价值1亿6千万美元的油画重返博物馆

Long-lost $160 Million Painting Returned to Museum

This is What’s Trending Today.

An abstract¹ painting called “Woman-Ochre” is a work of the famous Dutch-American artist William de Kooning.

The painting used to hang in The University of Arizona Museum of Art.

That is until “Woman-Ochre” was stolen from the museum in 1985.

It had not been seen since then.

But that changed recently when a man who sells artwork and furniture visited a home in a small town in New Mexico.

David Van Auker sells old furniture and paintings in his store in Silver City, New Mexico. He was invited to a home nearby to see if there was anything he wanted to buy so he could sell it in his store.

At first, Van Auker thought he found a print of the de Kooning painting. Upon a closer look, however, he realized it was real paint on canvas².

Van Auker thought perhaps the home’s former owner liked to paint and made a copy.

Eventually, he bought the painting and everything else in the home for $2,000.

When Van Auker put the painting up for sale at his store, some people said they thought it was an original.

That made him think. So he researched the painting and found a story from a newspaper in Arizona. The headline read: “De Kooning Painting Valued at More Than $100 Million Missing³ for 30 Years.”

The painting looked exactly like the one he had in his hands.

So he called the university and told the museum he thought he had its missing painting.

After a number of telephone calls, Van Auker took photos and emailed them to the university. They were sure he had something important. So the next day, a number of people drove about three hours to Silver City.

The group borrowed the painting and brought it back to the school in Tucson. After careful study, they decided⁴ it was the original, stolen 32 years ago.

De Kooning made the painting in the 1950s. A similar painting sold in 2006 for $137.5 million. Experts say the recovered “Woman-Ochre” may be worth $160 million.

Meg Hagyard is the acting⁵ director of the museum. She thanked Van Auker for returning the painting.

She called its recovery⁶ a “monumental moment for the museum.”

Van Auker said the experience of finding⁷ the lost painting was “one of the most important moments in my life.”

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Dan Friedell.

Words in This Story

abstract – adj. expressing ideas and emotions by using colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture

canvas – n. a specially⁸ prepared piece of cloth on which a picture can be painted

headline – n. words set the top of a newspaper story

original – n. that from which a copy or reproduction is made

monumental – adj. very important

moment – n. a brief period of time; present time

1 abstract   

adj.抽象的；n.摘要，梗概；vt.提取；摘录要点

参考例句：

• He is an abstract painter.他是一个抽象派画家。
• He made an abstract of a long article.他对一篇长文章做了摘要。

2 canvas   

n.粗帆布，一块油画布

参考例句：

• The times that people used canvas boat have become history.人们用帆船的时代已成为历史。
• Smith painted an oil painting on the canvas.史密斯在画布上画了一幅油画。

3 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 recovery   

n.恢复，痊愈；追回，寻回，收复

参考例句：

• The doctors said that his recovery was a miracle. 医生们说他的复原是件奇事。
• The quick recovery was truly in response to medication.这次迅速康复确实是对药物治疗的反应。

7 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

8 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。