Question

Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.

Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated(夸大) or distorted(扭曲) what they are doing on social media once a month. The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and polished an exotic(异国的) holiday or their job.

The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their lives would seem “boring”, envy at seeing other people’s more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.

Psychologists suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on social media, they can in fact “paradoxically(自相矛盾地)” be left “more isolated”. They also said that “the more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel”.

According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to “dishonesty” on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage.

Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.

Nearly 30 percent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs. Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.

“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and eventually unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.

“Leaving out the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our `friends` online leads to less opportunity to feel empathized with(与…产生共鸣), resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”

The survey was conducted by Pencourage, a new anonymous (匿名的)“diary-style” social media website.

1. Which of the words below is closest in meaning to the underlined word “fibs” in Para 3?

A. life experiences B. short stories

C. careful thoughtsD. insignificant lies

2. A woman tends to tell a lie online when she__________.

A. hopes to make more friends

B. envies other people’s exciting life

C. feels lonely at home

D. gets tired of the boring life

3. A woman might pretend to be happier online than she actually is by __________.

A. avoiding conversations with friends

B. describing her holiday activities

C. leaving out the imperfections in life

D. overstating her trouble at work

4. According to Dr Michael Sinclair, constantly lying online may __________.

A. eventually make one’s life more exciting

B. actually lead to a sense of isolation

C. really improve one’s sense of happiness

D. scarcely have any influence on relationships

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.B

【解析】

试题分析: 研究发现在网络的虚拟交流中很多女性都或多或少地说谎，本文分析了这种行为的具体原因和可能导致的结果。

1.

2.

3.

4.

考点：考查社会现象类短文阅读。