1. Look at these sentences or parts of sentences. Match the words in bold with the definitions below. Give their possible equivalents in your native language.

1) Although the first lot (one of the objects or groups of objects that are being sold - лот) would not come under the hammer until seven that evening, the auction house (a commercial company that specializes in selling items at auction - аукционный зал/фирма) was packed long before the appointed hour, as it always was on the opening night of a major Impressionist sale.

2) The serious bidders (someone who offers to pay a certain amount of money for something that is being sold - покупатель, участник аукциона), who often turned up late because they had reserved seats...

3) However, this was the first time in his career that he would be bidding for a major work in the hope of being outbid (to bid higher than; outdo in bidding - предлагать более высокую цену, предложить больше, перекупить) by someone from overseas.

4) Standing on both sides of the auctioneer (a person in charge of an auction - аукционист) was a row of Sotheby’s employees.

5) Sir Alan watched with interest as almost all of the early lots exceeded their estimates (an approximate calculation of a quantity or value - оценочные показатели, оценки), proving, as The Times had suggested that morning, that there was a new breed of collectors (a person who collects things of a particular type as a hobby – коллекционер, собиратель) who had made their fortunes since the war, and wished to show they had arrived by investing in art.

6) The dealers (a person whose business involves buying and selling things – дилер, агент по продаже) and gallery owners began to discuss among themselves if Martinez was likely to be more interested in lot 28, A Corner of the Garden at St Paul’s Hospital at St Rémy by Van Gogh, or lot 29, Rodin’s The Thinker.

7) He turned the page of his catalogue to look at the masterpiece he admired, but for which, ironically, he still hoped to end up as the under-bidder (the bidder that has made the second-highest bid in an auction - лицо, предложившее меньшую цену, чем выигравший лот конкурент).

2. Explain the meaning of the underlined parts of sentences by paraphrasing and commenting on them.

a) Then he’d been a wet bob, not a dry bob.

Wet bob – someone who rows.

Dry bob – someone who plays cricket.

MEANING: when he was at school/university he was a rower (гребец).

b) However, as Sir Giles, who was sitting at the end of the table, had been awarded an Oxford cricket blue, he was confident that the intricacies of leather upon willow were about to be explained to him.

1) A Blue is an award earned by sportsmen and women at a university and some schools for competition at the highest level.

2) The sound of leather upon willow (an idiom) – the sound of the ball on the bat in cricket.

MEANING IN THIS CONTEXT: the rules of playing cricket were about to be explained to Sir Alan to decipher the message.

c) But there are still one or two niceties that are eluding me.

1) a nuance, a small detail [ˈnaɪsətɪz]

2) to elude - to fail to be understood or remembered by (someone)

d) My late mother would have spotted it long before I did, even on her death bed.’

Is an English idiom, referring to someone who is critically ill and near the end of their life, often used metaphorically.

MEANING: Emma refers to her late mother who had left a crossword with a ciphered word.

e) ‘The Thinker,’ said Sir John Rothenstein, the director of the Tate Gallery, ‘is considered by most critics to be one of Rodin’s most iconic works.

1) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, usually placed on a stone pedestal. The work depicts a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. (Мыслитель)

2) Tate galleries, art museums in the United Kingdom that house the national collection of British art from the 16th century and the national collection of modern art.

3) widely recognized and well-established.

f) The whereabouts of the third has long been shrouded in mystery.

1) the place or general locality where a person or thing is.

2) to be shrouded in mystery – to be wrapped or concealed in something (to be hidden).

g) ‘A 1902 cast of The Thinker is coming under the hammer at Sotheby’s on Monday evening.’

1) a carved or cast figure of a person or animal, especially one that is life size or larger.

2) to be put up for or sold at auction.

h) ‘That’s brought a totally new meaning to the phrase “money to burn”.’

1) to have a lot of money that one can spend freely (and often unnecessarily).

MEANING: in its direct meaning – they had set to fire a lot of money.

i) The serious bidders, who often turned up late because they had reserved seats, and might not be interested in the first few lots, which, like minor characters in a Shakespeare play, are simply there to warm up the audience.

to prepare an audience for another—more famous—performer/lot, in this case.

j) ‘One hundred thousand. One hundred and ten thousand?’ he asked, looking once again at Sir Alan and giving him his best Cheshire cat smile.

MEANING: the idiom Cheshire cat smile refers to a broad and often mischievous or enigmatic smile. In some definitions, it’s stipulated that the smile should be broad enough to expose the gums. When someone grins like a Cheshire cat, it often suggests smugness or self-satisfaction, as the grinner is privy to information unknown to the onlooker. 

k) For the first time in his life, the cabinet secretary took a gamble.

To do something risky or attempt something that might fail in order for a chance at success, fortune, etc.

l) The SAS had set fire to counterfeits of counterfeits.

1) The Special Air Service - was a unit of the British Army

2) To ignite something; to cause something to catch on fire.

3) a counterfeit - a copy that is represented as the original

MEANING: the colonel was afraid that Martinez didn’t smuggle the fake money in the ‘Thinker’, that he anticipated the things being planned behind his back, and that he had hidden the fake money somewhere else, replacing them with copies of copies in the ‘Thinker’.

m) He would have given a month’s salary to see Martinez’s face when he discovered that his victory had turned out to be hollow.

1) A victory that is hollow, i.e. meaningless.

MEANING: there is a joke hidden by the author based on the idiom that implies a meaningless victory and the fact that the statue is empty (as the adjective hollow corresponds both to empty and meaningless)

n) ‘You see, sir, the day after a major sale we’re always run off our feet.’

to be exceptionally busy, especially to an exhausting or exasperating degree; to be made to work very hard and very quickly.

MEANING: the workers couldn’t give Diego the statue in one hour as they had a lot of work to do and it required time.

o) Remember, you may not come across any water until you’ve reached several feet below the surface.’

MEANING: it requires great effort to find out something desirable, so you should be patient and persistent.

p) The English upper classes always expect someone they know to make the introduction.

MEANING: it’s the rule of etiquette. It’s not appropriate to introduce yourself by yourself only to a person you are not familiar with at all. There always should be a person that knows you and someone you’d like to get to know. He or she gives a small description of both of you (i.e. Mark is a successful lawyer, Perpetua works with me).

q) ‘Never forget that if you want to bring an empire to its knees you start by killing the first in line to the throne.’

MEANING: it referred to Sebastian – Don Pedro meant that to destroy both the Barrington and the Clifton families he should start with their main heir.

r) ‘Do I detect a twinge of envy?’

A sudden slight feeling or emotion

s) ‘It’s nothing I can put my finger on, but since you’ve been in London, I’ve had a feeling my father’s been avoiding you.’

To put one’s finger on – to interfere with/to determine (like ‘it’s not my business’)

t) ‘It could be that I’m overreacting,’ said Bruno, ‘but I’d prefer to get this mystery sorted out.’

To learn what is happening.