37 auction off; clear off; close out; go for a song; go for an old song; for a song; knock down; knock sth. down to sb. for; sell for a song; sell off; sell out; sell up

● 以上词组都意为“出售”之意，但各词组的出售方式有异。

● auction off为及物词组，故可用于被动，宾语多置于off之后，以拍卖卖出暂时无用之物。如：It was sad to see all grandmother’s lovely things being auctioned off.（看到祖母那些心爱的东西被拍卖掉真令人痛心。）The old magazines that were auctioned off turned out to be quite useless.（拍卖掉的旧杂志原来是完全无用的。）From time to time the store auctions off unwanted supplies of various kinds.（这家商店不时地拍卖掉各种不需要的存货。）The army is auctioning off a lot of old equipment. （军队正在把大量旧装备拍卖掉。）

● clear off是动副型词组，常指廉价处理物品，或清理东西，有时可用被动形式，多用于非正式文体。如：I’ll just clear all my papers off the table.（我正要把我所有的文件从桌子上清理掉。）The manager wants to clear off all the old stock in the warehouse.（经理想把仓库里所有积压的存货处理掉。）Finally we cleared off the debts.（我们最后把债务还清了。）You’d better clear off that work you’ve got on hand.（你最好把你手头的工作处理掉。）

● close out,动副型，美语俗语，意为“减价出售”商品，多用进行时。如：This toy shop is closing out everything next week.（这家玩具店下周要降价出售全部商品。）The store is closing out on Saturday. I’ll go and buy a skirt.（商店星期六有廉价货销售，我要去买一条裙子。）They want to close out a stock of goods.（他们要卖完存货。）The advertisement says that Smith and Company is closing out the entire supply of men’s summer suits at a great bargain.（广告上说，史密斯公司正在以很优惠的价格倾销所有的男式夏装。）

● go for a song是不可分的词组，作“廉价出售”之意时，常与go for an old song; sell for a song互换。也有介词词组for a song表“廉价的”。如：At the auction sale a fine old oak chest went for a song.（在拍卖中，有一个精致而古老的橡木柜子售价非常便宜。）This is a very fashionable area of town now, but when we first came the houses were going for a song.（这个市区现在是上流社会的人居住的地方，可是，我们刚搬来时，这里的房屋售价很低。） He found the car going for a song andbought it.（他发现这辆车售价非常便宜，就买下了。）At this market you can some times buy some very good pieces of furniture for a mere song.（在这个市场，有时候你能以非常便宜的价格买到几件好家具。）The old-fashioned clothes are going for an old song.（那些老式服装正以廉价出售。）The store sold the shoes for a song.（商店正廉价出售鞋子。）

● knock down,动副型，意为“低价出售”，也可用knock sth. down to sb. for...结构，可用被动形式。如：The best furniture was knocked down for a low price to a dealer. （这件高档家具被压价卖给一个商人。）The man was asking 30 pounds for the dress, but I knocked him down to 20.（这件衣服商要价30英镑，我使他把价格降到20英镑。）During the sale prices were knocked down twenty percent or more.（拍卖期间价格降低20%或更多。）The buyer knocked the price down ten dollars.（买主把价格降低了十美元。）

● sell off，动副型，侧重指因急需资金而“拍卖”“贱卖”，可被动。如：The store is selling these tin of fruit off at reduced prices because they’re slightly damaged.（商店正在廉价出售这些水果罐头，因为它们都稍有破损。）They are selling off their old television sets to make room for the latest models.（他们廉价出售库存的老式电视机以便腾出库房买进最新型号产品。）The store sold off its summer stock to be ready for the winter goods.（商店廉价卖出了夏季的存货准备买进冬季用品。）Everything was sold off by John to pay his father’s debts.（一切东西都被约翰卖光了，以偿付他父亲的欠债。）

● sell out，动副型，指“卖光”，一个不剩，并不一定廉价处理。主语可是被卖物，以主动形式表被动意义。也可用被动形式，也可用ed分词作表语，表示已卖完的状态。如：This record is entirely sold out.（这种唱片全卖完了。）Jackson sold out his share of the business and retried.（杰克逊卖掉企业的全部股份，退休了。）The first impression of the novel sold out within a week of publication.（小说第一次印刷在发行一周内已全部售完。）She could not get a loaf anywhere, every shop she went to was sold out.（她到哪儿也买不到一块面包，她所去的每一个商店都卖光了。）

● sell up，动副型，侧重“卖光”所有财物，常指变卖债务人的财产以抵债。可用被动语态。如：The news that Sir Cliff is to sell up and leave astonished his friends, according to the Daily Mail.（据《每日邮报》报道，克利夫爵士要卖掉全部家产后走人的消息令他的朋友们吃惊。）He advised Evens to sell up his house and move away to the country.（他建议伊文思卖掉房子，搬到乡下去住。）In the hard times before the last war, Jim’s father was sold up because he owed so mush money.（在上次大战前的那段苦难日子里，吉姆父亲的财物都被变卖抵债了，因为他负债累累。）John’s creditors have sold him up.（约翰的债主把他的财产变卖抵债。）