Olympic memorabilia goes under hammer

    BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 80 sports collectors' items were auctioned²(拍卖) off in Beijing Sunday on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the 2008 Olympic Games, with the highest price going to the Berlin Olympic torch.
    The torch, used in the first-ever Olympic torch relay for the 1936 Berlin Games, sold for 210,000 yuan, more than 31,000 U.S. dollars, during the 2nd Exceptional（例外的） Auction¹ of China Sports Collections.
    It was the first Olympic torch with a burning unit to be auctioned in the Chinese market.
    The auction, organized by the Sports Committee of Chinese Collectors Association (SCCCA), also put under the hammer sportswear（运动服） autographed by Chinese hurdler and Olympic champion Liu Xiang, and a gold medal from the 1924 Paris Games.
    The total bidding reached more than 1 million yuan, about 150,000 U.S. dollars, a decrease from last year's auction.
    SCCCA auctioned off 66 items in the inaugural³ Exceptional Auction of China Sports Collections in 2009, and took in 4 million yuan, about 590,000 U.S. dollars.
    Hou Kun, spokesman of the event, said Chinese people have shown growing interests in Olympics memorabilia since the success of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the country is seeing a booming sports memorabilia market.
    The price decline, on one hand, reflected the intelligent consumption of Chinese investors⁴, said the event's organizers.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• 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。

2 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会