(PUC-Rio -1998)Lies are so commonplace, they almos

(PUC-Rio - 1998)

Lies are so commonplace, they almost seem like the truth

1 Everyone lies. Little lies, perhaps, which may not cause serious problems, but still they are lies. We fudge on how old we are, how much we weigh, what we are paid. Some people tell their children that Santa Claus will come on Christmas Eve.

2 Consider the last time you got a phone call from someone you didn't want to talk to. Did you perhaps claim falsely that you were just on your way out the door? That your newborn (you're childless) needed you?

3 Did you ever promise anyone, "We'll do lunch", when you knew that you'd never get together?

4 Did you ever reach for the phone to call in sick to work, then leap from bed to enjoy the day?

5 Did you ever tell someone you owed money to that the check was in the mail when it wasn't?

6 Few behaviors serve as many purposes as lying. We grow up to use lies - or at least half truths - to avoid things that should be done, to get people to believe us, to get what we want, to buy time, to end conversations, to keep relationships going.

7 "Lying is also exciting," said Margaret Summy, a professional counselor in Forth Worth, Texas. "It's living dangerously. Besides, we all want to be important, so we change our stories to make them more interesting."

8"We also lie to make people agree with us, without realizing that we're doing so," said clinical psychologist David Welsh.

9 "In working with relationships such as parent-child or husband-wife, each person has a different memory, one which helps them. They'll accuse each other of lying, "he said. "But both are telling their own understanding of the truth."

10 Perhaps the most understandable reason people lie is so they don't hurt others' feelings. Most guests at a dinner party wouldn't want to say that they didn't like a specially prepared meal, even if it was terrible.

11 But even though people lie for good reasons, lying can be harmful. If we act on false information, we can be hurt. If we lie and are discovered, it can destroy the trust necessary for strong relationships. Besides, lying is hard on the brain because one lie leads to another, and we always have to remember our false story. In his "Discourses on Government", Algemon Sidney said, "Liars ought to have good memories."

12 For most of us, though, lying is hard on us physically. We breathe faster, our hearts beat harder, and our blood pressure goes up.

13 The truth can be hard on the body too, of course - especially if we're admitting to a lie. Just about the most difficult thing for any human being to do is to tell others that he or she lied to them. It's very stressful.

Terry L. Goodrich. Seattle Post-Intelligencer; October 29, 1990, C1

In the sentence "Everyone lies" (par. 1), the present tense is being used to express a fact that will never change in time (historical present). In which of the alternatives below is the present tense being used to express a similar idea?