Unit Three
Objectives
After Studying the unit, the student should be able to:
 Understand the main idea and structure of the text;
 Master the writing skills in expository writing---how to use
division, classification and definition in this category;
 Master the key language points and grammatical structures
in the text and the exercises;
 Go through the exercises of reading, writing, listening and
speaking .
Time allotment
1st and 2nd Pre-reading: questions
periods
While-reading: title, preface, structure, main
idea
3rd and 4th While-reading: language points,
periods
understanding of the text, writing techniques
5th and 6th Post-reading: guiding through Ss’ after-text
periods
Checking on Ss’ home reading (Text B)
7th and 8th Theme-Related Language Learning Tasks
periods
Fast-Reading (Unit3-A1, B1);
Practical-Exercise Book (Unit3)
Pre-reading tasks
Questions
1. Have you ever told lies? Why/Why not?
2. What do you think of telling white lies?
(called social lies in the text)
3. What are the four kinds of lies mentioned
in the passage?
4. What’s the attitude of the author towards
telling the lies? What’s your attitude then?
While-reading tasks
1) Preface & Title:
The author raises a lot of questions about lying in the
prefatory paragraph and comes to the conclusion that
the truth about lying is “not quite as straightforward
as one might suppose”. She thinks it “very difficult”
to do the writing on the subject (Line 2) and she can’t
“present any ultimate conclusions” (Line 5). But
why do you think the author still engages herself in
the writing of the passage?
While-reading tasks
2) Structure & Main idea:
Part One (Para 1):
Why the writer finds it difficult to
write on the subject of lying and how
she is going to deal with the difficulty in
composing the essay.
---Beginning: a series of moral puzzles concerned
with lying author’s view about the puzzles
While-reading tasks
2) Structure & Main idea:
Part Two (Paras 2-36):
The writer discusses four types of lies
and tells us what she thinks about each
of them.
---Development: classification (types) 
definitions (four)  examples (each category) 
examples (each category) opinion (of the author)
While-reading tasks
2) Structure & Main idea:
Part Three (Paras 37-42)::
How the writer feels we should cope
with the question of whether or not to
lie.
---Conclusions: for both kinds (those with no
talent for lying and those good at telling lies) 
the truth’s always better(L 126) view of the author
While-reading tasks
3) Writing techniques:
The author works with division and
classification in writing while lies are arranged
into the distinct categories.
Quite a few examples are cited to support he
classification under each category so as to
encourage the reader to come to the conclusion
of his own.
A number of questions (some are parallel) are
asked throughout the passage to capture the
reader’s attention, to arouse his interest, to
guide him to further reflection and to motivate
him to form the judgement of his own.
Examples
 l
 l
 l
 l
 l
 l
 l
 l
 l
l
Do you agree?
What about you?
Will you say …
Will you praise…?
Will you decline…?
What about you?
Do you, when…
Do you, when…
Do you, when…
What about you?
(Line 8)
(L15)
(L16~L18)
(L19)
(L20~L22)
(L45~L46)
(L47~L48)
(L49~L50)
(L51~L52)
(P72, P92, P117, P130)
Post-reading tasks
1) Guiding through students’ after-text exercises
(mainly vocabulary, cloze and translation).
2) Checking through students’ home-reading of
Text B (with language practice exercise
P101~P102).
3) Having students preview Unit 4 (Text A) and
prepare for the oral presentation “Honesty is
the best policy”, do you agree? why or why not?
Theme-Related Language
Learning tasks
Having students read the four samples
(letter of apology) and grasp some
guidelines for writing.
Class Activity
I. Judgment
Give the two statements to your students and ask some of them to have a judgment
on them and to give his/her reason(s) respectively.
Statement One: People have to lie in some cases.
Statement Two: No one is allowed to lie for any reason.
II. Situation---Tactics
Describe the situation he/she were in and have some students respond to it one by
one.
He/She were not good at English, nor were he/she fond of it. If he/she failed in an
English test and he/she wouldn’t let his/her parents down yet found it guilty to lie
to them, what would he/she do, say or explain when asked about the test?
III. Conclusion
Ask some of the students to generalize his/her conclusion from the situation above,
giving his/her philosophy of life concerning truth and lies.
