阅读理解训练：
Auctions(拍卖) are public sales of goods, made by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowd assembled in the auction room to make offers, or bids, for the various items on sale. He encouraged buyers to bid higher figures, and finally named 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 table at which he stands.” This is often set on a raised platform called a rostrum.
The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latinauction, meaning “increase”. The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war, these sales were called “sub hash”, meaning “under the spear”, a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather. In England in the eighteenth century, goods were often sold by the candle: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.
Practically all goods whose qualities varied are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, hides, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, spices, fruit, vegetables and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, antique furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art. The auction rooms at Christies 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 prospective 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 in numerical order he may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealers 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 as high as possible.
1. A “bidder” (in Para. 1) is a person _______ .
A.who sells something.
B. who buys something.
C. who offers a price.
D. who borrows something.
2. Auctioned goods are sold _______ price offered.
A. for the highest
B. for the fixed
C. for the lowes
D.for the unexpected
3. The end of the bidding is called “knocking down” because _______ .
A. the auctioneer knocks the buyer down
B. the auctioneer knocks the rostrum down
C. the goods are knocked down onto the table
D. the auctioneer bangs the table with a hammer
4. The “candle” used in paragraph 2 is _______ .
A. because they took place at night
B. as a signal for the crowd to gather
C. to give light to the auctioneer
D. to limit the time when offers could be made
5. An auction catalogue gives prospective buyers _______ .
A. the current market values of the goods
B. details of the goods to be sold
C. the order in which goods must be sold
D. free admission to the auction sale
答案解析：
1. C. 词义题。从文章多处可以得知这个词的意思就是指在拍卖的过程中给出标价的人。故答案应该选择C。
2. A. 细节题。从文章第一段可以得知只有出价最高的人才有权利把物品买走，所以答案选A。
3. D. 细节题。给果求因。文章第一段最后说到拍卖的最后一锤定音，所以才叫做“拍价”，所以答案应该选D。
4. D. 细节题。由题干可知答案应该去第二段寻找，文章中说到蜡烛亮着的时候，人们开始标价，而且还说到是短的蜡烛，也就是说蜡烛是限制标价时间的一个工具。所以D项是正确答案。
5. B. 细节题。从文章最后一段的第一句可以知道目录是为了给潜力购买者提供详细的出售物品的信息。选项B符合原文意思。
【译文】
拍卖是由官方认可的拍卖人承办的物品公开销售活动。拍卖人把人员召集到拍卖行去为要出售的多种商品做估价或者竞价。他鼓励买方出更高的价格，最后确定最高标价人为商品的买主。我们称拍卖为“一锤定音”，是因为拍卖人一旦敲响桌前的小锤，拍卖即告结束。整个拍卖都发生在一个台子上，也就是所说的标台。
很可能是古罗马人发明了拍卖销售，拍卖的英语单词来源于拉丁文中的拍卖，意思是“上升”。罗马人通常用这种形式销售战争中得到的战利品，这些交易被叫做“混乱之下”，意思是“长矛之下”，就是说把一根长矛插在地上作为人群聚集的信号。在18世纪的英格兰，物品经常以“蜡烛交易”的形式出售：由拍卖人点燃一短根蜡烛，然后在蜡烛亮着的时候开始竞争标价。
实际上所有质地不同的物品都是通过拍卖销售的。其中有咖啡，兽皮，皮毛，羊毛，茶叶，可可粉，毛皮，香料，水果，蔬菜和葡萄酒。地皮和财产拍卖也很常见，比如古董家具，字画，善本，古瓷器和类似的艺术品。伦敦的Christie和纽约的Sotheby拍卖行闻名于世界。
拍卖通常会预先以广告的形式给拍卖品附上详尽的特点说明并告知潜力购买者物品会在何时何地展出。如果没有详尽的广告，拍卖方将提供打印的目录，那么每组一起出售的物品被叫做“标的”，通常会附上号码。拍卖人不必以1号地开始，同时不需要按照数字顺序进行。他可以等到一定数量的商人进入到房间后，然后再根据他们的喜好创造标的。拍卖人的服务费是以出售物品的百分比的形式来支付的。因此拍卖人对把标价抬得越高越好是有直接兴趣的。
从历年专升本阅读理解真题中可以看出，大部分阅读理解题都少不了细节题，可以说细节题占的部分比较广泛。大家可以多多训练细节题的练习，最好能够做达到，凡是做过的细节题，保证不要出错。
