The Truth About Lying

An article by Jessica Benett, In Newsweek, Aug 26, 2009

TASK 1: Fill in the gaps with ONLY ONE word. (7 marks)

We like to think _____ value the truth. Time and time ______, public-opinion polls show that
honesty is _____ the top five characteristics we want in a leader, friend, or lover; the world is
full of stories about the tragic consequences of betrayal. At the _____ time, deception is all
around us. We _____ lied to by government officials and public figures and many of our
social relationships are based on little white lies we tell _____ other. We deceive our children,
only to be deceived by them ______ return.

TASK 2: Fill in the gaps with the words given below. There are TWO WORDS that you
DON’T NEED. (7 marks)

average ,deeply, even, everyday, lies, never, noise, shift

The ________ person tells at least three lies in the first 10 minutes of a conversation. "There's
always been a lot of lying," says psychologist Robert Feldman. "But I do think we're seeing a
kind of cultural _______ where we're lying more, it's easier to lie, and in some ways it's
almost more acceptable." To put it bluntly, we are a culture of liars with deceit so _______
ingrained in our psyches that we hardly ______ notice we're engaging in it. Spam e-mail,
deceptive advertising, the _______ pleasantries we don't really mean— "It's so great to meet
you!" "I love that dress"— have become a constant background ______ we have learned to
ignore.

TASK 3. Choose the correct alternative. (7 marks – 0.7 each)

There is an evolutionary basis for deception: in the wild, animals use deception to "play dead"
when threatened/they threaten/are threaten. But in the modern world, the motives of our lying
are more selfish. Research linking/has linked/link socially successful people to those who are
good liars. And every/the whole/all it takes is a quick flip of the remote to see how our public
figures fare when they get caught/make caught/have caught in a lie: Clinton keeps his wife
and goes off/on/away to become a national hero.

Liars get which/that/what they want. They avoid punishment, and they win other’s/others’/of
other affection. Liars make them sound/themselves sounding/themselves sound smart, they
gain power over those of us who believe them, and they often use their lies to rise up in the
professional world. Many liars have fun yet/-/even doing it. And many more take pride in
getting away with/off by/up into it.

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TASK 4. Match the beginning of the paragraphs (1-7) with their endings (A-G). (7
marks)

1) But what's funny is that even as we admit A) …spotting a liar is far from it.
to being liars, …

2) And while lying may be easy, … B) …less than if we guessed randomly.

3) A nervous sweat or shifty eyes can C) …are unreliable.

certainly mean a person's uncomfortable, …

4) Sometimes it has more to do… D) …but it doesn't necessarily mean they're

lying.

5) Even polygraph machines… E) … we've heard about catching a liar is

wrong

6) And according to one study we're only
able to differentiate a lie from truth 47
percent of the time, …
7) The sad truth is that basically
everything…
F) …study after study shows that most of
believe we can tell when others are lying to
us.
G) …with shyness than actual deception.


This is the end of the test.

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Key

TASK 1

We, again, among, same, are, each, in

TASK 2

Average, shift, deeply, ever, everyday, noise

TASK 3

threatened, has linked, all, get caught, on, what, others’, themselves sound, -, away with

TASK 4

1-F, 2-A, 3-D, 4-G, 5-C, 6-B, 7-E



If you scored 22 marks or more: EXCELLENT JOB, your English is great! Now don’t

neglect your foreign language skills.

If you scored 17 marks or more: CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed the exam!

If you scored less than 17 marks: don’t worry, it only takes a little more practice!

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