Cultural Notes
Judith Viorst (1931-
)
Judith Viorst
was born in
Newark, New Jersey, in 1931. She
is the author of several works of
fiction and nonfiction, for children
as well as adults. Her most recent
work of nonfiction, Imperfect
Control, was published by Simon
and Schuster in 1998. She is also
the author of Murdering Mr.
Monti (1994) and Necessary
Losses (1986) which appeared on
The New York Times best-seller
list in hardcover and paperback
for almost two years. Judith Viorst
lives in Washington, DC, with her
husband, political writer Milton
Viorst.
The Author of
“The Truth about Lying”
Cultural Notes
Watergate Hotel
in Washington D.C.
Watergate (水门事件)
Early in the morning on June 17, 1972, police discovered five intruders
inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The burglars
were there, it turned out, to adjust bugging equipment they had installed
during a May break-in and to photograph the Democrats' documents.
The burglary and subsequent cover-up eventually led to moves to impeach
President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned the presidency on 8 August 1974.
水门事件(美国政治丑闻, 共和党总统竞选连任委员会于1972年6月17日派人潜入水门大厦民主
党总部安装窃听器, 此事暴露后导致尼克松总统辞职)
Language Points
Presentation by teacher
1. generalize: make general statements without reference
to details
e.g.
 This report generalizes about the sales strategies
of the company in its first part.
 You can safely generalize the conclusion from
all those facts.
2. Irritate: make angry or annoyed
e.g.
 The professor was irritated immediately by their
suspicions about his kindness to the poor
children.
 His abrupt manner irritated nearly everyone at
present.
3. straightforward: simple, expressed or understood in a
direct way
e.g.
 Why not take this topic for you term-paper? It’s
really straightforward.
 The straightforward stories are adapted for those
under 6 years old.
4. intrigue: arouse interest or curiosity of
e.g.
 The magician did so wonderfully that the
audience had been intrigued by his
performance/the whole morning.
 The newly-released bulletin intrigued many
speculators in this trade.
5. arrogant: unpleasantly self-important
e.g.
 An arrogant man as he is, there is hardly any
chance that others will get along with him.
 The impatient boy declared his resignation in an
arrogant tone.
6. assail : cause (sb.) to experience unpleasant thoughts
or feelings
e.g.
 As soon as he put forward his opposition at the
meeting, he was assailed with numerous
questions by the debaters.
 In the novel, the hero had been assailed by fear,
anxiety, pain, despair, resentment and hatred.
7. what about : what is the news or position or your
opinion of
e.g.
 What about the English test? Has it been
cancelled?
 “What about cutting down your drinking if you
couldn't stop it?” the doctor asked.
8. Proclaim : announce (esp. sth. positive) publicly or
officially
e.g.
 The military force proclaimed that they could
be responsible for the bombing downtown.
 The government proclaimed stock exchange to
be lawful and an essential part, in social
economy.
9. for the most part : on the whole, mostly
e.g.
 The vocabulary exercise is not so difficult as
expected for the most part .
 For the most part, he learned to play the
saxophone for pleasure .
10. eloquent : expressing or showing (sth.) very strongly
though without words; able to make good speeches that
influence the hearers
e.g.
 The unfortunate occurrence was an eloquent proof
of the ineffective management system .
 Because of his eloquent plea, the accused was
announced guiltless by the jury .
11. indulge : allow (oneself or sb. else) to have too much
of sth. enjoyable
indulge in: take pleasure freely in
e.g.
 The Kents attached great important to the cultivation
of the young and never indulge any of their children or
grandchildren.
 No one can be in the mood to learn more if he indulges
in cards, games or the like .
12. go along : act in cooperation or express agreement
(followed by with)
e.g.
 Although his proposal was not turned down,
none would go along with it .
 I’ve never thought of going along with such a
ridiculous point as everyone is entitled to try
anything in any way .
13. disapprove of : have or express an unfavourable
opinion about
e.g.
 The doctor disapproved of any smoking and
drinking as he was out of condition at the
moment.
 Nearly half of the Board disapproved of the plan,
but nothing better has come up .
14. dodge : avoid by a trick or in some dishonest way
e.g.
 I didn’t mean to dodge the difficulties but first
demanded a logical explanation for your
behavior.
 Children should be taught how to deal with
common emergencies and to dodge unexpected
blows in the pre-school stage .
15. be/get caught in : get in the middle of unexpectedly,
be trapped in
e.g.
