英语中级翻译练习社会篇（附答案）十一

Lovers of Kennedy lore paid $5.5 million for some common possessions of former President John F. Kennedy and his family in an auction of art, furniture and other effects from their homes, Sotheby's said on Thursday.

A Chippendale-style slant-front secretary bookcase inlaid with the initials JFK and a version of the United States seal sold for $452,000. A portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy with her children Caroline and John Jr. painted by Aaron Shikler in 1968 fetched $216,000.

A rocking chair sold for $96,000. Rocking chairs were popular with the president to ease his severe back pain and were in all his homes.

The property was consigned by Caroline Kennedy, who plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from more than 600 lots to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Although the antique value of the items was just above $1 million, prices soared at auction because of their links with a family romanticized as America's political royalty.

Every lot on the block in the three-day auction found a buyer, with most items claiming high prices no matter how mundane they seemed.

A Louis Vuitton hatbox brought $54,000 compared with an estimated price of $100 to $200, and a doorstop valued at just $60 to $80 fetched $4,800.

The auction included family photos, chairs, tables, toys and glassware as well as artwork from Kennedy homes throughout the whole country and from their years in the White House.

A Sotheby's sale of 1,303 items after the death of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis fetched nearly $34.5 million, after a pre-sale estimate of $5 million.

"After my mother died in 1994, my brother and I were faced with the task of deciding what to do with her possessions, and after careful consideration, we sold some of them in 1996," the Kennedy daughter wrote in an introduction to the catalog.

"In the intervening years, and the death of my brother, I found myself again with more houses and belongings than I could possibly use or enjoy."