The Ways We Lie
Is lying a simple black-and-white
issue? Or are there grey areas?
 Unpretentious
 Word root: pretense=pretence
 adj. not attempting to seem special,
important, wealthy, etc. [褒]不炫耀的;
不招摇的;含蓄的:
 It is an unpretentious little house but
very elegantly furnished.
 Syn: modest implicit
 Pretentious: adj. 矫饰的，夸张的
 Syn: affected exaggerated
 Blunt : adj.
 1. (of a knife or pencil) not sharp 钝的;不
锋利的
 2. speaking roughly and plainly, without
trying to be polite or hide unpleasant facts
(说话)不客气的; 直言不讳的;粗鲁的:
 a blunt man
 To be quite blunt, I think the government
has made a complete mess of things.
 one more straw might break his back—
 The final straw, the last straw, the straw that
breaks the camel’s back: a problem which makes
a situation very difficult when it is added to the
existing problem.
 e.g. Losing my job was bad enough, but being
evicted from my house was the straw that broke
the camel’s back.
Background research
 “the S & L industry being raided by corporate
robbers”;
 The relation between Judaism and
Christianity;(pls post on our forum)
 “the historic Pearl Harbor incident and how
the Japanese solved the problem of
attacking the US warships with torpedoes”;
 The Wizard of Oz
 S&L
 In an effort to take advantage of the real estate
boom and high interest rates of the late 1970s and
early 1980s, many S&L lent far more money than
was prudent, and to ventures which many S&L
were not qualified to assess. When the real estate
market crashed, the S&L went with it. Then the
secondary mortgage market agencies created by
the federal government—Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac—entered the field of real estate mortgage
and replaced S&L.
 Pride and Prejudice Chapter 1

IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in
possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may
be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed
in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as
the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have
you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here,
and she told me all about it."

Mr. Bennet made no answer.

"Do not you want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife
impatiently.

"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."
 This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that
Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the
north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and
four(horses) to see the place, and was so much delighted with it
that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take
possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be
in the house by the end of next week."

"What is his name?"

"Bingley."

"Is he married or single?"

"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune;
four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"

"How so? how can it affect them?"

"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so
tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of
them."
 "Is that his design in settling here?"
 "Design! nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very
likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and
therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes."

"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may
go, or you may send them by themselves, which
perhaps will be still better; for, as you are as
handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you
the best of the party."

"My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my
share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be any thing
extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown up
daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her
own beauty."
…
 "They have none of them much to recommend them,"
replied he; "they are all silly and ignorant like other
girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than
her sisters."

"Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own
children in such way? You take delight in vexing me.
You have no compassion on my poor nerves."

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect
for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard
you mention them with consideration these twenty
years at least."

"Ah! you do not know what I suffer."
 a vote of no confidence: Members of a
group are asked to say that they do not
support the people in authority and
disagree with their actions.
 a vote of confidence: in parliamentary
system, the members of a group are asked
to say that they support the people in
authority and agree with their actions
 The 10 Commandments - God's Revelation in the Old
Testament
 The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old
Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20. They were given
directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai
after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:
"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the
LORD your God…
 ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
 TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth.'
 THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your
God in vain.'






FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.'
 TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you
shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male
servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his
donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
 Stereotype and cliché:
 Stereotype is a formulaic, oversimplified
conception of a group of, often used in a negative
or prejudicial sense.
 cliché: expressions that are overused and its
original effectiveness has been lost.
 Reading recommended: Calloway’s Code by O
Henry
Stereotype
 Regional stereotypes in US
Westerners are trendy, Midwesterners are
dull, Northeasterners are brainy, and
Southerners are lazy.
 Regional stereotypes in China
________人精明，_________人豪放。
———— 人实在，_________ 人会做生意。
Avoiding stereotyping
Some years ago, several international businessmen were on a
conference cruise when the ship began to sink. “Go tell those fellows to
put on life jackets and jump overboard,” the captain directed his first
mate.
A few minutes later the first mate returned. “Those guys won’t jump,”
He reported.
“Take over,” the captain ordered, “And I’ll see what I can do.”
Returning moments later, he announced, “They’re gone.”
“How’d you do it?” asked the first mate.
“I told different things to different people. I told the Englishman it was
The sporting
_______ thing to do, and he jumped. I told the Frenchman it was
chic
command the Italian that it was ________;
_______;
the German that it was a _________;
forbidden
revolutionary so they jumped overboard.”
the Russian that it was ____________;
“And how did you get the American to jump?”
insured
“No problem,” said the captain, “I told him he was _______!”
-1986 Reader’s Digest
chic command
forbidden insured
revolutionary
sporting
 Unfortunately,….giving those hungry for the
truth a candy bar of misinformation instead of a
balanced meal…unquestionable.”
 Para: It is unfortunate that the popularity of
stereotype has discouraged original thinking.
Those who have the desire to get the truth can
only get the simplest form of information which
is inevitably different from the facts. It just
provides the bare or roughest truth to make it
not questionable.
 All the isms are founded on and fueled by the
stereotype and the cliché, which are lies of
exaggeration, omission, and ignorance.”
 All terms ending with –ism are coined on certain
kind of prejudice against people on the basis of
their age, race or gender, etc. They, to a more
or less degree, exaggerate the truth, omit some
key facts or ignore some facts.
 1-min speech
 You may choose one of the two following topics to
prepare a one-min speech (remember it needs to be
short). You will be asked to give your speech in the
class
 1. Tell about a white lie told by you and explain the
reason of telling it. You can choose one of “avoiding
distress”, “avoiding harm”, “positive help”, “social
norms”, etc.
 2. Do you agree that some white lies are unavoidable
in our life and are indispensable for building a good
relationship? Why?
 Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by
group members who try to minimize conflict and
reach consensus without critically testing,
analyzing, and evaluating ideas. Individual
creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking
are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness.
 Loyalty to the group has become more important
than any other value, with the result that dissent and
the appraisal of alternatives are suppressed.

It is of utmost importance to be loyal to the
group. As a result, group members are prevented
from disagreeing or putting forth other suggestions.
 日本在偷袭珍珠港时使用的是改进后的“九一”式航空鱼
雷，针对珍珠港水深只有12米，普通攻击方式鱼雷一投
下去就要扎到淤泥中的问题，日本人采用在雷尾加木质
尾翼和疯狂训练飞行员在20米超低空投弹来加以解决，
这比俯冲轰炸机和水平轰炸机的打击效果明显得多，命
中即重创乃至击毁美舰，例如美军“马里南”号战列舰由
于逃过了鱼雷攻击仅仅被航空炸弹命中，所以只被重创
，很快就修复回到现役。
 How do you make sense of “bald-faced lies”? What device is
at work in the expressions?
 “bald-faced” is an adjective used to describe a person. Now
it is used to describe “lies”. This practice of attributing a
characteristic of one thing to another closely associated to it
is a figure of speech known as transferred hypallage 换置,
e.g.
 "restless night" — The night was not restless, but the
person who was awake through it was.
 "happy morning" — Mornings have no feelings, but the
people who are awake through them do.
 "distracted driving" — The driving is not distracted, but the
person doing it is.
 In what ways are “floating anxiety” related to the “adultchildren-of-alcoholics movement”? What is the author’s
attitude toward ACA?
 Adult children of alcoholic families must suffer from the
kind of psychological problem known as “floating
anxiety” because the alcoholic parent(s) may ill treat their
children and leaving bad impressions upon their hearts.
When such children grows up, they will feel anxious over a
lot of things.
 To know the author’s opinion toward ACA movement, it is
necessary to have some idea about what ACA is. “Adult
Children of Alcoholics (ACA) is a spiritual program which
resort to “a great power” to help those who grew up in
alcoholic family recover from their mental trauma, which
this author thinks as a useless tricky program.
Alcoholics…. Deluded thinking.
 酒徒最擅于自欺欺人，拿生活中的问题当借口，堂
而皇之地买醉，却拒绝承认酗酒才是一切问题的源
头。
“Our acceptance… to a fish.”
 If we keep telling and accepting lies, eventually lies
will hide and remake the reality, till one day we’ll be
so used to lies that we are unaware of its existence
just as fish unaware of water.
 Fine print, small print, or "mouseprint" is less
noticeable print smaller than the more obvious
larger print it accompanies that advertises or
otherwise describes or partially describes a
commercial product or service. Fine print often
says the opposite of what the larger print says.
For example, if the larger print says "preapproved" the fine print will say "subject to
approval." Especially in pharmaceutical
advertisements, fine print may accompany a
warning message, but this message is often
neutralized by the more eye-catching positive
images and pleasant background music
Emphysema
肺气肿
续写
 按照作者的口吻和手法再续写另外一种谎言（200-300）
What is the general tone of the article?
 Aggressive
 Liberal
 Ironic
 Imposing
 Live-and –let-live
 Mild
 Objective
 fair
What’s the main strategy to develop each category of lies?
exemplification