 The rescue squad got caught in the heavy snow
as they set out for the flooded area .
 It’s very likely that one will be caught in a
thunderstorm late in the afternoon of this season.
16. be in the mood to do sth. : be inclined to do sth.
e.g.
 Having reached his goal, he found himself , not
at all, in the mood to do anything more.
 If you can learn to be in the right mood, you will
certainly benefit a lot.
17. assert : defend or maintain (one's rights, etc.)
e.g.
 The suspect assert his right to defend himself in
court.
 She asserted her narrative of the happenings to
be true.
18. absurd : ridiculous, stupid
e.g.
 How can you come to such an absurd conclusion
as all the lies are acceptable .
 The timid boy found himself absurd when he
was at a loss on the platform .
19. intimacy : the state of being intimate (followed by
with / between)
e.g.
 Intimacy between the head of a department with
his assistant is not desirable in most cases .
 What do you think of his intimacy with all his
patients?
20. protective : sheltering, concerned for the safety of sb.
e.g.
 The government has adopted some protective
measures to lower the crime rate.
 The protective tariff on cars is to be done away
with before long.
21. marital : of or relating to marriage
e.g.
 Each applicant is required to fill out a form,
giving his personal information such as name,
age,
educational
background,
working
experience, marital status, etc.
 Marital relations tend to be affected by political,
social and economic factors of the time .
22. manipulate : manage (a person, situation, etc.) to one's
own advantage
manipulation: the act of manipulating or condition of
being manipulated
e.g.
 No one could possibly believe the official had to resign and
would be changed with market manipulation .
 Manipulating the finances of a company is regarded as
illegal in an audit .
23. juggle : deal with (several things) at once, esp. with ingenuity;
keep (several objects) in the air at the same time by throwing them
up quickly and catching them again
e.g.
 All the children were amazed to see her juggling plates and
bowls .
 To make matters worse, he began to addict himself to gambling
by juggling with cards in addition to the passion for computer
games.
24. concede : acknowledge reluctantly as being true, just,
or proper
e.g.
 Many children concede that they have lied mostly
for escaping punishment from adults .
 “Many errors in judgement are caused by
irresponsibility rather than inability of the staff,”
the headmaster conceded .
25. call on sb. to do sth. : request or require sb. to do sth.
e.g.
 The public has been called on to fight against waste .
 The authorities called on the departments concerned to
take charge of the development of the research .
26. adamant : (of a person or behavior) hard, immovable, and
unyielding
e.g.
 They have always regarded the adamant man as a true
friend of integrity and fairness .
 She complained that she’d been given too much work
and was adamant that she need two more weeks to
finish it .
27. sticky : painful or difficult; adhesive
e.g.
 It’s really dangerous driving so fast on the sticky road.
 Her knowledge and experience would make her get
over any sticky situation .
28. contradictory : involving, causing, or constituting a
contradiction
e.g.
 During the past ten years, there have been
contradictory ideas about the rights and duties of the
governor .
 His remarks seemed contradictory so that we didn't go
along .
29. give away : reveal, disc1ose; betray
e.g.
 You shouldn't have given away the secret .
 The wordy style of the passage gave herself away as a
native speaker.
30. be stuck with : be burdened with something and unable to
get rid of it
e.g.
 He was not interested in the program, but he got stuck
with it and tried his best to complement it.
31. resort : a person or thing that one goes or turns to for help
as a last resort: if all other ways fail
e.g.
 As soon as he was told the disease was incurable, the
patient resorted to Chinese traditional medicine .
 As he couldn't track down the reference books he
needed in the library, he had to turn to his tutor as a
last resort .
Student Presentation
Directions: You are required to look up the following words
and expressions in the dictionary and give a brief presentation
in the class.
 embarrassment  embarrassed  embarrassing
 honesty  -dishonesty  honest  dishonest
 basically
 mutter  utter  grumble  whisper
 in general
 romantic  romance
 nonetheless
 for now
 illegal  legal
Writing Assignment
Directions: For this part, you are required to write a
composition of no less than 150 words on the topic
“Lies and Honesty ”
It should be finished no more than 30 minutes. The
composition must be based on the following outline
given in Chinese.
1. 有些人认为凡撒谎的人都不诚实；
2. 有些人则不以为然；
3. 我的看法。
Additional Exercises
1. The story of Ruth has intrigued readers for different reasons
for so many years.
