Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people. The more expensive kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place. But no one has to (1)muster up courage to enter a less pretentious antique shop. There is always hope that in its labyrinth of musty, dark, disordered rooms a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted junk that litter the floors.

No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have patience, and above all, the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as knowledgeable as the (2)dealer. Like a scientist (3)bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be amply rewarded.

After reading the last two paragraphs, you know what “bargain hunter” is?

Yes, that is “a person pursuing the cheap antiques just like a hunter”! We can use the word “hunter” in different ways, for example, as we know, when we buy cosmetics we are usually given some samples for free. But there are some people often asking for the free samples instead of buying the regular size cosmetics. Of course they’re not welcomed by shop assistants, who call them “sample hunters”.

In Britain, there is a TV show called “bargain hunt”. Two teams of two people are each given £200 which they have to spend on an object at an antique fair (=event at which people show and sell antiques). The objects are sold one week later at an auction. The team whose object makes the most profit is the winner.

That seems an interesting TV show!

解析：

（1）muster up=summon up 鼓起，振作

Finally I mustered up courage to ask her out. （我终于鼓起勇气约她出来。）

“It’s going to be fine." replied David, with as much confidence as he could muster. 戴维斯充满自信地说“会好起来的”。

（2）dealer：不是指“普通的卖东西的人(shop assistants)”，而是“someone who sells a particular product, especially an expensive one”（经销商）

例：

car dealer：卖车的；antique dealer：卖古董的；art dealer：卖艺术品的

a dealer in modern art 卖现代艺术品的

（3）bent on sth, bent on doing sth 决意要做某事

They seemed bent on destroying his career. 他们好像誓要毁了他前途。

My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere £50. One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my (1)neighborhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to interest him. The morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a large packing case lying on the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he (2)could not be bothered to open it. Frank begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents were disappointing. Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger, the box was full of crockery, much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature painting at the bottom of the packing case. As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him that it was worth £50. Frank could hardly conceal his excitement, for he knew that he had made a real discovery. The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and was worth thousands of pounds.

解析：

（1） neighborhood：n. an area of a town or city 街区

讲有关的两个词组：“in my neighborhood”和“in a neighborhood”以及"in the neighborhood"，样子差不多，意思却不同。

例：

She grew up in a quiet neighborhood of Boston. （她在波士顿一个安静的街区长大。）

The hotel is situated in a peaceful residential neighborhood. （这个酒店坐落在一个安静的居民区里。）

Is there a good Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood？ （附近有没有好的中餐馆？）

文中出现的"in my neighborhood"是“在我住的地方附近的街区”，"in a neighborhood"是泛指某一街区，"in the neighborhood"则是指说话者当下所处在的位置的附近。

注意：英式英语的书面语倾向于用“in my neighborhood”，口语倾向于用“where I live”。

如：there aren’t many bookshops around where I live.

（2）sb can’t/ couldn’t be bothered to do sth：（英式英语）used to say that you don’t want to make the effort to do sth, or that you are not interested in doing sth. （懒得去做某事，不愿去做某事）

例：

It was so hot and I couldn’t be bothered to cook. （天太热了，我懒得做饭。）

I should be revising, but I just can’t be bothered. （我应该复习，但我就是不想。）