Question

Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive (欺骗)? When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information 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 one hundred dollars!”

This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only one 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(对手) 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 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 often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.

1.How much did the lottery winner lose?

A. Two hundred dollars. B. One hundred dollars.

C. Three hundred dollars. D. Four hundred dollars.

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

3.What do the underline words “net gain” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A. final increase B. big advantage

C. large share D. total saving

4.What can we know from the example of the Yucky Pill advertisement?

A. False statements are easy to see through.

B. Advertisements are based on facts.

C. Doctors like to act in advertisements.

D. Half-truths are often used to mislead people.

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

【解析】

试题分析：文章主要告诉读者的是事实和谎言一样，有时候也是会欺骗人的。如果把事实中的重要部分省去，剩下的部分虽然是事实，但却带有一定的误导性。这也叫做半真半假的事实。广告商常常使用半真半假的事实来误导消费者。

1.I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery (彩票).”和第三段“he bought $200 worth of tickets”可知，男子花了200美元买彩票，但是只中了100美元，说明他损失了100美元，故选B。

2.For example...”可知，作者只是用一个买彩票的事情作为例子，作者并没有说人们应该购买彩票，排除A；根据最后一段“Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well”可知，谎言终究是谎言，事实有时候也会说谎，说明作者不赞成利用半真半假的事实，排除B；根据最后一段“they try to mislead you with the truth”可知，作者列举Yucky Pills的广告是为了说明广告商经常利用事实来误导消费者，排除D，故选C。

3.her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs”可知，减少了一百万个工作岗位，但增加了三百万个工作岗位，总的来说是净增了两百万个工作岗位，故选A。

4.Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths...they try to mislead you with the truth.”可知，广告商经常利用半真半假的事实来误导消费者，根据“An advertisement might say, “Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills”可知，Yucky Pills的广告就是这样的例子，故选D。

考点：社会类短文阅读