Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive (欺騙)? When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important in formation that should be included, he can give you a false picture.
For example, some might say, “I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery (彩票). It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for on e hundred dollars!”
This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only on e was a winner. He’s really a big loser!
He didn’t say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Some politicians often use this trick. Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(對手) says, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” that’s true. However, and honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a
net gain of two million jobs.”
Advertisers(廣告商) will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say, “Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache.” It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.
This kind of deception happens too of often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.
小題1:How much did the lottery winner lose?
| A．One hundred dollars. | B．Two hundred dollars. |
| C．Three hundred dollars. | D．Four hundred dollars. |
小題2:We may infer that the author believes people should _______.
| A．buy lottery tickets | B．make use of half-truths |
| C．not take anything at face value | D．not trust the Yucky Company |
小題3: What do the underline words “net gain” in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．final increase | B．big advantage |
| C．large share | D．total saving |
小題4:What can we know from the example of the Yucky Pill advertisement?
| A．False statements are easy to see through. |
| B．Half-truths are often used to mislead people. |
| C．Doctors like to act in advertisements. |
| D．Advertisements are based on facts. |
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