题目

13. In the art world that meant collectors stayedaway from galleries and salerooms. Sales ofcontemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the mostoverheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% inthe year to November 2008.The author mentions sales of contemporary art toshow that ___.A. Auction houses made lots of money.B. Few collectors went to buy artworks.C. Owners didn't want to sell their works.D. No one bought any art at all.

13. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. The author mentions sales of contemporary art to show that ___. A. Auction houses made lots of money. B. Few collectors went to buy artworks. C. Owners didn't want to sell their works. D. No one bought any art at all.

题目解答

答案

这是一道英语阅读理解中的细节推断题。我们需要根据给定的文段，分析作者提到“当代艺术品销售额（sales of contemporary art）”是为了说明什么。

1. 分析原文逻辑：

  • 第一句： "In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms."（在艺术界，这意味着收藏家们远离了画廊和拍卖行。）
    • 这句话提出了一个核心现象：作为买家的“收藏家（collectors）”不再去画廊和拍卖行了。
  • 第二句： "Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008."（当代艺术品的销售额下降了三分之二，而在最过热的领域，到2008年11月的一年中，销售额下降了近90%。）
    • 这句话紧接着第一句，用具体的数据（销售额大幅下降）来佐证第一句中提到的现象。销售额大幅下降的直接原因就是买家（收藏家）不来了。

2. 逐一分析选项：

  • A. Auction houses made lots of money.（拍卖行赚了很多钱。）

    • 原文指出销售额（Sales）大幅下降（fell by two-thirds, down by nearly 90%），这意味着交易减少，拍卖行的佣金收入必然减少，而不是赚了很多钱。此选项与文意相反，排除。

  • B. Few collectors went to buy artworks.（很少有收藏家去买艺术品。）

    • 原文第一句说收藏家们“stayed away（远离/不来）”画廊和拍卖行，第二句用销售额的暴跌来具体展示这一后果。因为买家少了，所以销售额才大幅下降。这个选项完美契合了作者引用数据的意图，即说明买家（收藏家）很少去购买艺术品了。

  • C. Owners didn't want to sell their works.（拥有者不想卖他们的作品。）

    • 原文强调的是买方（collectors）缺席，并没有提到卖方（owners）不愿意出售。销售额下降是因为没人买，而不是没人卖。此选项无中生有，排除。

  • D. No one bought any art at all.（没有人买任何艺术品。）

    • 原文说销售额下降了三分之二或近90%，这表示销售额大幅减少，但并没有降到零。"No one... at all"（没有人……完全）的表述过于绝对，不符合事实，排除。

结论：
作者提到当代艺术品销售额的大幅下降，是为了用具体数据来证明前一句的观点：收藏家们不再去画廊和拍卖行购买艺术品了。也就是说，很少有收藏家去买艺术品了。

因此，正确答案是 B. Few collectors went to buy artworks.

解析

本题考查英语阅读理解中的细节推断能力。解题的关键在于理解文段中前后句子之间的逻辑关系，通过分析销售额下降这一现象来推断作者的意图。

  1. 首先明确文段第一句 “In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms.” 指出了一个核心现象，即收藏家们远离了画廊和拍卖行，也就是作为买家的收藏家不再去购买艺术品的场所。
  2. 接着看第二句 “Sales of contemporary art fell by two - thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008.”，这里给出了当代艺术品销售额大幅下降的具体数据。这一数据是对第一句中收藏家不来购买艺术品这一现象的具体佐证，因为买家少了，所以销售额才会大幅降低。
  3. 然后对各选项进行分析：
    • 选项A：“Auction houses made lots of money.”，原文表明销售额大幅下降，拍卖行的佣金收入会相应减少，而不是赚了很多钱，所以该选项与文意不符，排除。
    • 选项B：“Few collectors went to buy artworks.”，与我们前面分析的原文逻辑一致，销售额下降是因为收藏家很少去购买艺术品，该选项正确。
    • 选项C：“Owners didn't want to sell their works.”，原文强调的是买方（收藏家）的情况，并没有提及卖方（拥有者）不想出售作品，该选项无中生有，排除。
    • 选项D：“No one bought any art at all.”，原文说销售额下降了三分之二或近90%，并非降到零，“No one... at all”表述过于绝对，不符合文意，排除。