英语听力精选进阶版 7147

Background: 互联网给人们生活带来的巨大影响力之一是它为我们提供了网上交易的所有可能。新西兰的一名女子就刚刚在网上拍卖了两个鬼魂。

As ghost stories go, it's frankly¹ a bit weak. Not very frightening and with a happy ending, it doesn't really prove the existence of the supernatural either.

But it does show beautifully the enduring popularity of the offbeat² and wacky on the internet.

Our tale begins in the home of Avie Woodbury in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. Last year, she says, things started to go bump in the night:

"We had a lot of activity. Mainly it was banging, banging in the house. And also I think the biggest thing for us was that our dog would sort of stop in its tracks and it would just look into nothing and then start barking. And this happened several times and we just got a real weird³ feeling over us. Just so odd that you just can't explain it."

The novelty soon wore off and Miss Woodbury hired an exorcist to rid her of the spooky interlopers.

A paranormal specialist from the local spiritualist church duly came and captured two ghosts, which he claimed to have trapped in a pair of small glass vials.

The funny goings on promptly⁴ stopped, leaving a greatly relieved Miss Woodbury with just one problem - what to do with the spirits and their tiny prisons. Rather than throw them in the bin⁵ she decided⁶ to sell them online to the highest bidder⁷.

"Early on in the auction⁸ it got a bid for $1.50 and I said to my partner, 'Oh how wonderful, we've got rid of the spirits', you know, and we were quite happy to have $1.50 for them. And we never thought it would get so much publicity⁹ and so many people viewing the auction, so just incredible."

With its obvious parallels to the 1980s film Ghostbusters, news of the sale quickly spread - and the online auction was viewed 214,000 times. The ghosts were finally sold for nearly $2000 US dollars, which Miss Woodbury intends to donate to an animal charity.

Glossary¹⁰ 词汇表

frankly 坦诚地 

supernatural 超自然的 

enduring popularity 持久的红火 

offbeat 非主流 

wacky 奇异的/奇怪的 

go bump in the night 夜里（开始）有鬼了 

banging 咚咚的响声 

stop in its tracks 停在路上不走了 

barking 狗叫 

novelty 新颖的事务 

wore off 逐渐淡化 

exorcist 驱魔人人/昭魂者 

spooky interlopers 令人害怕的干涉他人事务的人 

paranormal 超自然的 

duly 预期地 

vials 小玻璃瓶 

parallels 与…相类似的东西

Questions and Answers

The journalist who wrote this believes the story proves the supernatural exists. True or False? 

False.

What did the dog do when it heard noises in the night? 

It stopped in its tracks and started barking.

What did the paranormal specialist claim he put the ghosts in? 

Glass vials.

Did the couple who sold the ghosts hope to make a lot of money? 

No, they didn't expect to make much money and donated what they made to charity.

1 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

2 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 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。

7 bidder   

n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人

参考例句：

• 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。
• The bidder withdrew his bid after submission of his bid.投标者在投标之后撤销了投标书。

8 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。

9 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

10 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。