At 9:00 Dick Spivak’s bank telephoned and said his payment was late. "The check is in the post," Dick replied quickly. At 11:45 Dick left for a 12:00 meeting across town. Arriving late, he explained that traffic had been bad. That evening, Dick’s girlfriend wore a new dress. He hated it. "It looks just great on you," he said.
9点，迪克·斯皮瓦克的银行打电话说他的付款迟了。”支票已经邮寄，”迪克很快回答。11点45分，迪克出发去市区另一端参加12点的会议。他迟到了，解释说交通拥堵。那天晚上，迪克的女朋友穿了一件新衣服，他讨厌它。”你穿起来真好看，”他说。
Three lies in one day! Yet Dick Spivak is just an ordinary man. Each time, he told himself that sometimes the truth causes too many problems. Most of us tell much the same white lies, harmless untruths that help to save trouble. How often do we tell white lies It depends in part on our age, education, and even where we live. According to one U.S. study, women are more truthful than men, and honesty increases as we get older.
一天三个谎言！然而迪克·斯皮瓦克只是一个普通人。每次，他都告诉自己，有时候真相会带来太多问题。我们大多数人都说着同样的善意谎言、无害谎言，避免麻烦。我们多久撒一次善意的谎？这部分取决于我们的年龄、教育程度，甚至我们住在哪里。根据美国的一项研究，女性比男性更诚实，随着年龄的增长，诚实度也会增加。
While most people use little white lies to make life easier, the majority of Americans care about honesty, in both public and personal life. They say that people today are less honest than they were ten years ago. Although it is believed that things are getting worse, lying seems to be an age-old human problem. The French philosopher Vauvenarges, writing in the eighteenth century, touched on the truth when he wrote," All men are born truthful and die liars."
虽然大多数人用善意的谎言来让生活更轻松，但大多数美国人关心诚实，无论是在公共生活还是个人生活中。他们说今天的人们不如十年前诚实。尽管人们认为情况越来越糟，但说谎似乎是一个由来已久的人类问题。法国哲学家Vauvenarges在十八世纪的作品中提到了过这件事实，他写道：“所有人生来都是诚实的，死后都是骗子。”
