Unit 5 The real truth about lies练习答案综合教程三

Unit 5 The Real Truth about Lies

Key to the Exercises

Text comprehension

I.

II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1. T (Refer to Paragraph 3. It is true that women tell lies because they care about others'

feelings, and men are more selfish; they tell lies generally for self-promoting purposes.)

2. T (Refer to Paragraph 5.)

3. T (Refer to Paragraph 6.)

4. F (Refer to Paragraph 12. Even seemingly harmless falsehoods, or white lies, can

have unforeseen consequences.)

5. F (Refer to Paragraph 16. There are still occasions where lies are acceptable.)

III. Answer the following questions.

1. Refer to Paragraphs 2-5. Professor DePaulo's study suggests that lying is a common

phenomenon and most of the lies we tell are small and insignificant. Meanwhile, as she

points out, it is common that people take lies lightly: their lies have caused them little

preoccupation or regret.

2. Refer to Paragraph 3. According to the passage, the purpose of telling lies or white

lies varies: women tell lies according to the principle of caring, or to spare other's feelings,

and men tell lies basically for utilitarian self-promoting purposes.

3. Refer to Paragraphs 7-10. The story of Tom supports the argument that little white

lies are ubiquitous, and people have taken such lies for granted, believing that they are

well-intended. When he consulted with Michael Josephson, the reply is very negative: his

mother-in-law may feel hurt when she discovers the deceit some day. Or even worse, she

may question: "And what else have you lied to me about?" In short, such white lies may

produce mistrust among people.

4. Refer to Paragraphs 12-15. The consequences of lying are three-fold: the deceived

may feel cheated and won't trust the liar anymore; the liar will lose trust and get

entangled in the lies he fabricates; and, if lies proliferate endlessly, society as a whole

would falter and collapse as trust is damaged or destroyed.

5. Refer to Paragraph 16. Not all white lies are unacceptable. Some falsehoods like

setting somebody up for a surprise party or telling children about the tooth fairy can be

justified. However, you have to consider the attitude of the deceived towards lying and

the consequences, i.e. whether your act will undermine his trust in you.

1

Decide which of the following best sums up the argument of the passage.

C

IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences.

1. When we start to tell a lie, we have entered a very intricate situation, as a lie often

requires further lies until the whole structure of lies becomes so complex that it ensnares

the liar.

2. One is less inhibited from lying; his ability to make moral right and wrong judgments

is dulled, and he may become less cautious against being caught.

3. The most understandable and acceptable lies are those which are told for the sake of

love and care at the expense of trust, according to the ethicists.

Structural analysis of the text

Paragraphs 12-15: the consequences of telling lies

Paragraphs 16-18: which lies to be avoided

Rhetorical features of the text

Example 1: 20,000 middle- and high-schoolers were surveyed by the Josephson Institute

of Ethics -- a nonprofit organization in Marina del Rey, California. (Paragraph 5)

Example 2: Philosopher Sissela Bok warns us that ... (Paragraph 12)

Vocabulary exercises

I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.

1. very important/shocking/traumatic

2. avoid hurting the other's feelings/avoid doing something that would upset the other

person

3. telling the truth with a favorable emphasis or slant/modifying the truth

4. a course of action which can easily lead to something unacceptable, wrong, or

disastrous

5. under any circumstances/whatever might happen

II. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word taken from the box in its appropriate

form.

1. supportive 2. perceived

3. prevarication 4. astounded

5. undermine 6. faltered

7. fibs 8. volunteered

III. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1. unethical 2. feigned

2

(Some similar expressions: at any cost, whatever the cost)

3. unsparing 4. cynical

5. confoundedly 6. lubricated

7. entangled

IV. Fill in the blank in each sentence with an appropriate phrasal verb or collocation

taken from the text.

1. cover up

2. blurted out

3. set up

4. find out

5. wear/wore down

6. specializes in

7. professes to

V. Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense

it is used.

1. Synonym: evasion (equivocation)

2. Synonym: chronic (repeated)

3. Synonym: common (prevalent, omnipresent)

4. Antonym: slightly

5. Antonym: insult (reproach, criticize)

6. Synonym: distort

7. Synonym: growth (multiplication)

8. Antonym: strengthened (consolidated)

VI. Explain the underlined phrasal verbs in your own words.

1. cancelled

2. overcome

3. follow

4. fell into

5. make it more acceptable

6. feel unhappy about

7. removed from consideration

8. reserve for future use

Grammar exercises

I. Identify the meaning of the words in italics.

1. probability 2. possibility

3

8. complimented ... on

8. Willful

3. intention 4. possibility

5. necessity 6. possibility

7. obligation 8. probability

II. Complete each sentence with what you think the most appropriate of the four choices

given.

