invested.
第一步是进行投资。
Interested in pursuing your own financial goals?
有兴趣追求自己的财务目标吗？
Download a free audio version of The Richest Man in Babylon on audible.com/ted-ded.
在 audible.com/ted-ded 下载《巴比伦最富有的人》的免费音频版本。
You'll not only get timeless advice on making and investing money, but also an imaginative take on life in ancient Mesopotamia.
您不仅可以获得关于赚钱和投资的永恒建议，还可以获得对古美索不达米亚生活的富有想象力的看法。
02 / UNDERSTAND
A closer look
IN THIS CONTEXT ·0:06
In the 1600s, the Dutch East India Company employed hundreds of ships to trade gold, porcelain, spices, and silks around the globe.
在1600年代，荷兰东印度公司雇用了数百艘船只在全球贸易黄金、瓷器、香料和丝绸。
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