On Tuesday August 11th, 1911, a young artist, Louis Beraud, arrived at the Louvre（卢浮宫） in Paris to complete a painting of the Salon Carre（卡雷沙龙，卢浮宫的画廊名）. This was the room where the world 's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci（列奥那多·达·芬奇）, was on display. To his surprise there was an empty space where the painting should have been. At 11 o'clock the museum authorities realized that the painting had been stolen. The next day headlines all over the world announced the theft.

 

这一天是1911年8月11日，星期二，一位年轻的艺术家路易斯·贝劳德来到了巴黎卢浮宫的卡雷沙龙画廊完成一幅油画，在这条画廊里陈列着世界上最著名的油画——列奥纳多·达·芬奇创作的《蒙娜丽莎》。令路易斯感到吃惊的是，本该挂着油画的地方却是空空荡荡的。中午11时博物馆馆方意识到这幅名画已经被盗了。第二天全球各大报刊的头条新闻都报道了《蒙娜丽莎》被盗的消息。

Actually the Leonardo had been gone for more than twenty-four hours before anyone noticed it was missing. The museum was always closed on Mondays for maintenance（维修）. Just before closing time on Sunday three men had entered the museum, where they had hidden themselves in a storeroom. The actual theft was quick and simple. Early the next morning Perrugia removed the painting from the wall while the others kept watch. Then they went out a back exit.

实际上，直到达·芬奇的这幅画被盗24小时后才有人发现此事。每逢星期一卢浮宫都要闭馆例行保养文物。就在星期天，有三个人进入了博物馆并藏在贮藏室里。他们的盗窃行动迅速而简单，第二天一大早，三个盗贼之一佩鲁吉亚从墙上取下《蒙娜丽莎》，其余两个为他望风，然后他们从后门溜走逃得无影无踪了。

Nothing was seen or heard of the painting for two years when Perrugia tried to sell it to a dealer for half a million lire（里拉）. Perrugia was arrested on December 13th. Perrugia claimed he had stolen it as an act of patriotism（爱国主义）, because, he said, the painting had been looted from the Italian nation by Napoleon（拿破仑）. Perrugia was imprisoned for seven months. It seemed that the crime of the century had been solved.

《蒙娜丽莎》在被盗后的两年间一直杳无音迅，直到有一天佩鲁吉亚想以50万里拉卖给一个文物贩子时，人们才重新见到它。佩鲁吉亚于1913年12月13日被捕，他宣称偷《蒙娜丽莎》之举完全是出于爱国心。他说，卢浮宫的这幅画是被拿破仑从意大利抢劫来的。佩鲁吉亚为此被判了7个月的*，看来这个世纪奇案好像是解决了。

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