The Ways We Lie

Is lying a simple black-and-white issue? Or are there grey areas?

Unpretentious Word root: pretense=pretenceadj. 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 stereotypingSome 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 _______ thing to do, and he jumped. I told the Frenchman it was _______; the German that it was a _________; the Italian that it was

________; the Russian that it was ____________; so they jumped overboard.” “And how did you get the American to jump?” “No problem,” said the captain, “I told him he was _______!” -1986 Reader’s

Digestchic command forbidden insured revolutionary

sporting

chic command forbidden

sporting

revolutionary

insured

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 “adult-children-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.

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。

Alcoholics…. Deluded thinking.

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.

“Our acceptance… to a fish.”

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 "pre-approved" 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

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 fairWhat’s the main strategy to develop each category of lies? exemplification

续写