2. 外语
  3. What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a

What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a

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问题    What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a friend wants to borrow some money from you. You say, "I wish I could help you but I’m short of money myself." In fact, you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don’t want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie?
   Professor Jerald Jellison of the University of Southern California has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better liars than men are, particularly when telling a "white lie", such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it looks awful. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, such as making a promise which they have no intention of fulfilling. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at the lie from which the liar hopes to profit or gain in some way.
   Research has also been done into the way people’s behavior changes in a number of small, apparently unimportant ways when they lie. It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying: "I wish I were somewhere else now." They also tend to touch certain parts of the face more often, in particular the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure. The up of the nose is very sensitive to such changes and the increased pressure makes it itch.
   Another gesture which gives liars away is what the writer Desmond Morris in his book. Man watching calls "the mouth cover". He says there are several typical forms of this, such as covering part of the mouth with the fingers, touching the upper-lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side of the mouth. Such gesture can be understood as an unconscious attempt on the part of the liar to stop himself or herself from lying.
   Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth, or moving about in a chair cannot be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to occur more frequently in this situation. It is not one gesture alone that gives the liars away but a whole number of things and in particular the context in which the lie is told.
According to the passage, a "white lie" seems to be a lie ______.
选项 A、told in order to take advantage of someone
B、told in order to avoid offending someone
C、that other people don’t believe
D、that other people believe
答案B
解析 “white lie”的意义在文中用了一个例子加以说明，别人穿衣服很“awful”却说自己也喜欢她的服饰，有“善意的谎言”之意。B选项avoid offending someone避免冒犯、触怒别人，表达出了“white lie”的意思，是正确的选项。
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