Question

Police around the world have for almost 100 years relied on lie detectors to help spot criminals. But there has long been much skepticism in the scientific and legal communities about the lie detector’s reliability. Hopefully, it could soon be no longer in use.

Researchers in Britain and the Netherlands have made a breakthrough, developing a  more  reliable method to help conduct interviews. Rather than just record changes in pulse, blood pressure, sweating and breathing, the new system involves monitoring full-body motions to provide an indicator of signs of guilty feelings.

There is a basic fact that liars tend to keep moving their hands and feet and so an all-body motion suit  will pick this up. The suit contains 17 sensors that record movement in 23 joints up to 120 times per second.

“The lie detector has been around since the 1920s and by measuring physiological stress caused by anxiety, you can only get a success rate of about 60%.”, said Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University.

He said the new method, by contrast, achieved a reliability rating of over 70% and he was quite sure that they would be able to do better. In one of their experiments, the team has already achieved more than 80%.

The experiment involved 180 students and employees at Lancaster University, of which half were told to tell the truth and half to lie. They were each paid ￡7.50 for their participation in the 70-minute experiment, involving two test.

Some were interviewed about a computer game “Never End” that they played for seven minutes, while others lied about playing it having only been shown notes about it.

The second test involved a lost wallet containing ￡ 5. Some were asked to bring the wallet to a lost-and-found box while others hid it and lied about it.

“Overall, we correctly classified 82.2% of the interviewees as either being truthful or dishonest.”, the report said.

But the use of all-body suits is expensive — they cost about ￡30,000 — and can be uncomfortable, so Anderson and his colleagues are now looking at low-cost alternatives.

1.The researchers used the all-body motion suit to     .

A. discover people’s joint problems

B. record people’s changes in their health

C. help find out interviewees’ mental activities

D. prevent liars from moving their hands and feet

2.What is the main disadvantage of the lie detector?

A. It has a low success rate    B. It is very uncomfortable

C. It is too complex to use    D. It costs a lot of money

3.How does Anderson feel about the new method?

A. Confused    B. Confident

C. Doubtful    D. Disappointed

Answer

1. C

2. A

3. B

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。近100年来，世界各地的警察都依靠测谎仪来帮助发现罪犯。但长期以来，科学界和法律界对测谎仪的可靠性一直持怀疑态度。希望它能很快不再使用。研究人员使用全身运动服来帮助发现受访者的心理活动。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段Researchers in Britain and the Netherlands have made a breakthrough, developing a more reliable method to help conduct interviews. Rather than just record changes in pulse, blood pressure, sweating and breathing, the new system involves monitoring full-body motions to provide an indicator of signs of guilty feelings.可知，研究人员使用全身运动服来帮助发现受访者的心理活动。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第一段Police around the world have for almost 100 years relied on lie detectors to help spot criminals. But there has long been much skepticism in the scientific and legal communities about the lie detector’s reliability. Hopefully, it could soon be no longer in use.可知，测谎仪的主要缺点是成功率很低。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据第五段He said the new method, by contrast, achieved a reliability rating of over 70% and he was quite sure that they would be able to do better. In one of their experiments, the team has already achieved more than 80%.可知，Anderson对这个新方法充满自信。故选B。