英语听力精选进阶版 7233

Background: 一条蓝翅金枪鱼在东京拍卖市场以70多万美元的天价成交，打破了历史纪录。一家饭店的老板买走了这条269公斤重的金枪鱼。

The first auction¹ of the New Year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market is always closely watched - high prices are a tradition.

But when the bidding was over the bluefin tuna had become the most expensive fish in history - 56.49m yen², nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

It smashed the previous record set last year of 32.49m yen.

The buyer was the owner of a chain of sushi restaurants. He said he wanted to liven up Japan and help the nation recover from last year's earthquake and tsunami³.

The fish was caught off Aomori, just north of the coast battered⁴ by the disaster.

At 269kg it's a giant. But even so when cut up into sushi each mouthful works out at 5,000 yen, more than $65.

The restaurant chain though will sell it for its usual tuna prices, between $1.60 and $5.40 per piece, depending on the cut.

Glossary⁵ 词汇表

auction 拍卖

to be closely watched 受到紧密关注

bidding 出价，投标

to smash (a record) 破纪录

a chain (of restaurants) 连锁餐馆

to liven up (something) 使…活跃起来

to recover 恢复

to be battered by (something) 受到冲击

mouthful 一口

to work out at 合计

Questions:

1: Why does the year's first auction at Tokyo's fish market attract interest?

Because there is a tradition of very high prices.

2: What was the explanation given by the buyer for purchasing this fish at such an expensive price?

The buyer said that he wanted to liven up Japan and help the nation's recovery from recent natural disasters.

3: According to the report, how much is each bite of the fish worth?

Each mouthful is worth more than $65.

4: True or false? The restaurant owner will charge his diners a higher price for the privilege of eating history's most expensive fish.

False. According to the re

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 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

3 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

4 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

5 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。