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.
美国驻英国大使馆正在举行“剩余财产”网上拍卖。直到下周三人们才能竞标这些“稀有”物品，诸如1200卷厕纸，几个坏掉的真空吸尘器和一个已经磨损的咖啡桌等。
None of the items have any official US insignias or historical value.所有物品都没有美国官方标志或历史价值。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.这些奇怪的拍卖品还包括：台灯、一辆沃尔沃S80轿车、样貌平平的书架、圆盘锯、22把塑料可叠放椅子、5台坏掉的戴森真空吸尘器和一台有故障的复印机（价格：1英镑、状况：已报废）。也许最有用的要算1200卷厕纸了吧。这些卫生厕纸起拍价是100英镑（约合8.9元人民币），但截至报道时，还没有人出更高的价格。The Independent reported an embassy staffer calling the toilet paper "probably a bit above bog standard".英国《独立报》报道称，一位大使馆官员表示，这些厕纸“可能要比普通的质量好点儿”。For those interested in the unwanted state department goods, a 2007 Volvo in "usable" condition costs $8,427.如果你对拍卖品感兴趣的话，其中的沃尔沃汽车购于2007年，“还可以使用”，起拍价8427美元（约合57279元人民币）。There is also a choice of five broken Dyson vacuums priced between $15 and $65, or several new LED desk lamps for $75.拍卖品中还有5台坏掉的戴森真空吸尘器，起拍价在15美元到65美元之间，以及几台新的LED台灯，起拍价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”.这些还不是美国大使馆出售过的最怪异的物品。在美国驻其他国家大使馆，也有类似的拍卖正在进行或即将开始，风格同样类似于在跳蚤市场摆摊卖旧货。美国驻亚美尼亚大使馆（位于首都埃里温）的45件拍卖品中就有几条“污迹斑斑”的地毯、同样“污迹斑斑”的办公椅和一台坏掉的冰箱等等。美国驻乌克兰大使馆（位于首都基辅）拍卖了几件家用电器和一堆打印机墨盒，以及“有裂缝和划痕”的电脑和手机。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.
在美国驻土耳其大使馆（位于首都安卡拉）举行的拍卖会上，大使馆专门从拍卖品中分出了家具系列，这样买家就可以为公寓挑选一套现成的家具，其中包括米色扶手椅、办公椅、台灯和茶几。美国驻阿尔巴尼亚大使馆（位于首都地拉那）想要甩卖几台发电机，美国驻葡萄牙大使馆（位于首都里斯本）的拍卖品多数是办公家具，但没有图片。美国驻瑞典大使馆（位于首都斯德哥尔摩）的拍卖品更加豪华一些，有许多装饰华丽的深色木质家具和枝形吊灯，还有一台踏步机。在贝尔格莱德（塞尔维亚共和国首都）的五个拍卖品中，有三个是八英尺（约合2.4米）高的新梯子。