A. has inspired
B. has upset
C. has aroused sympathy of
D. has aroused interest or curiosity of
2. She was surprised and a little offended by her daughter’s
passionate tone but she knew enough not to argue.
A. adamant
B. irritated
C. arrogant
D. assailed
3. Many people believe that white lies are not worth the trouble of
detecting, but more stress the aggregate harm from too many
marginally harmful practices.
A. cumulative
B. redeeming
C. additional
D. unexpected
4. The fact is eloquent that the recent increase in atmospheric CO2
is well documented.
A. self-evident
B. self-supporting
C. convincing
D. dependable
5. The young girl kept a diary of life during her first year of junior
high school, and in it she wrote as if corresponding with an
intimate though imaginary friend.
A. sincere and honest
B. real and faithful
C. close and familiar
D. kind and loyal
6. Dr. Smith wanted me to do a more intensive study, to count the
cells and cell types, but I was not in the mood to do that.
A. felt gloomy about doing
B. didn’t feel like doing
C. found it difficult to do
D. didn’t think it worthwhile to do
7. She used to be indulged in reading, drawing pictures and writing
little stories for hours, and she could sometimes be prevailed upon
to read aloud to her parents though she dreaded their judgment .
A. busy herself in … be persuaded
B. lose herself in … be persuaded
C. busy herself in … be encouraged
D. lose herself in … be encouraged
8. It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of man
established there, and easy to be caught in racial conflicts in the
region, an anthropologist said.
A. fall in with
B. get down to
C. be trapped in
D. be captured by
9. It is very expensive proposition to keep teenagers amused these
days, and for now they can come here free, where it is safe and
warm .
A. at present
B. immediately
C. from now on
D. up to date
10. He promised not to give away a friend’s secret, I still believe
there are times when he must nonetheless break his promise .
A. give up
B. betray
C. surrender
D. speak out
11. Key intelligence used to justify war in Iraq may have been
wrong, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conceded .
A. said openly
B. admitted frankly
C. declared officially
D. acknowledged reluctantly as being true
12. Teaching, for the most part, is an exhausting but rewarding
profession .
A. on the whole
B. as a whole
C. at most
D. most of all
13. Most scientists now assert that the greenhouse gases trap heat
into the atmosphere, which increase the earth’s surface
temperature .
A. assault
B. allot
C. provoke
D. proclaim
14. He didn’t understand why he indulged in such a wild and
visionary idea at that moment, yet the illusion was at last dispelled.
A. was occupied with
B. was engrossed in
C. was obsessed by
D. was depressed by
15. Some writers seem to try to present themselves as fair-minded in
spite of their clear positions and straightforward language .
A. plain
B. distinctive
C. clean
D. homely
16. Paul had slept very little, and felt uncomfortable and assailed by
anxiety and concern about the days to come .
A. caught in
B. stuck with
C. intrigued by
D. irritated by
17. People are taken in easily although we insist that we are aware
of the manipulation of the media.
A. that the media is in wise hands
B. that the media is put into good use
C. that the media operates effectively
D. that the media is under control
18. Travel agencies say that tourists are bored with the same kind of
hotel in the same kind of resort and now looking for more
adventurous destinations .
A. place of amusement
B. place of interest
C. destination
D. location
19. With the rapid growth in commercialization, consumers are
better informed in a wide variety of areas and will not resort to
the indiscriminate use of commodities.
A. unsolicited
B. disapproving
C. random
D. misleading
20. It is a general belief that the government will take some
desperate measures to rationalize the stock exchange .
A. cut down on personnel
B. alter
C. stimulate
D. moderate
21. I’m sure freshman classes will continue to captivate us older
people
and to infuriate us at others .
A. at one time
B. at a time
C. at times
D. some time
22. I
of the argument that homelessness is exclusively a social
problem, a system failure .
A. distrust
B. dissent
C. disapprove
D. disagree
23. His teachers were in despair, voicing the feeling of them all when
he declared he had done something
already .
A. romantic
B. peculiar
C. absurd
D. illegal
24. Although the effort are not yet strikingly
in everyday life, to
deal with the problem, the present generation might have to make
sacrifices for the next .
A. Acceptable
B. noticeable
C. Incorruptible
D. incredulous
25. The author
a frank and fearless style that made him widely
admitted and widely despised .
