Question

【題目】Honesty is the best policy. We may agree that admitting mistakes and behaving in a genuine way is the right way to lead our lives, but is there something in our human nature that makes us immoral? For example, in some shops and car parks you can find an honesty box-a box where you pay for something by putting money in it-but it relies on you putting the right amount of cash in. This relies on people being honest and not trying to cheat but it does provide a temptation to get away with not paying the full amount.

Philip Graves, a psychologist, suggests that this temptation is part of our evolution. He says: “We have evolved with the ability to be dishonest. It’s part of our evolutionary psychological make-up-because if we can gain an advantage over the people around us, we have a greater chance of surviving.”

So why do we place such importance on being honest if we benefit from being dishonest? It’s because it is selfish behavior. If everybody acted selfishly and dishonestly all the time, the world would be a very unpleasant place. As Philip Graves says: “There is a balance to strike between the extent to which we can feather our own nest, so to speak, and the risk of being ostracized (排斥) by the group.” So, for societies to work together we need to trust each other and therefore we need to be honest.

Being trustworthy with money is of course vital for an economy to survive. But being honest with words is another matter, saying what we think to someone can get us into hot water. However, a new anonymous messaging app has been designed that lets anyone with a link to your profile (簡介) to send you a message without knowing who it’s from. The app now has 300 million users which perhaps indicates how honest we really like to be-but in all honesty, do you want to know what people think about you? Is honesty always the best policy?

【1】What does an honesty box require people to do?

A. Get the change out of it freely. B. Put the correct amount of money in it.

C. Donate the pocket money to others. D. Pay a larger amount of money.

【2】According to Philip Graves, being dishonest .

A. is a disadvantage B. should be advocated

C. is part of our evolution D. helps people survive, better

【3】What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A. The reason for being honest B. The benefit of being dishonest

C. The outcome of selfishness D. The importance of group work

【4】What can we infer from the text?

A. Honesty is always the best policy.

B. The author is in favor of dishonesty.

C. The market of the new app is promising.

D. Being honest with words is sometimes improper.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】D

【4】D

【解析】本文是一篇科教類閱讀。在生活、工作中，誠實一定是上策嗎？本文討論“誠實守信”是人的本能還是社交生活的必然產(chǎn)物。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第一段中For example，in some shops and car parks you can find an honesty box—a box where you pay for something by putting money in it—but it relies on you putting the right amount of cash in．可知，誠實盒子要求人們在盒子里放入正確數(shù)目的錢。故選B。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第二段Philip Graves 的話We have evolved with the ability to be dishonest．It's part of our evolutionary psychological make-up-because if we can gain an advantage over the people around us，we have a greater chance of surviving．可知，不誠實是我們進化的一部分。故選C。

【3】主旨大意題。根據(jù)文章第三段內(nèi)容尤其首句So why do we place such importance on being honest if we benefit from being dishonest?可知，此段主要向我們敘述要誠實的原因。故選A。

【4】推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章最后一段But being honest with words is another matter，saying what we think to someone can get us into hot water．內(nèi)容可知，誠實的話有時候是不恰當(dāng)?shù)�。故選D。