研究生英语多维教程探索课文原文

Unit 2 Lies and Truth

What is truth? –and the opposite question that goes with it: what makes a lie? Philosophers, teachers, and religious leaders from all cultures and periods of history have offered many answers to these questions. Among Euro-North-American writers, there is general agreement on two points. The first is that what we call a “lie” must be told intentionally – that is, if someone tells an untruth but they believe it to be true, we don’t consider them a liar. The second point is that practic ally everyone lies, and lies frequently. But there the agreement ends.

One rather extreme point of view is that lying is always bad and that we should try to find ways avoid doing it. The reason is that lying hurts not only the listener, but also the liar. Each lie makes the next one easier to tell, and the liar comes not only to disrespect herself, but to mistrust others, whom she believes will lie as easily as she. In a society, where lying is common, trust becomes impossible, and without trust, cooperation can not exist. Furthermore, by lying to people, we remove their power to make important choices about how to spend money, what future career to take, what medical treatment to take.

Toward the opposite extreme is the position that although some lies are evil, many others are not –in fact, they are necessary to hold our society together. We lie in harmless ways to protect other’s feelings and to better our relationship. These are not lies that try to hurt others. We laugh at the boss’s joke which we have heard before and which she doesn’t tell very well; we pretend interest in a friend’s story of something uninteresting that happened to him. If someone asks us a question that is very personal and is none of their business, we may lie in response. Sometimes we lie to protect the reputation or even the life of another person. On a larger scale, government may protect national security by lying.

Each person seems to have some point at which they draw the line between an acceptable lie and a bad lie. Obviously, this point varies from individual to individual and from culture to culture.

A sometimes painful part of growing up is realizing that not everyone shares your own individual definition of honesty. Your parents and your culture may teach you that liars suffer, but as you go through life, you find that often they don’t: in fact, dishonest people often seem to prosper more than honest ones. What are you to do with this realization? It may make your moral beliefs look weak and silly in comparison, and you may begin to question them. It takes a great deal of strength and courage to continue living an honest life in the face of such reality.

Little white lies: This is our name for lies that we consider harmless and socially acceptable. They are usually told to protect the liar or the feelings of the listener. Most of them would be considered social lies, and they include apologies and excuses: “I tried to call you, but your line was busy.” “You’re kidding! You don’t look like you’ve gained a pound.” Some people, however, would consider it acceptable to lie to save themselves from responsibility in a business transaction: “After I got home, I noticed that it was broken, so I’m returning it and would like my money back.”

Occasionally a “little white lie” may have a very profound effect on the lives of the listeners, and may even backfire. Author Stephanie Ercsson tells of the well-meaning U.S. Army sergeant who told a lie about one of his men who had been killed in action. The sergeant reported the man as