The Truth Is Out
Human beings are not born liars, but the moment we can form complete sentences we begin lying to protect the feelings of others, to avoid punishment and conflict, and, most frequently, because lying gives advantages the truth wouldn’t provide. Lying gets results.
One study by Bella DePaulo, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, found lies played a part in 30-38 percent of people’s social interactions. Socially skillful people told a lot more lies than their more awkward coworkers.
Nowhere is this more obvious than on the singles scene. First dates have always involved a certain amount of self-boast, but some singles now regard out-and-out deceit (欺骗) as a reasonable strategy.
Experts believe that increased competition and the higher expectations among singles, along with the popularity of Internet dating, are encouraging outbreaks of deceitfulness. The problem is that many singles are presenting images of themselves that are impossible to live up to, and costing their already limited chances of long-term love in the process.
Of course, long-term lovers aren’t immune (不受影响) to the conflict-avoiding, problem-burying lie either. Once again, a pleasant singles scene coupled with unrealistic expectations has put new pressure on less-than-faultless relationships and tempted many into more serious deception. A study last year by Cahoot found that a majority of partners lie to each other about their personal financial situation. Other studies have found that women appreciate wise lies about their weight or looks.
Possibly. After all, few of us feel that lying is wrong any more.
| A．Lying, it seems, is becoming an acceptable and even admirable social skill. |
| B．A lie is only wrong because it might be discovered, and cause hurt and upset. |
| C．But the Cahoot research also showed that lying is on increasingly difficult ground. |
| D．We, as a result, are all on the receiving end of a great many more lies than in the past. |
| E．They are so emotionally and intellectually evolved now that they are lying more, on a regular basis. |
| F．They either stop potential lovers by asking for too much, or they invite lies that will be discovered quickly. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Chinese culture values family bonds very much. Family members don't just gather during the holidays .In fact they often live under one roof all year round.
In most East Asian cultures, extended families are common.
Atlantic, 90 percent of children in Shanghai and 70 percent of children in Beijing were cared for by their grandparents. Chinese people believe that "a grandparent is a treasure to their family".
In many Western countries, most families are nuclear families （小家庭）. These are solely made up of children and their parents.
Additionally, the duties parents have toward their children can also differ.
It's normal for parents to pay for their children's college, help them find a job, or buy them an apartment. Chinese adults also follow their parents' opinions when making major life decisions, more often than not.
In most Western countries, however, kids usually move out of the house after they turn 18.
While the East cares more about close family bonds, the West values privacy and independence.
| A．These families have three or even four generations living together |
| B．Nuclear families are the most common type in China. |
| C．In China, many parents look after their children all the way into adulthood. |
| D．Different cultures have different family values. |
| E．But in the end, home is best 一 east or west. |
| F．Many young people going to college often need to take out loans and work part-time jobs in order to pay for tuition and rent. |
| G．Both Easterners and Westerners value quality family time. |
【推荐2】Complaining happens a lot, probably much more than we even realize. Complaining is easy to do, but it’s not good for us. Doctors have found that people who complain about their health can actually worsen the symptoms of their disease.
If complaining is so harmful, why do we complain? Many people complain to get attention.
You can have gratitude (感激) or take action to find solutions rather than just complain about problems.
But how can you stop yourself from complaining? It requires a plan. You could start by not complaining about anything for a week. It won’t be easy but it can be done. When we stop complaining about what’s missing in our lives and start being thankful for all we have, life changes for the better.
| A．Anyone can complain. |
| B．So, complain no more! |
| C．Complaining makes no sense. |
| D．Complaining does harm to health. |
| E．Complaining also hurts our relationships. |
| F．Dissatisfaction does not have to lead to complaining. |
| G．They use complaining as a means to draw attention to themselves. |
| A. Manufacturing industry in information economy B. News in the age of information C. Argument about individual accounts and their reliability D. Be your own investigative journalist E. Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers. F. Information is presented in an entertaining way. |
1. ______
With the arrival of the age of “information economy”, intellectual work is becoming a more important source of wealth than manufacturing. Organizations in all walks of life are doing more to spread their information. So people of the Public Relations are hired to speak for them. A lot of our news is actually collected from press releases and reports of events intentionally staged for journalists. In the information age, journalists spend their time, not investigating, but passing on the words of a spokesperson.
