It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was ,in his words, “a brilliantly（精彩地）written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.
And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out ),I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten . But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.
The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky(I haven’t read him, but haven’t lied about it either )and Herman Melville.
Asked why they lied, the most mon reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in –depth!
But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. k. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story(I’ll e clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).
【小题1】How did the author find his friend a book liar?A．By judging his manner of speaking.B．By looking into his background.C．By mentioning a famous name.D．By discussing the book itself.【小题2】Which of the following is a “guilty secret” according to the World Book Day report?A．Charles Dickens is very low on the top-ten list.B．42% of people pretended to have read 1984.C．The author admitted having read 9 books.D．Dreams From My Father is hardly read.【小题3】By lying about reading, a person hopes to.A．control the conversationB．appear knowledgeableC．learn about the bookD．make more friends【小题4】What is the author’s attitude to 58%of readers?A．Favorable.B．UncaringC．DoubtfulD．FriendlyD
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(答案→)D
解析：
【文章大意】本文是一篇记叙文。作者通过与朋友聊天引出本文的话题book liar，列举了大家谎称读了实际未读的书目，以及大家喜欢的一些作家，并阐述了人们撒谎的最常见的理由。
【小题1】根据文章第一段中的A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was ,in his words, “a brilliantly（精彩地）written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all.（然后他继续以一种能暗示出他对奥巴马背景一无所知的方式继续谈论Mr Obama），可知作者跟他的朋友深谈有关奥巴马的那本书时，发现朋友对奥巴马背景一无所知，这暗示出朋友其实并没有读过这本书，他对奥巴马的背景一点都不知晓。故选D。
【小题2】本题的关键词是guilty secret，定位第二三段。根据文章第二段中的But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s1984.（不像百分之四十二的人那样，我很高兴地说，我读过排在第一位的George Orwell’s1984.）由此可知，作者读过George Orwell’s1984这本书，而百分之四十二的人却没读过。故选B。
【小题3】根据文章第四段中的Asked why they lied, the most mon reason was to impress someone they were speaking to.（当被问及为什么撒谎的时候，最普遍的理由是想给正在说话的人留下深刻的印象。）人们之所以选择撒谎是想让对方觉得自己知识渊博，从而给对方一个好的印象。因此B正确。
【小题4】根据文章第五段的最后一句话And am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so（我很惊讶58%的人说他们从来没这么做过。）表明作者态度的词是astonished。选项中与此词意义相近的答案就是选项C了。