陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Collectibles)

Collectibles

Collectibles have been apart of almost every culture since ancient times.

Whereas some objectshave  been collected for  their usefulness,  others

have  been selected for  their aesthetic beauty  alone. In  the  United  

States,  the kinds    of  collectibles currently  popular  range from

traditional objects suchas stamps, coins, rare books, and art to more

recent items of interestlike dolls, bottles, baseball cards, and comic

books.

Interest in collectibleshas increased enormously during the past decade,

in part because somecollectibles have   demonstrated  their value as  

investments. Especiallyduring cycles of high inflation, investors try to

purchase                  tangibles that will at leastretain their current market values.

In general, the mosttraditional collectibles will be sought because they

have preserved theirvalue over the years, there is an organized auction

market for them,      and they are most easily sold in theevent  that cash  is

needed. Some examplesof  the most stable collectibles  are       old masters,

Chinese ceramics, stamps,coins, rare books, antique jewelry, silver,

porcelain, art bywell-known artists,  autographs,  and  period  

furniture.  Other  items  of  more recent   interest  include old

photograph records, old     magazines, post cards, baseball cards, artglass,

dolls, classic cars, oldbottles,  and  comic books. These relatively  new

kinds  of collectibles may actually appreciatefaster as short-term

investments, but may nothold      their value as long-terminvestments. Once a

collectible  has had  its  initial play,  it  appreciates at  a  fairly  

 steady rate,  supported  by  anincreasing number of enthusiastic

collectors competing forthe limited supply of   collectibles thatbecome

increasingly moredifficult to locate.

收藏品

從古代開始，收藏品就是文化的一部分。  一些物品因它們的有用性被收藏，而另一些 則純粹因為它們的美被收藏。  

在美國，當今流行的收藏品種類從傳統物件，如郵票、硬幣、 珍本書籍、藝術品，到更近期一些的有趣的東西，如布娃娃、瓶子、壘球卡、連環漫畫冊。

對收藏品的興趣在過去十年中大大地增長，部分原因是一些收藏品顯示出了它們的投資價 值。  

尤其在高通貨膨脹時期，投資者儘量購買那些至少會保持他們現有市場價值的有形資 產。  一般來說，最傳統的收藏品受青睞，因為它們多年後仍保持其價值。  

它們擁有完善的 拍賣市場，在需要現金的時候最容易被賣掉。  一些最穩當的收藏品是古老的畫作、中國陶

器、郵票、硬幣、珍本書籍、古代珠寶、銀器、瓷器、著名藝術家的作品、親筆簽名和有時 代特徵的傢俱。  

其它更近期的物品有舊唱片、舊雜誌、明信片、壘球卡片、彩色玻璃、布 娃娃、早期汽車、古瓶和連環畫冊。  作為短期投資這些相對說來較新穎的收藏品的確可能

更快地增值，但作為長期投資則可能不能保值。  一旦一件收藏品有了它第一次交易，它便

以一個相當穩定的比率增值，這個增值率受到越來越多的熱情的收藏者的支援，他們為有限 的而且越來越難找到的收藏品而競爭。