2. ______
There is a joke in the novel Scoop about the newspaper’s owner, Lord Copper. The editors can never disagree with him. When he’s right about something they answer “definitely”, and when he’s wrong they say “to some extent, Lord Copper.” It seems reasonable to suppose that, in the real world, the opinions of such powerful people still influence the journalists and editors who work for them.
3. ______
In countries where the news is not officially controlled, it is likely to be provided by commercial organizations who depend on advertising. The news has to attract viewers and maintain its audience ratings. I suspect that some stories get air-time just because there happen to be exciting pictures to show. In Britain, we have the tabloid newspapers which millions of people read simply for entertainment. There is progressively less room for historical background, or statistics, which are harder to present as a sensational story.
4. ______
There is an argument that with spreading access to the internet and cheap technology for recording sound and images we will all be able to find exactly the information we want. People around the world will be able to publish their own eye-witness accounts and compete with the widely-accepted news-gatherers on equal terms. But what it will mean also is that we’ll be subjected to a still greater amount of nonsense and lies. Any web log may contain the latest information of the year, or equally, a made-up story that you will never be able to check.
5. ______
Maybe the time has come to do something about it, and I don’t just mean changing your choice of TV channel or newspaper. In a world where everyone wants you to listen to their version, you only have two choices: switch off altogether or start looking for sources you can trust. The investigative journalist of the future is everyone who wants to know the truth.
【推荐1】Automation (自动化) was a hot topic. Nearly everyone agreed that people would be working less once computers and other kinds of automatic machinery became widespread. For optimists, this was a promise of liberation: At last humanity would be freed from constant toil, and we could all devote our days to more refined pursuits. But others saw a threat: Millions of people would be thrown out of work, and desperate masses would roam the streets. Looking back from 50 years hence, the controversy over automation seems a quaint and curious episode. The dispute was never resolved.
A. J. Hayes, a leader (and no relation to me), wrote in 1964: Automation is not just a new kind of mechanization but a revolutionary force capable of overturning our social order. Whereas mechanization made workers more efficient — and thus more valuable — automation threatens to make them superfluous (过剩的) — and thus without value. The opinions I have cited here represent extreme positions, and there were also many milder views. But I think it’s fair to say that most early students of automation, including both critics and enthusiasts, believed the new technology would lead us into a world where people worked much less.
As for economic consequences, worries about unemployment have certainly not gone away — not with job losses in the current recession approaching 2 million workers in our country alone. But recent job losses are commonly attributed to causes other than automation, such as competition from overseas or a roller-coaster financial system. In any case, the vision of a world where machines do all the work and people stand idly by has simply not come to pass.
The spread of automation outside of the factory has altered its social and economic impact in some curious ways. In many cases, the net effect of automation is not that machines are doing work that people used to do. Instead we’ve dispensed with the people who used to be paid to run the machines, and we’ve learned to run them ourselves. These trends contradict almost all the expectations of early writers on automation, both optimists and pessimists. So far, automation has neither liberated us from the need to work nor deprived (剥夺) us of the opportunity to work. Instead, we’re working more than ever.
What about trades closer to my own vital interests? Will science be automated? Technology already has a central role in many areas of research; for example, genome sequences could not be read by traditional lab-bench methods. Replacing the scientist will presumably be a little harder than replacing the lab technician, but when a machine exhibits enough curiosity and tenacity, I think we’ll just have to welcome it as a companion in zealous research. And if the scientist is elbowed aside by an automaton, then surely the science writer can’t hold out either. I’m ready for my 15-hour workweek.
1. In Paragraph 1, the writer mainly wants to convey that ________.| A．automation results in unemployment |
| B．automation does more harm than good |
| C．the issue of automation was still in discussion |
| D．automation brings in much convenience in life |
| A．automation is more valuable than what we imagine |
| B．automation is a revolutionary force to better development |
| C．the disadvantages of automation far outweigh the advantages |
| D．the new technology would lead people into working much less |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. | C．Disapproving. | D．Neutral. |
| A．People needn’t work so hard due to automation. |
| B．Traditional labor force will be replaced in the near future. |
| C．Automation should be accepted reasonably in development. |
| D．Automation results in more job losses in the writer’s country. |
【推荐2】As the coronavirus spreads, remote work arrangements preserve continuity and allow people to stay busy doing something familiar during a time of crisis. At first glance, telecommuting (远程办公) might not seem so bad.
