On Tuesday August 11th, 1911, in the room where the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, was on display, there was an empty space where the painting should have been．The next day headlines all over the world announced the theft．

Actually the Leonardo had been long gone．The museum was always closed on Mondays for maintenance(维修)．Just before closing time on Sunday three men had entered the museum, and hid themselves in a storeroom．Early next morning, they took the painting and left．

Nothing was seen or heard of the painting for two years until Perrugia tried to sell it to a dealer for half a million lire．Perrugia was arrested and imprisoned for seven months．It seemed that the crime of the century had been solved．

But had it? Perrugia claimed all responsibility for the theft, and it was twenty years before the whole story came out．In fact Perrugia had been working for Valfierno and Chaudron, who went unpunished for their crime．They would offer to steal a famous painting from a gallery(美术馆) for a dishonest dealer or private collector．They would then make a copy of the picture and, with the help of bribed(受贿的) gallery workers, would then attach the copy to the back of the original painting．The dealer would then be taken to the gallery and make a secret mark on the back of the painting．Of course the dealer would actually be marking the copy．After having been given the marked painting, if the dealer were to see the painting still in the gallery, he would be persuaded that it was a copy, and that he possessed the genuine one．

This time, however, they stole the original．Before Perrugia was arrested, Valfierno and Chaudron had gone to New York．Valfierno told the story to a journalist in 1914, on condition that it would not be published until his death．

Does the story end there? Collectors have claimed that Perrugia returned a copy．It is also possible that Leonardo may have painted several versions of the Mona Lisa, or they might be copies made by Leonardo’s pupils．There has been a lot of argument about the 450-year-old painting, but after all, maybe that’s what she’s smiling about．

1.The Mona Lisa was stolen on _________．

A．August 9^th            B．August 10^th       C．August 11^th       D．August 12^th

2.Choose the right time order of the following events．

a．Valfierno told the story to a journalist．   b．Perrugia was arrested．

c．The truth was published．                d．The Mona Lisa was stolen．

e．Valfierno went to New York．         f．The theft was announced．

A．d, f, b, e, a, c     B．d, f, e, b, a, c     C．d, f, b, e, c, a     D．f, d, e, b, c, a

3.We can infer from the passage that _________．

A．In most cases, Valfierno did not sell the original paintings

B．The Mona Lisa was painted 45 years ago

C．Perrugia returned a copy

D．Perrugia was not to blame for the theft

4.All of the following about Valfierno and Chaudron are true EXCEPT_________．

A．They stole paintings and then sold them to dishonest dealers．

B．They were not punished for stealing the Mona Lisa．

C．They kept the story to themselves until death．

D．They sometimes bribed gallery workers to help them．

 

（2010年重庆市高考仿真试卷三E篇）

On Tuesday August 11th, 1911, in the room where the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, was on display, there was an empty space where the painting should have been．The next day headlines all over the world announced the theft．

Actually the Leonardo had been long gone．The museum was always closed on Mondays for maintenance(维修)．Just before closing time on Sunday three men had entered the museum, and hid themselves in a storeroom．Early next morning, they took the painting and left．

Nothing was seen or heard of the painting for two years until Perrugia tried to sell it to a dealer for half a million lire．Perrugia was arrested and imprisoned for seven months．It seemed that the crime of the century had been solved．

But had it? Perrugia claimed all responsibility for the theft, and it was twenty years before the whole story came out．In fact Perrugia had been working for Valfierno and Chaudron, who went unpunished for their crime．They would offer to steal a famous painting from a gallery(美术馆) for a dishonest dealer or private collector．They would then make a copy of the picture and, with the help of bribed(受贿的) gallery workers, would then attach the copy to the back of the original painting．The dealer would then be taken to the gallery and make a secret mark on the back of the painting．Of course the dealer would actually be marking the copy．After having been given the marked painting, if the dealer were to see the painting still in the gallery, he would be persuaded that it was a copy, and that he possessed the genuine one．

This time, however, they stole the original．Before Perrugia was arrested, Valfierno and Chaudron had gone to New York．Valfierno told the story to a journalist in 1914, on condition that it would not be published until his death．

Does the story end there? Collectors have claimed that Perrugia returned a copy．It is also possible that Leonardo may have painted several versions of the Mona Lisa, or they might be copies made by Leonardo’s pupils．There has been a lot of argument about the 450-year-old painting, but after all, maybe that’s what she’s smiling about．

72．The Mona Lisa was stolen on _________．

A．August 9^th            B．August 10^th       C．August 11^th       D．August 12^th

73．Choose the right time order of the following events．

a．Valfierno told the story to a journalist．   b．Perrugia was arrested．

c．The truth was published．                d．The Mona Lisa was stolen．

e．Valfierno went to New York．         f．The theft was announced．

A．d, f, b, e, a, c     B．d, f, e, b, a, c     C．d, f, b, e, c, a     D．f, d, e, b, c, a

74．We can infer from the passage that _________．

A．In most cases, Valfierno did not sell the original paintings

B．The Mona Lisa was painted 45 years ago

C．Perrugia returned a copy

D．Perrugia was not to blame for the theft

75．All of the following about Valfierno and Chaudron are true EXCEPT_________．

A．They stole paintings and then sold them to dishonest dealers．

B．They were not punished for stealing the Mona Lisa．

C．They kept the story to themselves until death．

D．They sometimes bribed gallery workers to help them．