2. 外语
  3. Auctions (拍卖) are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowd to gather in the auc

Auctions (拍卖) are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowd to gather in the auc

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问题     Auctions (拍卖) are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowd to gather in the auction room to bid for various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called "knocking down" the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a raised platform.
    The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction and the English word comes from the Latin "autic", meaning "increase". The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war；these sales were called "sub hasta", meaning "under the spear", a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather. In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries goods were often sold "by the candle"; a short candle was lit by the auctioneer and bids could be made while it was burning.
    Practically all goods can be sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, fruit, vegetables and wines. Auction sales are. also usual for land and property, antique furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and works of art. The auction rooms at Chritie’s and Sotheby’s in London and New York are world famous.
    An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by the buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a "lot", is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with lot one and continue the numerical order; he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in. The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding.
In the sentence "The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war," the word "spoils" most probably means______.
选项 A、useless goods
B、spears
C、various kinds of food
D、property taken from the enemy
答案D
解析 词语释义题。原句中用来修饰"spoil"的是"taken in war"，意为从战争中得来的。那么这种从战争中得来的东西，而且是能出卖的，显然不是“useless goods”，因此A答案不对。从战争中也不会单单只得到“spears”或"food"，因此B和C也不正确。由此我们可以推断选择D正确。“spoil”的意思正是“战利品”。
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大学英语四级

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