阅读理解。
Bernice Gallego sat down one day this summer, as she
does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay.
She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card. She stopped
for a moment and admired the picture. "Red Stocking B.B Club
of Cincinnati," the card read, under the reddish brown color
photo of lo men with their socks pulled up to their knees.
As a collector and seller, it's her job to spot old items that
might have value today. It's what Bernice, 72, and her husband,
Al Gallego, 80, have been doing since 1974 at their California
antique (古玩) store. |
 |
This card, she figured, was worth selling on eBay. She took a picture, wrote a description and put it up for
auction (拍卖). She put a $10 price tag on it, deciding against $15 because it would have cost her an extra 20
cents. Later that night she got a few odd inquiries-someone wanting to know whether the card was real,
someone wanting her to end the auction and sell him the card immediately.
The card is actually 139 years old. Sports card collectors call the find "extremely rare" and estimate the card
could
fetchfive, or perhaps, six figures at auction.
Just like that, Bernice is the least likely character ever for a rare-baseball card story. "I didn't even know
baseball existed that far back," Gallego says, "I don't think that I've ever been to a baseball game." The theory is
that the card came out of a storage space they bought a few years back. It is not uncommon in their line of work
to buy the entire contents of storage units for around $200.
When she met with card trader Rick Mirigian, she found out what the card was-an 1869 advertisement with
a picture of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
"When I came to meet her and she took it out of a sandwich bag and she was smoking a cigarette, I almost
fainted," Mirigian says. "They've uncovered a piece of history that few people will ever be able to imagine. That
card is history. It's like unearthing a Mona Lisa or a Picasso."
1. What can we conclude from Paragraph 3?
[ ]
A. Bernice had to pay some fees for her card on eBay.
B. Bernice wanted to end the auction that night.
C. Bernice decided to sell the card for $15.
D. eBay charged her 20 cents for the card.
2. The underlined word"fetch" in Paragraph 4 most probably means "_____".
[ ]
A. go and bring
B. add up to
C. go down to
D. be sold for
3. From the passage, we may learn that _____.
[ ]
A. Bernice is a baseball fan
B. Bernice is the last person to purchase the rare-baseball card
C. Bernice unexpectedly became the owner of the rare-baseball card
D. Bernice didn't realize the value of the card until she put it up for auction
4. What would be the best title for the passage?
[ ]
A. A Surprisingly Valuable Discovery
B. Bernice Gallego-A Lucky Collector
C. Sports Card Collectors
D. The History of the Baseball Card