国家地理 我们为什么说谎(2)

The history of humankind is strewn with crafty¹ and seasoned liars² like Hogue. Many are criminals who spin lies and weave deceptions³ to gain unjust rewards -- as the financier Bernie Madoff did for years, duping investors⁴ out of billions of dollars until his Ponzi scheme collapsed⁵. Some are politicians who lie to come to power or cling to it, as Richard Nixon famously did when he denied any role in the Watergate scandal.

人类历史上散布着像霍格这样狡猾和老练的骗子。许多罪犯编织欺骗以获得不公正的报酬，正如金融家伯尼·马多夫在庞氏骗局倒塌之前，数十年如一日地欺骗了投资者数十亿美元一样。有些政治家则靠谎言获取或维持权力，就像尼克松否认自己涉足水门事件的任何环节。

Sometimes people lie to inflate⁶ their image -- a motivation that might best explain President Donald Trump's demonstrably false assertion that his Inauguration⁷ crowd was bigger than President Barack Obama's first one. People lie to cover up bad behavior, as American swimmer Ryan Lochte did during the 2016 Summer Olympics by claiming to have been robbed at gunpoint at a gas station when, in fact, he and his teammates, drunk after a party, had been confronted by armed security guards after damaging property. Even academic science -- a world largely inhabited by people devoted⁸ to the pursuit of truth -- has been shown to contain a rogues⁹' gallery of deceivers, such as physicist¹⁰ Jan Hendrik Schon, whose purported¹¹ breakthroughs in molecular¹² semiconductor¹³ research proved to be fraudulent.

有时候，人们会夸大自己的形象，这种动机可能最好地解释了唐纳德·特朗普总统的明确错误断言，即他的就职典礼参与人数大于奥巴马总统的第一次就职典礼。人们用谎言来掩盖不良行为，例如，美国游泳运动员瑞恩·罗切特在2016年夏季奥运期间声称自己曾经在加油站被持枪抢劫，真相是他和队友在一场聚会喝醉后破坏公共财物时遇到武装保安。学术科学领域常被人们比作追求真相之人所住的世界，然而这个领域也已被证明是含有流氓的欺骗者画廊，物理学家简·亨德里克·舍恩在分子半导体研究的所谓突破就被证明纯属伪造。

These liars earned notoriety because of how egregious¹⁴, brazen¹⁵, or damaging their falsehoods were. But their deceit doesn't make them as much of an aberration¹⁶ as we might think. The lies that impostors, swindlers, and boasting politicians tell merely sit at the apex¹⁷ of a pyramid of untruths that have characterized human behavior for eons.

这些说谎者之所以臭名昭著，是因为他们是如此恶劣、无耻地毁坏着自己的谎言。但他们的欺骗并没有使他们像我们想象的那样相差甚远。冒名顶替者、诈骗者以及自吹自擂的政治家的谎言，仅仅是在一金字塔的顶端，而这些谎言是人类行为的永恒特征。

Lying, it turns out, is something that most of us are very adept¹⁸ at. We lie with ease, in ways big and small, to strangers, co-workers, friends, and loved ones. Our capacity for dishonesty is as fundamental to us as our need to trust others, which ironically makes us terrible at detecting lies. Being deceitful is woven into our very fabric¹⁹, so much so that it would be truthful²⁰ to say that to lie is human.

事实证明，我们大多数人都很擅长说谎。我们以大大小小的方式，对陌生人、同事、朋友和亲人说谎自如。不诚实的能力对我们来说至关重要，因为我们需要相信别人，讽刺的是，这使我们发现谎言非常糟糕。欺骗性已经被编织进了我们生活的框架中，可以说人类就是谎言本身。

1 crafty   

adj.狡猾的，诡诈的

参考例句：

• He admired the old man for his crafty plan.他敬佩老者的神机妙算。
• He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家，也是个狡黠的独裁者。

2 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

3 deceptions   

欺骗( deception的名词复数 )； 骗术，诡计

参考例句：

• Nobody saw through Mary's deceptions. 无人看透玛丽的诡计。
• There was for him only one trustworthy road through deceptions and mirages. 对他来说只有一条可靠的路能避开幻想和错觉。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。

7 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

8 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

9 rogues   

n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽

参考例句：

• 'I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman,'said my mother. “我要让那些恶棍知道，我是个诚实的女人。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the home-thrust in silence. 那些恶棍面面相觑，但只好默默咽下这正中要害的话。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

10 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

11 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

13 semiconductor   

n.半导体

参考例句：

• In the beginning,engineers hoped to use semiconductor lasers.在开始时，工程师们希望能够利用半导体激光器。
• The main agent of the company brand semiconductor sales.本公司主要代理各品牌半导体销售。

14 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

15 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

16 aberration   

n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差

参考例句：

• The removal of the chromatic aberration is then of primary importance.这时消除色差具有头等重要性。
• Owing to a strange mental aberration he forgot his own name.由于一种莫名的精神错乱，他把自己的名字忘了。

17 apex   

n.顶点，最高点

参考例句：

• He reached the apex of power in the early 1930s.他在三十年代初达到了权力的顶峰。
• His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.当选总统是他一生事业的顶峰。

18 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

19 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

20 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。