Part A
Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
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.
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
听力原文:M: By the way, Jane, did you talk to the consultant about our health program?
W: I contacted his office, but his secretary said he would be out for lunch until two.
Q: What does the woman mean?
(16)
A. She talked with the consultant about the new program until 2.
B. She couldn't talk to the consultant before 2.
C. She would talk to the consultant during lunch.
D. She couldn't contact the consultant's secretary.
下列关于投资组合的说法,正确的一项是()
A. 选择最优投资组合是为了更多地持有金融资产
B. 选择最优投资组合是为了提高金融资产的流动性
C. 进行投资组合,各种金融资产的风险收益正相关
D. 不要把所有鸡蛋放进~个篮子里,就是指进行投资组合
Riches and Romance From France's Wine Harvest
September is harvest time. And with bunches of grapes swinging (摇滚) in the wind, the vineyards of southern France are getting ready to celebrate it.
The yearly wine festival is held in honour of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. It's a fun time with parties, music, dancing, big meals and, of course, lots of wine.
French wine-making began more than 2,500 years ago. The world's oldest type of vine grows in France and always produces a good quality wine. Today France produces one fifth of the world's wine, and some of the most famous varieties.
The top wine-producing areas are Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Champagne, a drink used in celebrations, is named after the place where sparkling (有气泡的)wine was first produced in 1700.
Wine is made from the juice of freshly picked grapes. It is the sugars that turn into alcohol.
Traditionally, people used to take off their shoes and crush the grapes with their bare feet to bring out the juice. Nowadays, this practice is usually carried out by machines.
Each wine producing region has its own character, based on its type of grapes and soil.
The taste of wine changes with time. Until 1850, all French champagne was sweet. Now, both wine and champagne taste slightly bitter.
The drink has always been linked with riches, romance and nobleness. Yet the French think of it in more ordinary terms.
They believe it makes daily living easier, less hurried and with fewer problems.
"All its links are with times when people are at their best, with relaxation, happiness, long slow meals and the free flow of ideas." wrote wine expert Hugh Johnson.
All French people celebrate the grape harvest every September.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned