单选题 After decades of exile from U.S. courts, the science of lie detection is gaining new acceptance. But the federal government wants to put a stop to it, and the U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to consider a request from the Department of Justice to bar the technology from military courts.
Uncertainties surround the science of lie detection, which uses a device called polygraph. In 1991 President George Bush banned lie detector evidence in military courts. But that ban has since been overturned by the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, which ruled that it restricts defendants' rights to present evidence of their innocence.
In the past two years, some federal courts have also ruled that polygraph evidence can be heard. This follows a decision by the Supreme Court in 1993 that gave federal judges more discretion to decide on the admissibility of evidence.
A polygraph consists of monitors for pulse rate, sweating and breathing rate. The device is supposed to uncover lies by recording increases in these measures as the subject answers questions.
Critics have always argued that cunning defendants can control their physiological responses and sway polygraph results. But supporters of the technique argue that recent research has found it to be reliable. A psychologist named Charles Honts at a state university in Idaho, points to lab oratory studies, some of them being his own, in which student-subjects were offered cash to sway the test results.
This argument is rejected by Leonard Saxe, a psychologist at a Boston university. "There is a huge difference between students in a lab and a defendant," he says. Guilty defendants have time in which to rehearse their lies, and can even come to believe them to be true.
Saxe believes that the entire theoretical basis of lie detection is invalid. "It assumes you will be more nervous lying than telling the truth." But he says that for some people lies are trivial, while certain truth can be hard to swallow.
David Faigrnan of the University of California says that if the Supreme Court upholds the military appeal court's decision to allow polygraph evidence, polygraph bans. would be overturned in federal courts across U. S. "That will put a big burden on judges to understand the science, and lead to a lot more' expert testimony in the courts," he predicts. The justice department fears that this will greatly increase the cost of trials.

单选题 According to the passage, which organization raised the proposal to stop the practice of lie detection evidence in military court?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。
题意为:“根据本文,哪个机构提出在军事法庭上停止使用测谎证据?”根据文章首段末句(美国最高法院现在同意考虑司法部请求禁止在军事法庭使用测谎技术。),可知选项C“司法部”为正确答案。选项A“联邦政府”;选项B“美国最高法院”;选项D“军事法庭”。
单选题 Why has President Bush's ban on lie detector evidence in military courts in 1991 been over-turned?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。
题意为:“为什么布什总统在1991年颁布的在军事法庭禁止使用测谎证据的禁令被推翻了?”由第二段末句(但是美国上诉军事法庭推翻了该禁令。该法庭认为它限制了被告出示他们无罪证据权利。),可知选项B为正确答案。选项AI‘因为测谎包含许多不确定因素”;选项C“因为美国有12个州允许在法庭出示测谎证据”;选项D“因为最高法院的联邦法官们以测谎证据为基础做决定”。
单选题 A lie detector finds out that the subject is telling a lie______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。
题意为:“测谎器通过______测出被测者说谎。”根据文章第四段:测谎器由脉搏跳动、汗水分泌以及呼吸频率的监测器组成;测谎器通过记录被测者在回答问题时,这三组数据的变化测出他是否说谎。可知选项A“测量和分析被测者的身体变化”为正确答案。选项B“加快被测者的脉搏跳动、汗脉分泌和呼吸频率”;选项C“分析被测者对某些问题的回答”;选项D“上述三种方式”。
单选题 What do Charles Honts' laboratory studies suggest?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推断题。
题意为:“Charles Honts实验室的研究表明什么?”根据文章第五段末句:(Honts给那些能改变测量值的学生现金作为奖励,暗示测谎器可靠。),因此C为正确答案。选项A“受过高等教育的大学生能骗过测谎器”;选项B“大学生不愿意骗过测谎器”;选项D“测谎器未能发现大学生在说谎”。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。
题意为:“根据本文,下列陈述哪句是正确的?”根据文章最后一段倒数第二句 (他预计,使用测谎器会增加法官的负担,要他们了解科学,致使法庭上会有更多的专门性的证据。),可知选项D“David Faigman反对在美国的法庭使用测谎器”为正确答案。选项A“自从1991年布什总统禁止在军事法庭使用测谎器以来,军事法庭一直禁·止使用测谎器”;选项B“真正有罪的被告比大学生聪明”;选项C“Leonard Saxe认为人们说谎时比说真话时更紧张”。