Text Intermediate-upperintermediate, DOES HONESTY ALWAYS PAY

DOES HONESTY ALWAYS PAY? 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!"e got some but your friend!s 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? #rofessor $erald $ellison of the %ni"ersity of &outhern 'alifornia has made a scientific study of lying. (ccording 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 in reality she thinks it looks awful. )owe"er, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, for instance making a promise they ha"e no intention of keeping. *his 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. &tudies ha"e also been done into the way people!s beha"iour changes in a number of small, apparently unimportant ways when they lie. It!s been found that if they!re sitting down at the time, they tend to mo"e about in their chairs more than usual. *o the trained obser"er, they!re 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. *he tip of the nose is "ery sensiti"e to such a change which makes it itch.  (nother  (nother gesture which which gi"es liars liars away is what the writer -esmond -esmond orris in his his book Manwatching  calls  calls the mouth co"er!. )e says there are se"eral ways of doing this, like co"ering part of the mouth with the fingers, touching the upper/lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side of the mouth. &uch a gesture can be interpreted as an unconscious attempt on the part of the liar to stop themsel"es from lying. Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or co"ering the mouth, or s0uirming about in a chair cannot be taken as proof that the speaker!s lying. *hey simply tend to occur more fre0uently in this situation. It!s not one gesture alone that gi"es the liar away but a whole number of things, and in particular the context in which the lie is told. 'hoose the best answer+ 1.

2.

 (ccording to the passage, passage, a white lie! seems to be be a lie A that other people belie"e. B that other people don!t belie"e. C told in order to a"oid offending someone. D told in order to gain some ad"antage. 1esearch suggests that women are better at telling less serious lies than men are. B generally lie far more than men do. C make promises they intend to break more often than men do. D lie at parties more often than men do. A

3.

One reason people sometimes rub their noses when they lie is that A they wish they were somewhere else.

B C D 4.

the nose is sensiti"e to physical changes caused by lying. they want to co"er the mouth. they!re trying to stop themsel"es from telling a lie.

It would appear from the passage that A there!s no simple way of finding out if someone!s lying. B certain gestures are proof that the speaker is lying. C certain gestures are proof of lying only if they are repeated fre0uently. D people lie in some situations more often than in others.

Which words or phrases in the passage mean+ a. take something, promising to gi"e it back? b. amounts of money owed to another person? c. do or carry out something? d. able to do something well? e. to feel that you want to scratch something? f. be understood as meaning? g. twist the body about ner"ously? h. the general situation in which something occurs?