Question

    Shortly after World War Il, a Dutch art dealer was arrested for secretly selling paintings by Vermeer（1632-1675） to the Nazis who invaded Holland during the war. Because Vermeer is considered to be one of Holland’s best painters, the dealer was charged with selling national treasures to the enemy. To avoid the punishment for this serious crime, he admitted that the paintings were forgeries（伪造品）， or fakes he had painted them himself and fooled the art world and the Nazis. Today, experts agree that the forgeries do not look like Vermeer's other works, Why then, did the art world accept the fakes as real？

One reason why they were accepted was that the forgeries actually looked different than Vermeer's other works. The dealer had claimed that the forgeries were from an unknown period early in Vermeer's career. Because painters' styles often change throughout their careers, art historians at the time did not expect "the new discovery" to look exactly like the known works of Vermeer. In fact, because they did not look similar to the known works, experts did not bother to look at them carefully. This is because experts expect a forger to copy famous paintings as closely as possible. Once the art dealer's first forgeries were accepted as real, he was free to make more The others closely matched the first paintings in style, so they were also accepted as real Vermeer tings from the same early period.

Another reason experts were fooled is what some historians call The Emperor’s New Clothes Effects. In Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, two criminals convince an emperor that he is wearing beautiful clothes, when he is actually naked. No one in the empire wants to admit that they can’t see the clothes because they believe the clothes are magic and that only good people can see them. Similarly, the art world was influenced by the famous art historian Wilhelm von Bode, who said the forgeries were some of Vermeer's best works. Because von Bod was highly respected, other experts began praising the "new discoveries.” At the time, this made it difficult to criticize the paintings or suggest that they were fakes

1.Why did the art dealer admit that he had faked paintings？

A.He wanted to anger the Nazis

B.He wanted to prove he was a good painter

C.He felt bad about what he had done

D.He wanted to escape heavy punishment

2.Why didn’t experts expect the forgeries to look like Vermeer's known works？

A.The experts didn't carefully examine the paintings

B.Painters' styles vary during their careers

C.Painters often create forgeries to fool experts.

D.The paintings looked similar to Vermeer s earlier works

3.Why does the author mention the story The Emperor 's New Clothes？

A.To compare the works of Vermeer with those of Andersen

B.To suggest that Vermeer was the emperor of the art world

C.To explain how experts were fooled by the forgeries

D.To give an example of a forgery in the literary world

4.What is the best title for the text？

A.The Nazi invasion of Holland in World War II.

B.How von Bode influenced the art world

C.How some forgeries fooled the art world

D.The paintings of Vermeer's early period

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，以出自一名荷兰艺术品交易商之手的赝品成功蒙骗过纳粹以及艺术品鉴定专家的眼睛为例介绍了一些赝品是如何愚弄艺术界的。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段中的“To avoid the punishment for this serious crime, he admitted that the paintings were forgeries（伪造品）”可知，为了避免对这一严重罪行的惩罚，他承认这些画是伪造的，故D项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Because painters' styles often change throughout their careers, art historians at the time did not expect "the new discovery" to look exactly like the known works of Vermeer.”可知，因为画家的风格在他们的职业生涯中经常发生变化，所以当时的艺术史学家并不期望“新发现”看起来与维米尔的已知作品一模一样，故B项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据第三段中的“In Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, two criminals convince an emperor that he is wearing beautiful clothes, when he is actually naked. No one in the empire wants to admit that they can’t see the clothes because they believe the clothes are magic and that only good people can see them. Similarly, the art world was influenced by the famous art historian Wilhelm von Bode, who said the forgeries were some of Vermeer's best works. Because von Bod was highly respected, other experts began praising the "new discoveries”可知，在安徒生的故事《皇帝的新衣》中，两个罪犯让皇帝相信他穿着漂亮的衣服，而实际上他是赤身裸体的，国民中没有人愿意承认他们看不到衣服，因为他们相信衣服是魔法，只有好人才能看到。同样，艺术界也受到了著名艺术史学家威廉·冯·博德的影响，他说这些赝品是维米尔最好的作品之一，因为冯博德很受尊敬，其他专家开始称赞“新发现”，《皇帝的新衣》这个故事是愚弄人的，所以作者提到《皇帝的新衣》这个故事就是为了解释专家们是如何被伪造品愚弄的，故C项正确。

4.文章大意题。通读全文，特别是根据第一段中的“To avoid the punishment for this serious crime, he admitted that the paintings were forgeries（伪造品）， or fakes he had painted them himself and fooled the art world and the Nazis.”可知，文章以出自一名荷兰艺术品交易商之手的赝品成功蒙骗过纳粹以及艺术品鉴定专家的眼睛为例介绍了一些赝品是如何愚弄艺术界的，所以短文的最佳标题是“一些赝品是如何愚弄艺术界的”。故C项正确。