国家地理 我们为什么说谎(4)

When I was in third grade, one of my classmates brought a sheet of racing¹ car stickers to school to show off. The stickers were dazzling. I wanted them so badly that I stayed back during gym class and transferred the sheet out of the classmate's backpack into mine. When the students returned, my heart was racing. Panicking that I would be found out, I thought up a preemptive lie. I told the teacher that two teenagers had shown up on a motorbike, entered the classroom, rifled through backpacks, and left with the stickers. As you might expect, this fib collapsed² at the gentlest probing, and I reluctantly returned what I had pilfered³.

我三年级时，一个同学带来了一张赛车贴纸到学校里来炫耀。那些贴纸令人炫目，我实在太想要它们以至于趁着体育课留在教室，把贴纸从同学书包中偷出来，藏到了我的包里。当同学们回来时，我的心怦怦乱跳。因为担心我的行为会被揭发出来，我抢在大家发现前想了一个谎言。我告诉老师，两个在摩托车上的少年冲进了教室，洗劫了书包留下了这些贴纸。正如大家所想的，这个小谎言在温和的查探中被戳穿，而我也不情愿地归还了偷的东西。

My naive⁴ lying -- I got better, trust me -- was matched by my gullibility⁵ in sixth grade, when a friend told me that his family owned a flying capsule that could transport us anywhere in the world. Preparing to travel on this craft, I asked my parents if they could pack me a few meals for the journey. Even when my older brother snickered, I refused to disbelieve my friend's claim, and it was left to my friend's father to finally convince me that I'd been duped.

我天真的谎言符合我六年级时受骗的心态。相信我，我现在变得好多了。一个朋友告诉我说他家有一个飞行舱可以载我们去世界各地。为了准备这次飞船之旅，我问父母是否能为我准备一些食物，甚至当我的哥哥在一旁窃笑时，我还不愿意去怀疑我朋友的话直到朋友的爸爸说服我，我被骗了。

These lies that my friend and I told were nothing out of the ordinary for kids our age. Like learning to walk and talk, lying is something of a developmental milestone⁶. While parents often find their children's lies troubling -- for they signal the beginning of a loss of innocence⁷ -- Kang Lee, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, sees the emergence⁸ of the behavior in toddlers as a reassuring⁹ sign that their cognitive¹⁰ growth is on track.

我和朋友说的这些谎在那个年龄段的孩子身上没什么特别。就像学习说话和走路一样，说谎是一个发展式的里程碑。父母经常为孩子的谎言感到不安，认为谎言是丧失无辜纯真的信号。多伦多大学的心理学家坎·李则认为，幼儿说谎行为的出现是令人放心的迹象，表明他们的认知增长正在进行中。

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 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。

3 pilfered   

v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的过去式和过去分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸）

参考例句：

• Oh, I remember. Lost, pilfered, short-shipped or something. 噢，我想起来了，是有关遗失、被盗、短缺之类的事。 来自商贸英语会话
• The pilfered was let off with some good advice. 小偷经教育后释放。 来自互联网

4 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

5 gullibility   

n.易受骗，易上当，轻信

参考例句：

• Gullibility: Measure of speed of paper adhesive bonding and its strength. 胶粘性能：胶粘剂对纸品的粘合速度和强度的能力。 来自互联网
• Open-mindedness can often be treated as gullibility and therefore as a tool to manipulate people's beliefs. 思想开明容易像轻信一样被对待，因此会被用作一种操纵人们观念的工具。 来自互联网

6 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

7 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

8 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

9 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

10 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。