单选题 Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd to gather in the auction room to bid for the 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 "auctic", meaning "increase". The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in the 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 Christie'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 produced 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 arc sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding.

单选题 Auctioned goods are sold ______.

A. for the highest price offered
B. at fixed prices
C. at prices lower than their true value
D. at prices offered by the auctioneer

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节理解题。第一段第三句告诉我们：“He…finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods．”可见，A项是正确答案。

单选题 The end of the bidding is called "knocking down" because ______.

A. the auctioneer knocks on the table
B. the auctioneer names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods
C. the goods are knocked down onto the table
D. the auctioneer bangs the table with a hammer

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节理解。第一段最后一句话我们“knocking down”的由来。所以，D项是正确答案。

单选题 In the sentence "The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in the war" of paragraph 2, the word "spoils" most probably means ______.

A. useless goods
B. spears
C. various kinds of food
D. property taken from the enemy

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】词汇理解题。从第二段第二句话中“…the spoils taken in the war；”可以看出 spoils应是战争中的掠夺物。因此。答案为D项。

单选题 In England a candle was used to burn at the auction sales ______.

A. because the auction sales took place at night
B. as a signal for the crowd to gather
C. to keep the auction room warm
D. to limit the time when offers of prices could be made

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】第二段最后一句话告诉了我们点蜡烛的目的。所以，应选D项。

单选题 An auction catalogue gives buyers ______.

A. the current market values of the goods
B. details of the goods to be sold
C. the order in which goods are to be sold
D. free admission to the auction sale

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节理解题。最后一段第二句话告诉我们拍卖中的catalogue的作用。可见， B项符合题意。