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A painting from Claude Monet's Haystacks series has sold for $110.7 million, making it the most expensive impressionist artwork ever to be bought at auction, according to Sotheby's in New York. While the hammer price, the highest bid, came in just under $100 million, the addition of a buyer's premium—the fee charged by auction houses—took the final price to $110.7 million.

Monet’s Meules (Haystacks) sold at Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist & Modern Art on Tuesday night. The auction house says it’s a world auction record for the artist and the first work of Impressionist art to cross the $100 million threshold at auction. It took six bidders just eight minutes to reach a record-breaking sum for the oil painting, which went to an anonymous bidder.

The 1890 painting is one of only four works from Monet’s acclaimed “Haystacks” series to come to auction this century, and one of only eight examples remaining in private hands. The 17 others reside at museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The previous owners had purchased the painting in 1986 for $2.53 million. Sotheby’s did not provide any details on the new buyer. It is now the ninth most expensive painting ever to be sold at auction, a list currently topped by Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which went for $450 million at Christie's in New York in 2017.

1.What did Claude Monet do?

A A painter.

B An auctioneer.

C An art collector.

D A gallery manager.

解析：选A。细节理解题。根据第一段A painting from Claude Monet's Haystacks series has sold for $110.7 million可推测Claude Monet是一位画家，故选A。

2.What’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined word “anonymous” in Paragraph 2?

A 富有的.

B 优雅的.

C 著名的.

D 匿名的.

解析：选D。词义猜测题。根据最后一段Sotheby’s did not provide any details on the new buyer.苏富比拍卖行并未透露有关新买家的任何信息。可以猜测，这是一位匿名买家，故选D。

3.Monet’s Meules was created ______.

A in 17th century

B in 18th century

C in 19th century

D in 20th century

解析：选C。细节理解题。根据第三段The 1890 painting is one of only four works from Monet’s acclaimed Haystacks series to come to auction this century...可知这幅拍卖的《干草堆》创作于1890年，也就是19世纪，故选C。

4.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A The hammer price of Meules exceeded $100 million.

B It took six bidders eight minutes to reach a record-breaking sum for Meules.

C Meules was sold at Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York.

D Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was the most expensive painting ever to be sold at auction.

解析：选A。细节理解题。根据第一段While the hammer price, the highest bid, came in just under $100 million...可知《干草堆》的落槌价没有1亿美元，故选A。