卡塔尔酋长1.794亿美元拍下毕加索世界名画

 　　A billionaire Qatari sheikh dubbed¹ "the man who bought London" was reportedly the anonymous² bidder³ who snapped up a Pablo Picasso masterpiece that smashed the world auction⁴ sale record.

　　一个被冠以“能买下伦敦的人”称号的亿万富翁卡塔尔酋长是拍下巴勃罗·毕加索名画的神秘买主，这次交易创下了世界拍卖行的新记录。

　　There has been intense speculation⁵ about the identity of the buyer who placed the winning $179.4 million (￡116 million) telephone bid for Les Femmes d'Alger at Christie's in Manhattan earlier this month.

　　对于这位通过电话竞标，于本月初在曼哈顿克利斯蒂拍卖行以1.794亿美元（合计1.16亿欧元）拍下《阿尔及利亚女人》的买主，外界一直在猜测其身份。

　　Art world sources have now told the New York Postthat the painting was acquired by Hamad bin⁶ Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former Qatari prime minister.

　　“艺术世界来源”告诉《纽约邮报》：该油画被贾西姆·阿勒萨尼收入囊中。他是卡塔尔前外交部长。

　　Qatar's ruling Al Thani clan⁷ has been pursuing an international artwork buying spree as it aims to turn the small energy-rich emirate into a global cultural power ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

　　统治卡塔尔的阿勒萨尼家族近来狂热收购世界艺术名作，打算在2022年世界杯前夕将这个能源富足的小酋长国打造成国际文化强国。

　　卡塔尔酋长1.794亿美元拍下毕加索世界名画

　　But Les Femmes d'Alger may never be displayed publicly in Qatar to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities because it depicts⁸ women's breasts, even though they were painted in the artist's highly stylised cubist form.

　　但是，为避免伊斯兰敏感话题，《阿尔及利亚女人》在卡塔尔可能永远不会被公开展示。因为油画中有女人的胸部，尽管艺术形式是高度抽象的立体画。

　　It could instead remain at one of the sheikh's multi-million pound homes in London or New York, the newspaper reported.

　　据报道，该幅名画可能就保存在这位酋长位于伦敦或纽约的百万豪宅中。

　　The Anglophile royal earned the nickname of the "man who bought London" after going on a buying spree in the city with his personal fortune and as head of the Qatar Investment Authority.

　　作为卡塔尔投资局局长，在伦敦用其私人财产疯购名作后，这位亲英派的酋长皇族成员获得了“能买下伦敦的人”的昵称。

　　The state agency invested in Harrod's, the London Shard⁹, Sainsbury's, Barclays and the Stock Exchange, while the Anglophile royal bought three apartments in the One Hyde Park development.

　　卡塔尔国家机关还投资了哈罗德百货公司、伦敦碎片大厦、塞恩斯伯里超市、巴克莱银行和英国证券交易所，而这位酋长国皇室成员则单独买下了海德公园一号的三座公寓。

　　He is also currently renovating¹⁰ a mansion¹¹ on Manhattan's Upper East Side that he bought for $47 million in 2012.

　　最近他还翻修了曼哈顿上东城的一座公馆。该公馆是他在2012年以4700万美元买下的。

　　Members of the royal family have used their oil and gas wealth to buy several masterpieces in recent years. Some were bought for private collections while others were acquired for a new national museum that will show off its art treasures when it opens next year.

　　近年来，不少卡塔尔皇室家族成员使用本国的石油和天然气财富购买了名作。有的作为私人收藏，其它的作为新国家博物馆的收藏，一年后开馆时其艺术珍宝可令人大开眼界。

　　Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani, the sister of Qatar's emir, was initially¹² reported to have been the buyerof the artwork that was previously¹³ the most expensive sold at auction a Francis Bacon triptychthat went under the hammer for $142 million in 2013.

　　梅萨公主是卡塔尔埃米尔的妹妹，弗朗西斯·培根的一副三联画在2013年以1.42亿美元卖出，成为当时该拍卖行有史以来最贵艺术品。最初媒体报道梅萨公主是该艺术品的买主。

　　But art world sources later said that the buyer who has not been officially identified was Elaine Wynn, the co-founder of a Las Vegas casino empire.

　　但“艺术世界来源”后来发表声明，称非官方证实的买主其实是伊莲·怀恩——拉斯维加斯皇家赌场的联合创始人。

　　Sheikha Mayassa, then head of the Qatar Museums Authority, previously bought "The Card Players" by Paul Cezanne last year for a reported $250 million in a private sale the highest-price paid for a painting at the time. Her family has also spent heavily on works by Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.

　　据报道，作为卡塔尔博物馆馆长的梅萨公主，去年从一个私人收藏家手里以2.5亿美元的创纪录高价买下保罗·塞尚的名作《玩纸牌的人》。她的家人同时还重金购买了马克·罗斯科、理查德·塞拉、李奇登斯坦、弗朗西斯培根、安迪·沃霍尔和杰夫·昆斯等名家的画作。

　　There was also speculation that the buyer of the Picasso this month might have been Asian as money from that continent, notably¹⁴ China, fuelled a record-breaking week of sales of nearly $2 billionat Christie's and Sotheby's in New York.

　　曾经有推测表示，本月这幅毕加索的名画可能是一名亚裔人士购买的，因为从亚洲，尤其是中国汇出的钱款创下了克利斯蒂拍卖行和纽约索斯比拍卖行一周近20亿美元交易的新纪录。

　　The Qatar embassy did not reply to a request for comment and the government rarely discusses the purchases of its ruling royals.

　　卡塔尔大使馆没有作出相关回应，该国政府也很少讨论其统治家族的购买行为。

　　Vocabulary

　　sheikh: 酋长

　　spree: 狂热行为

　　cubist: 立体派的

　　Anglophile: 亲英派的

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

3 bidder   

n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder.电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。
• The bidder withdrew his bid after submission of his bid.投标者在投标之后撤销了投标书。

4 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

5 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

6 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

7 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

8 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

9 shard   

n.（陶瓷器、瓦等的）破片，碎片

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air.目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。
• That's the same stuff we found in the shard.那与我们发现的碎片在材质上一样。

10 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

11 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

12 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。