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  3. When is it permissible to tell a lie? Never, according to Augustine and Kant. Machiavelli approved lying for princes, Nietzsche

When is it permissible to tell a lie? Never, according to Augustine and Kant. Machiavelli approved lying for princes, Nietzsche

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问题    When is it permissible to tell a lie? Never, according to Augustine and Kant. Machiavelli approved lying for princes, Nietzsche for the exceptional hero—the Superman. Most other philosophers, and ordinary folk, are less certain, allowing some lies, but not others. After some 2,500 years of moral speculation, says Philosopher Sissela Bok, mankind is still trying to work out ground rules for acceptable lying.
   1. Mental reservation as a type of lying.
   In her new book, Lying, Bok traces the history of convoluted arguments on the subject. For instance, casuists invented the "mental reservation."
   2. Casual lying frequently used in America.
   Most norms on lying, Bok writes, grow out of elaborate moral systems of thought that "are often elegant in operation, noble in design. But when we have to make difficult concrete moral choices, they give us little help." In the absence of clear social guidelines, casual lying has become entrenched in America.
   3. Lying accepted in academic circle.
   Bok also argues that lying is now an accepted part of many professions, including law and the behavioral sciences.
   4. Lying in journalism.
   Bok sees problems in journalism too. Those lies reported on TV or newspapers, she maintains, were not clearly necessary and may encourage other reporters to use such tactics routinely. Reporters Bernstein and Woodward, however, seemed untroubled by "the whole fabric of deception".
   5. Should political lies be approved?
   By this standard, she argues, political lies are rarely justifiable. "If government duplicity is to be allowed in exceptional cases," Bok concludes, "the criteria for these exceptions should themselves be openly debated and publicly chosen. Otherwise government leaders will have free rein to manipulate and distort the facts." Then what kinds of lies should be permitted? Bok’s answer, only those approved in advance by the general public.
   Bok feels that doctors should stop virtually all lying to patients, universities should root out fraudulent and deceptive research, and government officials should be expected to stick to the truth. Her point: the public is now so cynical about being lied to that only extraordinary efforts to avoid lying will restore a feeling of trust. Or, as Mark Twain once observed, "Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest."
   [A] For instance, they used to uncover the Watergate scandal.
   [B] Social Psychologist Jerald Jellison estimates that the average American outstrips Pinocchio by telling 200 lies a day, including white lies and false excuses ("Sorry I’m late. I was tied up at the office").
   [C] The use of unmarked police cars is one example of socially approved deception.
   [D] For instance, Grotius said that speaking falsely to an intruder is not a lie. This, Bok suggests, would be something like knocking a man to the ground, then explaining that you did not hit him because he had no right to be there.
   [E] In a typical experiment in social psychology, for example, a subject is misled about the aims of the study to see how he reacts under pressure.
   [F] The phrase can be best interpreted by this example: "Mr. Smith is not in today"—a lie that is magically transformed into a truth by adding the unspoken thought "to you."
   
选项
答案A
解析 本段讲新闻行业中的说谎行为，前两句说到新闻中存在撒谎的现象，并且指出这样的不正之风对行业发展有不良影响。接着第三句出现了转折词however，说明第三句及后面的内容应该跟前两句相反。A提到的Watergate scandal是一个著名的新闻丑闻事件；该项中的they实际上指的就是本段第三句提到的两名记者；A大致意思是有人揭露了水门事件，正好与前两句形成对比转折。综上所述，故选A。
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