A. employed
B. utilized
C. manipulated
D. resorted to
26. After a concert was over Paul was always
and wretched until
he got to sleep, and tonight he was even more than usually
restless .
A. shocked
B. irritable
C. arrogant
D. adamant
27. He couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to the question——why
should millions be spent daily on the war and yet there’s not a
penny
for medical services or for poor people?
A. Applicable
B. acceptable
C. Available
D. useful
28. It is said that shopping was once done of necessity,
we go
shopping for entertainment to see new things advertised in the
television commercials and to mingle with people .
A. because
B. now that
C. what’s more
D. nonetheless
29. After
, the government decided to put a stop to the marked
slowdown of development rate by raising labour efficiency .
A. weighing the pros and cons
B. keeping trouble at bay
C. making mountains out of molehills
D. dodging responsibility
30. Modern thinkers who have studied myths and fairy tales from a
philosophical or psychological viewpoint will not
such an
absurd idea, regardless of their original persuasion .
A. take up
B. give up
C. back up
D. set up against
31. “Reading has become a mode of entertainment,”
Mr. Smith,
a spokesman for the library at the conclusion of his speech,
“because readers describe our library as pleasant, fun and
exciting.”
A. muttered
B. hollered
C. generalized
D. discoursed
32. Sally was trained as a nurse and continues part-time
she is also an essayist with four collections published .
A. in her profession
B. her profession
C. as being professional
D. unprofessionally
though
33. She is a professor of language and literature and has frequently
written on questions of language for
and general audiences.
A. ordinary
B. special
C. specific
D. professional
34. In an exhausted country, with no
the future would be much darker .
A. minor
B. marginal
C. less
D. tiny
resources, the outlook on
35. I have often been downcast, but never in despair; I regard our
hiding as a dangerous adventure, romantic and interesting______.
A. in a general sense
B. on the spur of the moment
C. for the most part
D. on a large scale
36. When questioned by the Principal as to why he was there, the
boy
politely that he wanted to come back to school.
A. proclaimed
B. declared
C. announced
D. stated
37. The member states of the organization have in recent years
adopted or considered a series of policies which
require for
their implementation and amendment of its policies .
A. initially
B. ultimately
C. excessively
D. marginally
38. A white lie is not considered as a kind of deception in its own
right
harmlessness and triviality .
A. on the grounds of
B. in the case of
C. for want of
D. for the sake of
39. The member states of the organization have in recent years
adopted or considered a series of policies which
require for
their implementation and amendment of its policies .
A. contradictory…rationalizing
B. sticky…rationalizing
C. contradictory…generalizing
D. sticky…generalizing
40. The children who have been compelled to learn a lot of things
against their wishes will surely
taking in anything more .
A. give away
B. indulge in
C. dismantle
D. dodge
41. “I believe it more constructive to weigh the pros and cons before
we take any action.
”.
A. What about it?
B. I know that.
C. What about you?
D. I’ll tell you that.
42. It is notoriously difficult to discuss the delicate issues presented
here without awkwardness or .
A. Justification
B. cowardliness
C. Embarrassment
D. reserve
43. The creativity of the black women could never keep alive
the
freedom to read, to write, to paint, to sculpt or to expand the mind
with action .
A. to summon up
B. for want of
C. in accord with
D. on quest of
44. I gave no objection to what he proposed at the conference,
neither did I
him .
A. go along with
B. get along with
C. agree to
D. disagree with
45. The dying scientist was
something in German, a language
that his nurse did not understand .
A. voicing
B. grunting
C. muttering
D. grumbling
46.___, reading can broaden your horizons and improve your
comprehension as well.
A. At one point
B. In general
C. For now
D. By and by
47. The lecturer
at the end of his speech the geographic
economic similarities and differences of the two neighboring
countries .
A. realized on
B. rationalized
C. generalized about
D. specialized in
48. Agriculturists agree that it’s impossible to breed the wild plant
into a major food crop or to find a(n)
this most promising
crop in the near future .
A. alternative of
B. supplement to
C. substitution by
D. substitute for
49. Educators assert that a student should be absorbed in his study,
not
his study in any case .
A. unplug
B. dodge
C. impede
D. discontinue
50. No one would think it
hurrying home .
A. momentous
B. devastating
C. romantic
D. incorruptible
to get caught in such a shower while
谢谢！