Unit 2

Lies and Truth

“Do you have any money? Give it all to me!” the thief asked. ----If the answer is yes, will you tell the truth?

It is meaningless and foolish to be honest to a thief; no one should even have the obligation to tell the truth to the thief.

“Did the doctor say I would die of cancer in two months?” the closed relative asked. ----If the answer is yes, will you tell the truth?

Everyone has the obligation to comfort the patient, lying becomes necessary. Telling the truth will be cruel. In this case, being benevolent （仁慈的） is more important than being honest.

Parents usually tell their children that honesty is a good virtue and that they should never tell a lie. Do you agree with the parents? Why? Or why not?

Lying is generally regarded as a bad behaviour. Can you think of as many negative words as possible to describe a lie?

intentionally, disrespect, dishonest, deceive, cheat, untruth, etc.

What is the passage mainly about according to the title of it?

This article is mainly about lies. Why does the author centre his argument

on lies instead of truth? 1) People have different opinions about

lies but they don’t differ much in defining what truth is.

2) Lying is usually regarded as evil but in reality many people lie. This is worthy of our attention.

Structure Analysis: Part 1: (Para. 1-4) Part 2: (Para. 5-12) Part 3: (Para. 13)

Part 1: Description of different people’s ideas

about lies and lying . Part 2: Classification of different kinds of lies. Part 3: Different cultures may have different

standards regarding when lies are acceptable.

Classification of lies: 1. Little white lies. 2. Dirty lies. 3. Lies of omission. 4. False promise. 5. Lies to oneself.

Definition of different kinds of lies:

Little white lies. They are well-intended, harmless and

socially acceptable lies.

Dirty lies. They are told with intention to harm the

listener or a third party and to benefit the liar.

Lies of omission. They are lies that don’t tell the whole

truth (Some information may be left unsaid.)

False promise. They are lies that told with no intention of

being kept. Lies to oneself. They are lies that are told to deceive

oneself.

Language points

1.What is truth?—and the opposite question that goes with it: What makes a lie? (Lines 1-2, Para. 1)

What is true? What is false? These two questions always come together.

go with normally accompany (sth)

Money does not always go with happiness.

Disease often goes with dirt.

2. But there the agreement ends. (Line9, Para. 1)

But there is no agreement on any other points except these two.

3. One rather extreme point of view is that lying is always bad and that we should try to find ways to avoid doing it.(Lines1-2, Para. 2)

A viewpoint that goes to extreme is that lying is always bad and that people should avoid telling a lie by every possible means.

4. Each lie makes the next one easier to tell, and the liar comes not only to disrespect herself, but to mistrust others, whom she believes will lie as easily as she. (Lines 3-5, Para. 2)

Every lie makes the next lie easier. The liar will have no respect for herself, neither will she trust others whom she thinks are liars like she is.

5. Furthermore, by lying to people, we remove their power to make important choices about how to spend money, what future career to take, what medical treatment to choose. (Lines 7-9, Para.2)

Furthermore people may not be able to make sound decisions about one’s spending, future career and health problems, because we have given them false information.

6. Toward the opposite extreme is the position that although some lies are evil, many others are not– in fact, they are necessary to hold our society together. (Lines 1-3, Para.3)

At the other end of the scale is the viewpoint that although some lies are very bad, many other lies are not so bad. In fact, they play a necessary role in uniting our society.

hold…together cause to remain together, cause to unite

These nails are too small to hold the case together.

He hoped to hold the family together through the difficult period.

7. If someone asks us a question that is very personal and is none of their business, we may lie in response. (Lines 7-9, Para. 3)

If someone asks us a very personal question about which they have no right to ask, we may respond by telling a lie.

none of their business/ no business of theirs

To mean something about which they have no right to ask.

I know it’s none of my business, but what’s your decision?

in response as an answer He murmured something in response.

in response to as a response to The company has charged some of its

working practices in response to criticism by the government inspector.

8. Each person seems to have some point at which they draw the line between an acceptable lie and a bad lie. (Lines 1-2, Para. 4)

We all have our own idea of a good (acceptable) and a bad (hurtful) lie.

draw a (the) line (between…and) make a distinction (between …and)

Sometimes it’s difficult to draw a line between backbiting and malicious gossip.

9. A sometimes painful part of growing up is realizing that not everyone shares your own individual definition of honest. (Lines 3-5, Para. 4)

The harsh (hard) reality when growing older is learning that others see honesty differently than you do.

10. What are you to do with this realization? (Lines 8-9, Para. 4)

What are you to do with this real-life situation?

This realization refers to the understanding of the fact that dishonest people often get ahead rather than pay the consequences for lying.

