英语听力精选进阶版 7147（在线收听）

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 frankly 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 offbeat 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 weird 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 promptly 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 bin she decided to sell them online to the highest bidder.

"Early on in the auction 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 publicity 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.

Glossary 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.