2010年考研英语二阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

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.

艺术市场历史上最长的牛市以戏剧性的方式结束，2008年9月15日，达米恩·赫斯特的56件作品《Beautiful Inside My Head Forever》在伦敦苏富比拍卖行售出。除了两件作品外，其余全部卖出，总成交额超过7000万英镑，创下单一艺术家拍卖纪录。这是最后一次胜利。就在拍卖师喊价时，纽约华尔街最古老的银行之一雷曼兄弟申请破产。

The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly 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.

世界艺术市场自2003年以来令人困惑地上涨后，已经失去动力一段时间。研究公司Arts Economics的创始人克莱尔·麦克安德鲁估计，2007年高峰期时，市场价值约650亿美元，是五年前的两倍。自那以后，它可能已降至500亿美元。但这个市场引发的兴趣远超其规模，因为它汇集了巨大的财富、巨大的自我、贪婪、激情和争议，几乎没有其他行业能匹敌。

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, 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.

在Hirst拍卖后的几周和几个月里，任何形式的支出都变得非常不时尚。在艺术界，这意味着收藏家远离画廊和拍卖行。当代艺术品销售下降了三分之二，在最过热的领域，截至2008年11月的一年里，销售下降了近90%。几周内，世界两大拍卖行苏富比和佳士得不得不向委托出售作品的客户支付近2亿美元的保证金。

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 fluctuant. But Edward Dolman, Christie's chief executive, says: "I'm pretty confident we're at the bottom."

当前艺术市场的低迷是自1989年底日本人停止购买印象派作品以来最严重的一次。这次专家估计，价格平均比峰值下降了约40%，尽管有些波动更大。但佳士得首席执行官爱德华·多尔曼说：“我非常有信心我们已经触底。”

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.

他说，这次低迷与上次不同的是，市场上仍有买家。几乎所有接受此特别报告采访的人都表示，目前最大的问题不是需求不足，而是缺乏好的作品出售。三个D——死亡、债务和离婚——仍然将艺术品带入市场。但任何不必出售的人都在远离市场，等待信心恢复。