11. It may make your moral beliefs look weak and silly in comparison, and you may begin to question them. (lines 9-10, Para. 4)

This understanding may cause your moral beliefs to seem poor by comparison, so you try to re-evaluate them.

in comparison (with sb/ to sth) when compared (with)

She is quite tall in comparison with her sister.

In comparison to your problems, mine are almost insignificant.

12. in the face of such a reality (Lines 11-12, Para. 4)

when you realize that dishonest people often become better off than honest ones.

13. gained a pound (Lines 5-6, Para. 6)

put on weight

14. …save themselves from responsibility in a business transaction. (Line 7, Para. 6)

… claim they are no responsible so as to benefit in a business transaction.

15. Occasionally a “little whit lie” may have a very profound effect on the lives of the listeners, and may even backfire. (Lines 1-2, Para. 7)

Sometimes a “little white lie” may have a very far-reaching effect on the lives of the listeners, and may even have the opposite effect or result of what was intended.

16. Author Stephanie Ericsson tells of the well-meaning US Army sergeant who told a Lie about one of his men who had been killed in action. (Lines 2-4, Para. 7)

Author Stephanie Ericsson tells a story about a US army officer who had good intentions and meant to be kind but was not successful in telling a lie about one of his men who had been killed in battle.

17. …always watching for the mail or jumping when the telephone or the doorbell rang. (Lines 8-10, Para. 7)

…always kept waiting for letters from him or jumped up when the telephone or the doorbell rang in the hope of his coming back.

watch for keep waiting for

The prisoners watched for a chance to escape.

Watch for an empty seat and grab it.

18. Into this category fall many of the lies told within the walls of government. (Lines 2-3, Para. 8)

This is an inverted sentence.

within the walls of government within the circles of government

19. …husbands or wives who are having an affair with someone else; (Lines 3-4, Para. 9)

…husbands or wives who are having an emotional or sexual relationship with a third person.

20. …teenagers who lie to get out of the house in order to do things that their parents would die if they knew about. (Lines 4-6, Para. 9)

…teenagers who lie so that they could get out of their house in order to do things that their parents would never approve of if they knew about them.

21. Dirty lies may be told … to hurt a colleague’s chances of promotion so that the liar will be advanced. (Lines 7-9, Para. 9)

Dirty lies may be told … to destroy a colleague’s opportunity to be promoted so that the liar will benefit.

will be advanced: will move ahead or up

22. In the United States, a favorite place to withhold the truth is on people’s income tax returns. (Lines 4-5, Para. 10)

In the United States, people are likely to refuse to tell the truth about their income.

income tax returns Governments levy （征收） income

taxes on many kinds of earnings, including wages, interest on savings, and dividends （红利） from investments. People and corporations must report their income annually to the government. The forms they use to report their income are called income tax returns.

23. …that he had no intention of keeping even as the words leave his lips. (Lines 2-3, Para. 11)

…that he does not intend to keep the promise even at the time when he is making the promise.

24. Lose 50 pounds in two weeks. (Line7, Para. 11)

Lose 50 pounds in weight in just two weeks.

25. Read my lips: No new taxes. (Line 7, Para. 11)

Listen to my words and trust me. There will not be new taxes.

(Famous words said by former US President George Bush, promising not to raise taxes.)

26. How far should he go to keep his word? (Line 12, Para. 11)

In order to keep his promise and protect his sources, how much truth should he tell?

27. But there is a fine line between normal dreams and ambitions on the one hand, and deceiving ourselves on the other, and we have to be careful where we draw it. (Lines 4-7, Para.12)

But there is a small distinction between dreams and ambitions on the one hand, and self-deception on the other hand. We should be very careful when we try to make a distinction between dreams and ambitions and self-deception.

28. the top of their company (Lines 7-8, Para.12)

the upper ranks or the more important position in their company

29. We shouldn’t be hard on ourselves, but if we have turned a blind eye to our faults, we should take an honest look in the mirror. (Lines 12-13, Para.12)

We shouldn’t treat ourselves too severely. But if we have not looked at ourselves honestly to see our weakpoints, we should honestly examine ourselves closely to see what we really are like.

turned a blind eye to pretend not to see, not pay attention to

The boss sometimes turns a blind eye to smoking in the office.

The president turned a blind eye to corruption within his administration.

30. …definitions that vary across cultural boundaries. (Line 2, Para. 13)

…definitions that differ from culture to culture

31. …they are unlikely to convince members of other cultures to change over. (Lines 8-9, Para. 13)

The people of a certain culture will probably not succeed in convincing people of other cultures to make a change.