The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, Beauti

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问题     The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than £70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.
    The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.
    In the weeks and months that followed Mr. Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable. 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 — for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.
    The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more volatile. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: "I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom."
    What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce — still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.
Which of the following statements is NOT true?

选项 A、Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007 to 2008.
B、The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.
C、The market generally went downward in various ways.
D、Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.

答案C

解析 本题中没有明确的信息点,我们可以根据此类题目在五个题目中的位置判断该题在文中的命题位置。但是更通用的方法是在阅读文章之后根据各个选项提示的内容回到文章中逐一筛查,找到与文章某个语句表达内容一致的选项。本题A项涉及sales of contemporary art是否在2007年到2008年明显下降的问题,我们在文章第三段第三句话查阅到该信息点,内容与A项一致,由此确定A项陈述正确,不是本题答案;B项涉及艺术品市场是否在动力势头方面超越了其他产业的信息,我们在文章第二段最后一句话查阅到艺术品市场与其他产业比较的信息,其大意为:(艺术品)市场产生了远超过其规模的利益,巨大的财富、自我意识、贪婪、激情和正义都集中在了这里,从这个角度来说没有几个产业能与之相比,该信息与A项陈述的内容一致,所以B项陈述正确,不是本题答案:C项涉及艺术品市场是否以不同方式下降的问题,文章中的确说明了艺术品市场拍卖的下降,仅此而已,并未讨论其他不同的方式或者方面,由此判断C项推理过度,不符合文章内容;D项涉及艺术品经营者是否在等待好机会的问题,文章最后一句话提到该陈述句的信息,所以D项不是本题答案。
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