英語學習點: Buying and Selling 購買與銷售

Will Usain Bolt set another Olympic record? And will 2012 be Liu Xiang's year again? Now you can make sure you will be in a perfect position to answer these questions.

Tickets for the 2012 Olympic Games have gone on sale online, with sessions priced between ￡20 (212 yuan) and ￡2,012 (21,000 yuan).

Children under 17 will be able to 'pay-your-age' on some events and there are special concessions for old people too.

The new ticketing website for residents of the UK and some European nations is not run on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors have until 26 April to apply for tickets, after which time all applications will be treated equally.

Oversubscribed events will be decided by a ballot. On the UK site, there is no upfront cost, but money will be debited from Visa cards in May and June.

Lord Coe, the chairman of London 2012, thinks the Games will be a sell-out.

Fewer than twenty-five per cent of the tickets are being reserved for fans outside Europe, which can be bought from specially-appointed organisations.

In an effort to stop ticket touting, the British government plan to raise the maximum penalty from ￡5,000 (53,000 yuan) to ￡20,000 (212,000 yuan).

However, there are likely to be many online scams, so before you part with your hard-earned cash, check that you are buying tickets from your country's authorised vendor.