酷兔英语

What happens to stolen art?

A gang of robbers is sitting on a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream - valued at between $60m and $75m - after bundling it out of a Norwegian museum. But what can they do with it - and would anyone buy it?

When James Bond villain Dr No displayed Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington in his lair, he launched the myth of masterpieces being "stolen to order" for criminal masterminds.

The painting had just been stolen in real life and the joke for viewers was that Dr No had been behind the heist all along.

Now, every time a high-profile work of art is stolen, the possibility of it being stolen to order by a Mr Big is raised.

It looks good in the movies - but does not happen in real life, according to Jean-Pierre Jouanny, an expert in Interpol's stolen art section.

Instead, there are limited possibilities for a thief with a famous stolen painting on his hands.

The most likely is that it will be held for ransom, with demands for money in exchange for the painting's return, Mr Jouanny said.

"I have been working in this field for 25 years now and very often we have requests for money to exchange the painting."

Well-publicized loot is impossible to sell on the legal market, he said - but as for "the black market, we never know".

The other possibility, Mr Jouanny said, was that the thief may just like the painting.

One man, Stephane Breitwieser, 32, stole hundreds of works of art worth £1bn from galleries in France, Germany and Switzerland to hang on his own walls.

But he lived with his mother, who destroyed them because she was afraid the police would find them.

Art and antiques worth £300m-500m are stolen in the UK every year, according to the National Criminal Intelligence Service - most by "low level criminals".

But the size of the global art market is also attractive to organised gangs - and stolen items can be moved around the world "with a low risk of detection", a spokesman for the service said.

"We know that organized criminals steal art and antiques to raise funds for other crime," the spokesman said.

And if cash is not forthcoming, gangs have been known to use paintings in deals for weapons or drugs.

世界名画被盗后将"何去何从"?

一伙强盗从挪威博物馆匆匆卷走了爱德华·蒙克的名画《呐喊》后,并不急于将画脱手。这幅画的价值在6000到7500万美元之间。他们会如何处置这幅画呢?会有人买这副画吗?

在007系列影片中,当詹姆士·邦德的对手诺博士在密室里展示西班牙画家戈雅的肖像画《惠灵顿公爵》时,他已经为犯罪策划者们开创了"专门偷盗"名画这一虚构的故事情节。

然而在现实生活中,确实有名画被盗。引人发笑的是,影片中诺博士一直是盗窃的幕后黑手。

因此,现在,每当一幅艺术珍品被盗,人们就会猜想这可能是专门为某位大人物偷盗的。

而国际刑警组织下属的被盗艺术品调查组专家吉恩·皮埃尔·茹阿尼表示,这种情况出现在电影中合情合理,但不会发生在现实生活中。

而被盗名画留在盗贼手里的可能性也很小。

茹阿尼先生说,最可能的情况是盗贼为了获得赎金暂时保留名画,然后要求用钱赎回名画。

"我已经在这一行工作了25年,我们经常会收到用钱赎画的要求。"

他说,广为人知的赃物是不可能在合法的市场上出售的,但是,"至于黑市,我们就不知道了"。

茹阿尼说还有一种可能是盗贼只是因为喜欢这幅画(而盗窃它)。

32岁的斯特凡·布赖特韦泽从法国、德国和瑞士的艺术陈列馆里盗走了价值总额高达10亿英镑的数百幅名画,只是为了把它们挂在自家的墙上。

然而,和他住在一起的母亲因为害怕警察发现而把所有的画都毁掉了。

国家犯罪情报局的数字显示,英国每年有价值3到5亿英镑的名画和古董被盗,而且大都是"低水平的罪犯"所为。

世界艺术品市场的规模对有组织的犯罪团伙也很有吸引力。被盗的物品可以在全世界范围内转移,而"被发现的可能性很小",该情报局的发言人说。

该发言人说,"我们知道这些有组织的犯罪团伙偷盗名画和古董,是为了给其它犯罪行为提供资金。"

如果罪犯不能立刻拿到现金,他们可能会要求用名画来交换武器或毒品。
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生词表:
  • version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.翻译;说明;译本 四级词汇
  • norwegian [nɔ:´wi:dʒən] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.&n.挪威人(语)(的) 四级词汇
  • villain [´vilən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.坏人;恶棍;反面角色 四级词汇
  • spokesman [´spəuksmən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.发言人 六级词汇
  • forthcoming [,fɔ:θ´kʌmiŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.即将到来的 六级词汇