时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(四月)


英语课
By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
11 April 2008


The highly anticipated sale of the largest diamond ever to appear at an auction 1 in Asia has failed. But demand for Chinese art, expensive watches and other collectors' items was strong at auction house Sotheby's spring sales in Hong Kong. Claudia Blume reports.


It was the star lot of Sotheby's jewelry 2 auction at its annual spring sales in Hong Kong: a flawless, pear-shaped, 72-carat diamond, as big as a walnut 3. It was the largest diamond of its kind ever on offer at an auction in Asia, and Sotheby's had hoped to sell it for as much as $13 million.


But the sale fell through Thursday night after the final bid failed to meet the reserve price. Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman says there was confusion among overseas buyers who placed their bids by phone.


"Bidders 4 from different countries had miscalculated the exchange rate and were uncertain of what they had would have to pay so they retracted 5 their bids," he explained. "We are currently negotiating a private sale of the diamond."


Other parts of this week's auction were more successful, however. Sotheby's set a new world record for the sale of a modern watch. A platinum 6 Patek Philippe wrist watch went for $1.5 million.


Demand for Chinese contemporary art remained strong, with Sotheby's achieving record sales of almost $52 million. The art auction's highlight was Zhang Xiaogang's oil painting "Bloodline: The big family No. 3", which was sold for more than $6 million to a Taiwanese collector.


Weigman says that for the first time, the auction house offered art from Southeast Asia in at the Hong Kong sale.


"What we discovered was that the Southeast Asian paintings category benefited very much from being in Hong Kong because people who were here to buy Chinese art saw the Southeast Asian paintings and began to bid on them," he said. "So we brought new buyers into the market for Southeast Asian and Vietnamese paintings."


The sale of Southeast Asian art achieved about  $8 million, exceeding forecasts.




n.拍卖;拍卖会;vt.拍卖
  • They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
  • They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。
n.(jewllery)(总称)珠宝
  • The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
  • Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。
n.胡桃,胡桃木,胡桃色,茶色
  • Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
  • The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸,材质分胡桃木和红木两种。
n.出价者,投标人( bidder的名词复数 )
  • Bidders should proceed only if they intend on using a PayPal account to complete payment. Bidders的唯一形式,应继续只当他们在使用贝宝帐户,以完成付款打算。 来自互联网
  • The other bidders for the contract complained that it had not been a fair contest. 其他竞标人抱怨说该合同的竞标不公平。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 );拒绝执行或遵守;缩回;拉回
  • He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词,后来又翻供。
  • A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句
n.白金
  • I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
  • Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。
学英语单词
acanthopanacis senticosi radix et caulis
accuweather.com
adjoint boundary value problem
afterthink
amphibiology
aniconist
at it again
benzohydrol
best mean square predictor
bladons
body defect
brightfarthing
brush artery
Bunsen eudiometer
buy out someone
cell-type container stowage
ceralumin
chemical conditioning
claim statemtnt
close(d)
conditions to be inserted in letter of credit
consonant rhymes
continuous-duty
curvimurate
determine by votes
differential cross section
disavouched
double expansion steam engine
drying intensity
dust-covered
Dyphytline
e. vulgaris rich var. helvetica h. et t.
enruin
field-vole
filling cyclone
filter-binding
floor skirt
garmentmaker
Genola
geze
golf links
Governor L.
gymnosporangium formosanum
hemiparasites
high-risk decision
hydrature
hydrokryptoacetylene
jelly
kelsons
Kotava
Laporte selection rule
lateral amniotic fold
malfetti
menopausal syndrome
mine worker
multiplex printing
nonhemodynamic
nontracking
Oakville
optical beams
outward-bound ship
palmar furuncle
persicaria barbata gracilis
phytoerythrins
polar nuclei
post-strike
price revolution
psilophytaceaes
pussyclaat
re-listen
rectifier electric motor vehicle
restrictive system
roll correction
Sazeracs
scopometry
sekke
senile macular degeneration
shipborad telecommunication cable
slaughterhall
slide valve link
sparsomycin
split chuck
stand cap
stearmans
stem bar
sulfoximine
test bed results
tunned-fiber
Ulmus parvifolia
unbishops
underwater sonic communication gear
unhelm
unindividualized
vibration direction
vinton
virement system
well-trussed
widely spaced stanchion
windsor (bean)
Yonsu-ri
Zibyutaungdan