Question

Whether we’re 2 years old or 62, our reasons for lying are mostly the same: to get out of trouble, for personal gain and to make ourselves look better in the eyes of others. But a growing body of research is raising questions about how a child’s lie is different from an adult’s lie, and how the way we deceive changes as we grow.

“Parents and teachers who catch their children lying should not be alarmed. Their children are not going to turn out to be abnormal liars,” says Dr. Lee, a professor at the University of Toronto and director of the Institute of Child Study. He has spent the last 15 years studying how lying changes as kids get older, why some people lie more than others as well as which factors can reduce lying. The fact that children tell lies is a sign that they have reached a new developmental stage. Dr. Lee conducted a series of studies in which they bring children into a lab with hidden cameras. Children and young adults aged 2 to 17 are likely to lie while being told not to look at a toy, which is put behind the child’s back. Whether or not the child takes a secret look is caught on tape.

For young kids, the desire to cheat is big and 90% take a secret look in these experiments. When the test-giver returns to the room, the child is asked if he or she looked secretly. At age 2, about a quarter of children will lie and say they didn’t. By 3, half of kids will lie, and by 4, that figure is 90%, studies show.

Researchers have found that it’s kids with better understanding abilities who lie more. That’s because to lie you also have to keep the truth in mind, which includes many brain processes, such as combining several sources of information and faking that information. The ability to lie — and lie successfully  — is thought to be related to development of brain regions that allow so called “executive functioning”, or higher order thinking and reasoning abilities. Kids who perform better on tests that involve executive functioning also lie more.

1.What’s the purpose of children telling lies?

   A. To help their friends out.

B. To get rid of trouble.

   C. To get attention from others.

D. To create a popular image.

2.The underlined word “deceive” in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “       ”.

A. tell lies                                B. handle troubles

C. raise questions                      D. do research

3.From the second paragraph we can know that       .

    A. which factors can reduce lying

B. why some lie more than others

C. it is normal for kids to tell lies

D. how lying changes as kids grow

4.It can be inferred from the passage that        .

A. children’s lies are the same as adults’

B. the better kids are, the more they lie

C. the older kids are, the more they lie

D. kids always keep the truth in their mind

5.What is NOT included in the passage?

A. The reasons why kids tell lies.

B. Which kind of kids tells more lies.

C. Experiments about lying of young kids.

D. What to do with lying children.

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.C

5.D    

【解析】

1.细节理解题。结合第一段our reasons for lying are mostly the same: to get out of trouble, for personal gain and to make ourselves look better in the eyes of others. 我们撒谎的原因大都一样：为了摆脱麻烦、得到好处或者是为了让我们在别人眼里变得更好。可知答案。

2.词义理解题。结合整句话的含义：“不过越来越多的研究正在提出这样的疑问：孩子的谎言和大人们的谎言有何不同；随着年龄的增长，我们的撒谎行为会发生何种变化”可知deceive应是“说谎”的意思。

3.推理判断题。结合The fact that children tell lies is a sign that they have reached a new developmental stage。“孩子说谎标志着他们到达了一个新的发展阶段。”可知C项正确。

4.推理判断题。结合At age 2, about a quarter of children will lie and say they didn’t. By 3, half of kids will lie, and by 4, that figure is 90%, studies show（在两岁的孩子里，大约有四分之一的人会撒谎说他们没有看过。三岁的孩子有一半会说谎，而到了四岁，这个数字是90%。）可知C项正确。

5.细节理解题。文章主要讲述了孩子说谎的原因、那些孩子说谎多及关于孩子说谎的实验而D项文章没有提到。