单选题 What is exactly 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?
A scientific study of lying shows women are better liars than men, 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 terrible. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researches show 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 same 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".

单选题 This passage tells us that ______.

A、 telling lies is often necessary in order to avoid being defeated
B、 telling lies is often bad because people ought not to be dishonest
C、 telling lies is sometimes necessary in order not to hurt someone else"s feelings
D、 telling lies is not bad at all in most cases

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】这是一道推断题。文中从探讨谎言的准确定义引出了主题，即有时为了避免伤害别人的感情，说谎也是必要的。为此文章在第一段中举了一个例子，即对一位爱借钱不还的朋友来说，为了避免伤害他的感情，说谎是必要的；在第二段中作者对女人的“white lie”，即为避免伤害他人感情而说的无关紧要的谎话进行了举例和分析。由此我们可以推断出，选项C是这篇文章想告诉我们的道理。

单选题 In Para. 2, the sentence "Women are better liars than men. " probably means ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】这同样是一道推断题。文中第二段对女人的谎言和男人的谎言进行了对比和分析，我们得知，女人的“white lie”经常是出于善意的谎言，所以她们的“white lie”大多数情况下很随意，并不很认真；而男人的谎言则是认真的、严肃的。从这种对比我们看出，女人说谎的随意性、善意性决定了她们比男人更擅长此道。因此选项A正确。

单选题 A "white lie" means ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】文章第二段中对“white lie”举了一个例子：当一个女人在一个聚会上告诉另一个妇女她喜欢她的衣服时，心里却认为衣服糟糕极了。从这个例子我们可以看出，这个女人说谎是善意的、随便的、无关紧要的，所以“white lie”应理解为出于善意的谎言。

单选题 Politicians and businessmen are supposed to be skilled at telling the kind of lies ______.

单选题 It can be concluded from the passage that ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】文中最后一段说，当人们说谎时，他们的行为会有所变化，特别是在不重要的细节之处。因此我们可以从人们行为的细节上判断出他们是否在说谎。选项B符合文章内容。