1. C

2. C (We don't use may/might in a question when they refer to possibility.)

3. B (Should is used after if to suggest a less strong possibility.)

4. A (I don't think he could have been there = I don't think it's possible that he was

there.)

5. D (Won't here suggests refusal.)

6. B (In a request for permission, the speaker uses the past modal to show politeness.)

7. B

8. B (Could refers to a general ability in the past while was able to refers to a single

achievement in the past.)

9. A (Dare is used as a lexical verb in this sentence. It can be followed by an infinitive

either with or without to.)

10. A

III. Rewrite the sentences below using the words and phrases from the box.

1. He can't have told us everything.

2. Something must have gone wrong.

3. She can't be only thirty years old.

4. They may not know yet.

5. The road could/may have been closed.

6. The police must know that.

7. There may/could have been a traffic jam.

(We don't use "can+have done" in a positive statement.)

8. The letter could/may arrive today.

9. That will/must be my mother.

10. There should be time to do some shopping.

IV. Rewrite the following sentences, using verbless clauses.

1. When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your

friends.

2. When heated, metal expands.

3. If true, it will cause us a lot of trouble.

4. Whenever possible, they should be typed.

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5. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

6. Send the goods now, if ready.

7. If necessary, ring me at home.

8. He glanced about as if in search of something.

V. Complete the sentences with the proper forms of the verbs given.

1. discussing, having reached

2. paying

3. Lying, sitting

4. to pacify, to be pacified, grumbling

5. repeat, to make, to do

6. going, stay

7. to see, to avoid, hitting

8. to arrive, rising

9. doing

10. to make, to see

VI. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the italicized

parts in your sentences.

1. You're all put into different groups according to your ability.

Translation exercises

I. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.

1. 最惊人的是，这些撒了数以千计谎言的人声称，欺骗行为并没有让他们十分“纠结或愧疚”。

2. 尽管如此，91%的参加者称“对自己的道德和人品还是感到满意”。

3. 毫无疑问，这些“善意的谎言”于他人无害且初衷良好，是不可缺少的社交润滑剂。

4. 如果你没有把握，马克·吐温给过我们一条经验法则：“拿不准的时候，就实话实说。实话会迷惑敌人，震惊朋友。”

II. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words and phrases given in

brackets.

1. Hamlet feigned madness when he was hesitating what to do.

2. Prevarication is one of the techniques this businessman likes to employ.

3. Sometimes the light of the truth is just too dazzling, so white lies are ubiquitous.

4. Many women in America profess that they are unhappy with their status as

5

According to my dictionary, there are several meanings for that word.

They will leave whether you agree or not.

2. Whether you like it or not, it's going to happen.

second-class citizens.

5. On the impulse of the moment, he blurted out the secret.

6. You should get rid of any prejudice, resist temptations and let nothing warp your

judgment.

7. Being over-sensitive and imaginative, he often weaves a tangled web in his mind.

8. He is very popular among his peers as he always tries to spare others any trouble.

III. Translate the following passage into Chinese.

美国有调查表明，大多数人出于不同的原因、在不同程度上说过谎。有时，他们说谎是为了让别人高兴。比如：装出积极的态度来肯定朋友或配偶，实际上他/她内心却没有如此认可。有时，他们说谎是为了提升自己。这种情况现在越来越普遍了。有时，是为了避免伤害别人，当未加粉饰的实情难以接受的时候更是如此。有人则把说谎看作一种必要的社交润滑剂。不管怎么说，说谎都是为了掩饰实情。关于说谎，不同的人有不同的观点。有些人认为，假话，即便是看上去无害的假话，也可能带来预料不到的后果。一个人说了第一个谎话之后，他就需要说更多的谎话来掩饰最初的谎话，最后会变成沉重的精神负担。一位哲学家警告说，如果一个人说谎，他就(等于)把自己置于一个溜滑的斜坡上，因为他的心理障碍减轻了。但是，另外一些人则认为，我们不必不惜一切代价去避免所有善意的谎言，因为一个善意的谎言可能仅仅是用牺牲信任而去换取关心和爱护而已。对此你持什么观点呢？

Exercises for integrated skills

I. Dictation script

Childhood is less clear to me than to many people:/ when it ended I turned my face

away from it/ for no reason that I know about,/ certainly without the usual reason of

unhappy memories./ For many years that worried me,/ but then I discovered/ that the

tales of former children are seldom to be trusted./ Some people supply too many past

victories or pleasures/ with which to comfort themselves,/ and other people cling to pains,

real and imagined,/ to excuse what they have become./ I think I have always known

about my memory./ I know when it is to be trusted/ and when some dream or fantasy

entered on the life,/ and the dream, the need of dream,/ led to distortion of what

happened.

II. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE word you think appropriate.

(1) service

(3) off

(2) rather

(4) are

(8) if

(5) advantage (6) much

(7) relations

(9) as

6

(10) moral

(11) either (12) truth