III.综合能力
A.阅读
Auctions are public sales of goods conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd gathered in the aution-room to make offers or "bids", 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.
Almost all goods of various qualities are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, fruit, vegetables, and wines. Auction sales are also useful for land and property, antique, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china, and works of art.
An auction is usually advertised beforehand with a full description of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by possible 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 1 and continue with Lot 2, Lot 3 and so on; he may wait until he sees certain dealers in the room and then produces 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 as high as possible.
The auctioneer must know quite accurately the current market values of the goods he is selling, and he should be acquainted with regular buyers of such goods. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also encourage the rivals among buyers to bid against each other in order to get a high price. It is largely in his advice that a seller will fix a "reserved" price, that is, a price below which the goods cannot be sold. Even the best auctioneers, however, find it difficult to stop a "knock-out" (连裆拍货), because dealers illegally arranged beforehand not to bid against each other, but choose one of them as the only bidder, in the hope of buying goods at very low prices. It such a "knock-out" succeeds, the real auction sale takes place privately afterwards among the dealers.
1. At what prices are auctioned goods usually sold?
A. The highest prices offered by buyers.
B. The prices fixed beforehand.
C. The prices officially approved.
D. The "reserved" prices fixed by sellers.
2. Which of the following statements about an auctioneer is NOT true, according to this passage?
A. He should know the current values of the goods on sale.
B. He encourages buyers to bid higher prices.
C. He gives advice to sellers.
D. He is a government official.
3. The passage tells us that an auction catalogue gives full details of________.
A. the possible sellers B. the regular bidders
C. the goods to be sold D. the regular buyers
4. "A reserved price"in the last paragraph means______.
A. a price which an article can be sold at
B. a price below which an article cannot be sold
C. a price acceptable to possible buyers
D. a price fixed by the local government
5. Even the best auctioneer finds it hard to stop a "knock-out" because________.
A. he has never heard of such a thing
B. he does not know the values of the goods
C. he is not familiar with the regular buyers
D. dealers sometimes arranged in advance not to bid against each other
B.写作
Directions: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic "Computer". You are required to write at least 100 words and your composition should be based on the outline given below.
1. Give a brief definition of a computer.
2. Say something about the functions a computer can perform.
3. Predict the future of a computer.
