美駐英使館搬家 拍賣1200卷廁紙
The US embassy in London is holding an online auction of “surplus property” and you only have until Wednesday next week to bid for rare finds such as 1,200 toilet rolls, some broken vacuum cleaners and a scuffed coffee table.
美國(guó)駐英國(guó)大使館正在舉行“剩余財(cái)產(chǎn)”網(wǎng)上拍賣。直到下周三人們才能競(jìng)標(biāo)這些“稀有”物品，諸如1200卷廁紙，幾個(gè)壞掉的真空吸塵器和一個(gè)已經(jīng)磨損的咖啡桌等。
None of the items have any official US insignias or historical value.
所有物品都沒有美國(guó)官方標(biāo)志或歷史價(jià)值。
It is a curious jumble of items: desk lamps, a Volvo S80, boring bookcases, a circular saw, 22 plastic stacking chairs, five broken Dyson vacuum cleaners and a defective photocopier (price: £1; condition: scrap). Most useful, perhaps, is the pallet of 1,200 loo rolls, which, at the time of writing, had no bids from its £100 starting price.
這些奇怪的拍賣品還包括：臺(tái)燈、一輛沃爾沃S80轎車、樣貌平平的書架、圓盤鋸、22把塑料可疊放椅子、5臺(tái)壞掉的戴森真空吸塵器和一臺(tái)有故障的復(fù)印機(jī)(價(jià)格：1英鎊、狀況：已報(bào)廢)。也許最有用的要算1200卷廁紙了吧。這些衛(wèi)生廁紙起拍價(jià)是100英鎊(約合8.9元人民幣)，但截至報(bào)道時(shí)，還沒有人出更高的價(jià)格。
The Independent reported an embassy staffer calling the toilet paper "probably a bit above bog standard".
英國(guó)《獨(dú)立報(bào)》報(bào)道稱，一位大使館官員表示，這些廁紙“可能要比普通的質(zhì)量好點(diǎn)兒”。
For those interested in the unwanted state department goods, a 2007 Volvo in "usable" condition costs $8,427.
如果你對(duì)拍賣品感興趣的話，其中的沃爾沃汽車購于2007年，“還可以使用”，起拍價(jià)8427美元(約合57279元人民幣)。
There is also a choice of five broken Dyson vacuums priced between $15 and $65, or several new LED desk lamps for $75.
拍賣品中還有5臺(tái)壞掉的戴森真空吸塵器，起拍價(jià)在15美元到65美元之間，以及幾臺(tái)新的LED臺(tái)燈，起拍價(jià)75美元。
These aren’t even the weirdest things being sold by US missions. There are auctions happening, or about to happen, in other countries with a similar car boot sale-style load of tat. Yerevan, Armenia, has several rugs “with stains”, office chairs (also “with stains”) and a broken fridge among its 45 lots. The embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, offers several household appliances and a load of printer-ink cartridges, as well as computers and mobile phones “with cracks and scratches”.
這些還不是美國(guó)大使館出售過的最怪異的物品。在美國(guó)駐其他國(guó)家大使館，也有類似的拍賣正在進(jìn)行或即將開始，風(fēng)格同樣類似于在跳蚤市場(chǎng)擺攤賣舊貨。美國(guó)駐亞美尼亞大使館(位于首都埃里溫)的45件拍賣品中就有幾條“污跡斑斑”的地毯、同樣“污跡斑斑”的辦公椅和一臺(tái)壞掉的冰箱等等。美國(guó)駐烏克蘭大使館(位于首都基輔)拍賣了幾件家用電器和一堆打印機(jī)墨盒，以及“有裂縫和劃痕”的電腦和手機(jī)。
The auction in Ankara, Turkey, has helpfully split its lots into furniture collections, so you could kit out your flat with a ready-made curated collection comprising beige armchair, office chair, lamp and end table. Tirana, Albania, wants to offload a few generators; Lisbon’s lots seem mostly to include office furniture, but without pictures. Stockholm’s catalogue is grander, with a lot of dark wood ornate furniture, chandeliers–and a step machine. Three of Belgrade’s five lots are unused eight-foot ladders.
在美國(guó)駐土耳其大使館(位于首都安卡拉)舉行的拍賣會(huì)上，大使館專門從拍賣品中分出了家具系列，這樣買家就可以為公寓挑選一套現(xiàn)成的家具，其中包括米色扶手椅、辦公椅、臺(tái)燈和茶幾。美國(guó)駐阿爾巴尼亞大使館(位于首都地拉那)想要甩賣幾臺(tái)發(fā)電機(jī)，美國(guó)駐葡萄牙大使館(位于首都里斯本)的拍賣品多數(shù)是辦公家具，但沒有圖片。美國(guó)駐瑞典大使館(位于首都斯德哥爾摩)的拍賣品更加豪華一些，有許多裝飾華麗的深色木質(zhì)家具和枝形吊燈，還有一臺(tái)踏步機(jī)。在貝爾格萊德(塞爾維亞共和國(guó)首都)的五個(gè)拍賣品中，有三個(gè)是八英尺(約合2.4米)高的新梯子。