While it works well for some, it doesn’t for everyone. Working remotely has widespread negative consequences, including people spending time working that they might otherwise have spent with family or friends – because they can easily cross their work-life boundaries, they end up working longer hours.
People who telecommute may also have trouble freeing themselves from work and from the technology that enables it, which contributes to the harmful consequences of reducing face-to-face time and personal interactions. When humans rely on technology, we may forget how essential these interactions are to human happiness.
As a university professor, my days consist of social interactions with students and colleagues. I generally find those conversations and the resulting relationships inspiring and rewarding. The coronavirus situation means that countless teachers like me face the possibility of standing in front of a camera instead of a classroom. I’d prefer doing that to canceling class, but I can’t help wondering whether my job, along with so many others, is about to experience a great and potentially permanent change.
I wonder how many faculty members might be laid off if the university decides teaching remotely is good enough, or how many people will be let go when their bosses realize they don’t need to show up every day, or even at all. Finally, here’s the most important question: whether people believe their firsthand, lived experiences can be replaced – and not just during a pandemic (大流行病).
The coronavirus will accelerate our rush into the arms of technology. Ironically, our faith in technology may end up speeding up our own obsolescence (过时).
1. According to the text, what may telecommuting result in?| A．Shortened working hours. |
| B．Loss of personal freedom. |
| C．Increased family happiness. |
| D．Fewer personal interactions. |
| A．She loves teaching in front of a camera. |
| B．She enjoys popularity among her students. |
| C．She considers social interactions to be beneficial. |
| D．She’s concerned about the spread of coronavirus. |
| A．Anxiety over the future. |
| B．Expectation of education. |
| C．Views on unemployment. |
| D．Love for lived experience. |
| A．Fashion. | B．Opinion. |
| C．Health. | D．Events. |
【推荐3】Amber has a degree in business management and economics.She put her skills to good use when she spent eleven months in Cambodia (柬埔寨) through World Hope International as a volunteer working with a local micro－finance (小额信贷) company to help the poor get financial services.
Amber's first few weeks in Cambodia was busy and difficult as she tried to learn the language，understand the culture and get used to her new surroundings.Her volunteer service involved working with a local micro－finance company.In addition to writing plans，preparing international marketing materials and building donor (捐赠人) relations，Amber met with company clients.During these visits she learned how the small loans they received transformed their lives.She learned first－hand the benefits of micro－finance，which by providing farmers and small－business owners with affordable working capital (such as money to buy a sewing machine) helped them to earn their way out of poverty (贫穷)．
“It never stopped amazing me when a client would show me a new home that was built because of a loan he received or the way a client's business had improved and thus allowed his children to be sent to school，” Amber said.
Amber recalled that one client called Paul walked her all around his house，pointing to what he had done with each of eight loans he'd received.He explained how every loan had improved his family's quality of life.Amber said he was one of the hardest－working men she had ever met.He had suffered greatly in the Cambodian Civil War and became disabled，but not once did he let it kill his dreams of realizing a better life for his family.His latest purchase，a sound system that he rented out for weddings and other parties doubled his income!
Amber said，“Living and working in Cambodia helped me see the world in new ways and made me aware of the hardship and suffering that many people around the world face every day.Those eleven months were some of the most meaningful months of my life.”
1. What's the best title for this passage?| A．World Hope International |
| B．Benefits of Micro－finance |
| C．Amber's Volunteer Experience in Cambodia |
| D．Poverty in Developing Countries |
| A．teaching the language |
| B．meeting with company clients |
| C．writing plans |
| D．building donor relations |
| A．Amber met with no difficulties after she arrived in Cambodia |
| B．Amber is the leader of World Hope International |
| C．few children go to school because there aren't enough schools in Cambodia |
| D．many local people in Cambodia changed their lives with the loans |
| A．Each of the loans he had received helped him a lot. |
| B．He was poor because he didn't work as hard as others. |
| C．He became disabled because of a car accident. |
| D．He bought a sound system for his wedding. |
