The Secret History of Gold(① 书籍基本信息：《The Secret...). By Dominic Frisby. Pegasus Books; 288 pages; $29.95. Penguin Business; £22
《黄金秘史》。作者：多米尼克·弗里斯比。飞马图书；288页；29.95美元。企鹅商业；22英镑。
In the 1980s Lloyd Blankfein, the future boss of Goldman Sachs but then a rookie(新手) gold trader, bought a kilogram of the metal for himself. He describes this in “Streetwise”, his memoir, as less an investment than a conversation piece(谈资，引发话题的东西)—albeit one that cost around $15,000 ($50,000 today). When he handed it round at dinner parties, he found it better at prompting awe(敬畏，惊叹) than speech. “People would become slightly mesmerised,” he writes. “No one ever wanted to let go of it.”
20世纪80年代，后来成为高盛老板的劳埃德·布兰克费恩当时还是一名新手黄金交易员，他为自己买了一公斤黄金。他在回忆录《街头智慧》中将此描述为与其说是一种投资，不如说是一个谈资——尽管花费约1.5万美元（相当于今天的5万美元）。当他在晚宴上递过来时，他发现这东西更能引发敬畏而非言语。他写道：“人们会有点着迷，没人愿意放手。”
As Dominic Frisby, a financial writer, recounts, gold has captivated human beings since time immemorial(自从远古以来). In doing so, it has shaped the course of history. The earliest known artefact(人工制品，文物)s made of it are 6,700 years old, from the Neolithic period, and include crowns, brooches and a “gold phallus cover, with holes for threads to tie it on”. Even then, in other words, gold was already bound up with wealth and power—as it still is today. (The phallus cover, Mr Frisby muse(沉思，揣测)s, perhaps indicated “the owner’s status as a leading procreator”.)
正如财经作家多米尼克·弗里斯比所叙述的，从远古时代起，黄金就令人类着迷。在此过程中，它塑造了历史进程。已知最早的黄金制品有6700年历史，来自新石器时代，包括王冠、胸针和一件“带有穿绳孔的金制阴茎套”。换句话说，即使在那个年代，黄金也已经与财富和权力紧密相连——正如今天一样。（弗里斯比先生推测，这个阴茎套或许表明了“主人作为主要繁殖者的地位”。）