英语听力精选进阶版 6259

Buying and Selling 购买与销售

Will Usain Bolt set another Olympic record? And will 2012 be Liu Xiang's year again? Now you can make sure you will be in a perfect position to answer these questions.

Tickets for the 2012 Olympic Games have gone on sale online, with sessions priced between ￡20 (212 yuan) and ￡2,012 (21,000 yuan).

Children under 17 will be able to 'pay-your-age' on some events and there are special concessions¹ for old people too.

The new ticketing website for residents of the UK and some European nations is not run on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors have until 26 April to apply for tickets, after which time all applications will be treated equally.

Oversubscribed events will be decided² by a ballot³. On the UK site, there is no upfront cost, but money will be debited⁴ from Visa cards in May and June.

Lord Coe, the chairman of London 2012, thinks the Games will be a sell-out.

Fewer than twenty-five per cent of the tickets are being reserved for fans outside Europe, which can be bought from specially-appointed organisations.

In an effort to stop ticket touting⁵, the British government plan to raise the maximum penalty from ￡5,000 (53,000 yuan) to ￡20,000 (212,000 yuan).

However, there are likely to be many online scams, so before you part with your hard-earned cash, check that you are buying tickets from your country's authorised vendor⁶.

Glossary 词汇表

pay-your-age 票价和年龄相同 

concession 减免 

ticketing 售票的 

on a first-come, first-served basis 先到先得 

oversubscribed 超额预定的 

ballot 投票表决 

upfront cost 预先支付的费用 

debited from 从… 划账 

a sell-out 卖光、一售而空 

ticket touting 倒票 

scam 诈骗 

part with something 与… 分手、再见 

hard-earned cash 来之不易的钱 

vendor 销售商家

1 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 debited   

v.记入（账户）的借方( debit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Your current account is automatically debited with the amount of your purchase. 你购物的金额会自动记入账戶借方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The money will be debited from your account. 钱会记入你账戶的借方。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

6 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。