新高级阅读前（双语）51（923）

PASSAGE FIFTY-ONE

Lying reader

1.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.

2.A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words,“a brilliantly written book”.

3.However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all.

4.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.

5.In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9.

6.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.

7.But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984.

8.I think it’s really brilliant. The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it.

9.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.

10.Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in-depth!

11.But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words).

12.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 come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).

第五十一篇

说谎的读者

1.最近发生在我身上。我告诉别人我是多么喜欢读巴拉克·奥巴马的《父亲的梦想》，这本书如何改变了我对总统的看法。

2.与我交谈的一位朋友同意我的看法，用他的话说，这是一本“写得很出色的书”。

3.然而，他接着谈到奥巴马时的语气表明，他根本不了解奥巴马的背景。

4.我感觉到我在和一个骗子说话。看来我的朋友并不是唯一一个这样的人。大约三分之二的人曾谎称自己读过一本他们没有读过的书。

5.在世界读书日的“罪恶秘密报告”中，《父亲的梦想》名列第九。

6.这份报告列出了人们谎称自己读过的十本书和不同的作者，因为我不是一个经常撒谎的人(我讨厌被发现)，我现在就承认，我没有读过所有的前十本书。

7.但我很高兴地说，与42%的人不同，我读过排名第一的书，乔治·奥威尔的《1984》。

8.我觉得那真的很棒。世界读书日报告中还有其他一些有趣的信息。

9.据说很多人谎称自己读过简·奥斯汀、查尔斯·狄更斯、费奥多尔·陀思妥耶夫斯基(我没读过，但也没撒过谎)和赫尔曼·梅尔维尔。

10.当被问及为什么撒谎时，最常见的原因是为了给谈话对象留下“深刻印象”。如果谈话变得更深入，这可能会很棘手!

11.但当被问及他们真正喜欢哪些作家时，人们会说j·k·罗琳、约翰·格里沙姆、索菲·金塞拉(啊，换句话说，这些畅销书)。

12.42%的受访者承认，他们在读完故事之前会翻到书的背面看结尾(我坦白说:我也这么做过，58%的人说他们从来没有这么做过，这让我很惊讶)。