2. 职称英语
  3. It is curious how much one despises and condemns the vices which one does n

It is curious how much one despises and condemns the vices which one does n

游客2023-11-06  19
问题      It is curious how much one despises and condemns the vices which one does not happen to possess. I am indeed not a severe man, nor would I permit myself to become intolerant of those failings which I share with others. But, having no particular temptation to be untruthful, I find myself believing that when one comes to think of it, truth is the major virtue and lying the most blameworthy of all the vices. I should like, therefore, to get my mind a little clearer on the truth question. I flatter myself, as I have said, that I am a truthful man: a man who, when he tells a lie, is careful not to forget that he has done so, and. who takes infinite precautions to prevent his being found out. This, in the end, is the only test by which you can distinguish the liar from the man of truth. The latter who is bothered by untruthfulness, is worried and anxious. The real liar, however, is merely amused: he doesn’t mind in the least even if he is subsequently exposed: he regards the truthful man as somewhat of a fool.
     But this surely is one of the many false statements with which the real liar will try hard to idealize his failing: It may be inevitable and even just to tell lies, but it cannot seriously be argued that such habits are intelligent. A lie is always an act of mental cowardice, whereas intelligence is brave. And yet there was Bismarck, and yet there was Napoleon--surely intelligent men, and surely liars. The problem, therefore, is not so simple as it seems.
     It was simple enough, in those old days, to define with approximate accuracy when a given statement ceased to be the truth and became a lie. The essential test was whether the maker of a false statement knew that he was saying something false, and consciously wished his audience to accept, and to remain under, this false impression. Life in civilized communities is a process of adjusting the personal to the social, of conforming the individual impression to the joint impressions of the common ’people. This process of adjustment leads inevitably and rightly to a certain unconscious deception. Absolute truth, whether unconscious or even conscious, is thus impossible. It is to relative truth only that we can hope to aspire. [br] In the author’s Opinion, ______.
选项 A、Bismarck and Napoleon were intelligent men of truth
B、in modern society, nobody can escape the risk of making a false statement, intentionally or unintentionally
C、untruthful man is worried about being found out
D、our civilized life makes conscious lies impossible
答案 B
解析 观点态度题。原文最后一段结尾处表明了作者观点：这种适应过程必然导致某种无意识的欺骗。因此绝对真理，不论是无意识的还是有意识的，都不可能存在。我们只能追求相对真理。由此可知B 为正确答案。A ：俾斯麦和拿破仑都是既聪明又诚实的人，而文中说他们是骗子；C ：不诚实的人怕被发现而担忧，而文中说诚实的人为谎言担忧；D ：文明社会生活使得有意撒谎成为不可能，与原文相反。
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