单选题
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
Jereald Jellison of the University of Southern California has made a scientific
study of lying. According to him, 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 awful. However, this is
only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely 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 tip of the
nose is very sensitive to such changes and the increased pressure makes it itch
(痒). Another gesture which gives liars away is what the writer
Demond Morris in his book Manwatching 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 a gesture can be interpreted 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 liar away but a whole number of things, and, in particularly, the
context in which the lie is told.
单选题
One sometimes tells one's friend a "white lie" because one wants to
______.
A. make a profit from the other person
B. avoid offending the other person
C. convince the other person
D. have some fun
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] white lies意思是“无害的谎言、善意的谎言”，从文章第二段的第二句作者的举例可以看出，女性对自己的朋友撒无害的谎言，是因为她不想说实话令朋友不快，并非出于说服别人的目的，所以选B。
单选题
One research suggests that women ______.
A. generally lie far more than men
B. tend to tell more serious lies than men
C. make more promises they can fulfill than men
D. are better at telling less serious lies than men
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第二段指出“women are better liars than men, particularly when telling a 'white lie'”，即女性比男性更善于撒善意的、不太严重的谎言。本段中间提到men are more likely tell more serious lies，男性会撒更为严重的谎言。所以选D。
单选题
It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A. politicians tend to tell intentional lies
B. men are less skilled at telling lies
C. businessmen seldom break their promises
D. women tend to make false promises
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。本题答案参见第二段的最后一句“This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at”。政治家更擅长说严重的谎言。C(生意人很少不信守自己的诺言)和文章内容不符，他们也撒谎，是为了谋取利润，D(女性会做出空许诺)文章没有涉及，因此选A。
单选题
People may rub their noses when they lie because ______.
A. they suffer from high blood pressure at the time
B. the nose is the most sensitive part of the human body
C. the nose reveals the liar more easily than the other parts of the
face
D. they do so in order to stop themselves from telling more lies
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 人们触摸鼻子的原因在于“lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure”，谎言使得人的血压略有升高，从而鼻子发痒，C(鼻子比其他身体部位更容易暴露谎言)只是其中之一，D说明了撒谎人捂嘴的原因，所以只有选项A是其原因。
单选题
Which of the following is not a gesture to suggest that one lied?
A. He or she will rub the nose.
B. Liars tend to cover part of his or her mouth.
C. The liar is likely to put on a red face.
D. Liars are likely to have more frequent movement when sitting in their
chairs.