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  3. We hear a lot about lying these days. Politicians saying whatever they need to get elected. Business people saying whatever to m

We hear a lot about lying these days. Politicians saying whatever they need to get elected. Business people saying whatever to m

admin2021-09-25  21
问题     We hear a lot about lying these days. Politicians saying whatever they need to get elected. Business people saying whatever to make a profit. Criminals insisting they did not commit the crimes they were caught doing. Even actors and community leaders lie to keep their positive public image. It seems that lying is more pervasive these days than it ever has. But whether that is the case or not is up for debate. There just may be more reasons to hear about lying or to find out if someone is lying.
    One way to consider the prevalence of lying is to consider if it exists for all animal species. Other animals have been in social groups for much longer than humans. Has lying been an issue with those animals as well? If so, then how long has lying been around? When you review studies on animals, you find that lying or being "deceitful" has been around for as long as any animal species have been in social groups. This has been known for quite some time. What has been found recently is that animals will be deceitful to members of their own species. Previous research emphasized that animals would use deceit (what we refer to as "lying") to protect themselves from predators.
    Considering lying, along with other behaviors we might consider to be immoral, is an interesting topic in recent academic works. This includes the book chapter "Immoral-like Behavior in Animals’ written by David Steinberg. Reading this chapter is a reminder that nonhuman animals face lying issues with many of the same behaviors as in human social groups. It is useful to keep this in mind when recognizing that human and nonhuman animals are equally complex and multi-layered in how they treat members of their own species.
    But when we consider the term "lying”, and how it exists in the animal and the non-animal world, it is also useful to note that it actually does not occur that often. Being deceitful about intentions or behaviors might be something animals do on occasion to put them in a better spot for survival. But doing this takes a lot of energy and effort that it is often not worth the cost. It is similar to how we humans will say that lying is "not worth it" because "then you have to remember what lie you told and tell another lie to explain the first lie". Similarly, an animal who might deceive other members of its group about where it found food so that it can have food for its own survival, then has to remember where it actually found the food while deceiving others.
    When considering why there seems to be pervasive "lying" these days, it might be useful to consider how much of it is actually " lying". " Lying" is a term for telling something that is completely false to obtain a desired outcome. Humans use the term "lying" for a lot of situations that might not actually be total deception. Animals do not lie that often. Likewise, humans, also, probably lie a lot less often than they are accused of. Using the term "lying" might be more often used for convenience rather than accuracy. Lies are totally, or almost totally, false and typically have a specific purpose of deceiving another individual.
What is the main idea of this text?
选项 A、A lies does not have to be told with a malicious intention.
B、Lying is probably one of the most common wrong acts that people carry out.
C、People may also justify lying by framing it as an act of altruism.
D、Looking at lying across species helps explain what we are seeing in humans.
答案D
解析 主旨题。本文主要探究了撒谎这种现象，第一段介绍撒谎现象似乎很多，第二段介绍人们对动物界的撒谎行为的认知，第三段介绍大卫.斯坦伯格的文章内容。他认为人和动物在撒谎行为上很像，第四段介绍动物界撒谎行为很少，第五段介绍人类世界的撒谎行为也没很像想象中那么多，回应第一段的内容。整体来看，[D]符合本文的主旨。
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