#1 (permalink) Tue Mar 24, 2009 14:40 pm TOEFL essay: Agree or disagree that there are times lying is acceptable. |
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Hello everyone, please rate my essay on this topic and figure out my grammatical flaws and give me advice to improve my essay. I would be appreciate of your time. Thank you guys in advance!!
Truth is something that people pursue forever. Since we were young, our parents and teachers had delivered us the value of truth, warning us not to lie to others. However, it is also true that there is no "absolute truth" in the world. No one can be purely honest all the time.Sometimes people have to lie for their own reasons; they might lie in order to survive, to comfort someone they care and to maintain a relationship.Lying under these circumstances, I considered, is acceptable.
To start with, there are special jobs that call for liers such as inteligence agent, mulitary offical. Typical example is spy who runs espionage activities by deceiption. Nearly every country has spies working for them. During the course of wartime, theese talent guys were quite responsible for the fate of their nations. They were perfect liers and they could even cheat the lie detectors once their real identitities were under suspicion.Have they been condemned for their lying? No, people respect them because they kept faithful to their countries and they earned fital informations to end up the war as soon as possible. Spy, though being associated with lies, is an honored job.
Also, there are times when the truth would hurt people,allthey need is not a crushing blow,but a " white lie" to be comforted. For example, I knew a young mother who had a 6 year-old girl. Her father died at an accident when she was only four. However her mother didn't tell her that her Dad had passed away;Instead, she told her that her dad had gone to a far away place and wouldn't come back in years to come. Truly enough,this young mother lied, but this was quite a benevolent lie. She lied to her daughter because she loved her. More importantly,she knew that the little girl had not been prepared for the truth---"death".In this case,I couldn't blame this young mother because most of us would do the same thing to protect the others we concern.
Fnally, sometimes a small lie is essencial to maintain a relationship. This does not mean that we can lie casually.We must realize that for most of time, a long and stable marriage is built on the basis of honesty and trust. But if truth can bring unnecessary discord, it is acceptable to make a lie to avoid bad result. For instance, on the way home, a man bumped into a female classmate of high school,they made a freindly conversation and they went a restaurant just to brighten the chain.When he arrived at home, he was not likely to tell her wife he had a happy dinner with one woman whom he hadn't seen for a long time;instead, he might just tell her that he went for dinner with his colleagues.Since he had no idea of his wife's response if he told the truth, it is a safe solution for both's sake to fabricate a smart but small lie.
Lying, under most situations is not a right choice. But there are exceptions: when it comes to one's survival, feeling and relationship, people can lie to protect what they value. Lying at this time is not a disgraceful behavior;quite the contrary, it is just a willing to live better not only for the lier himself/herself, but also for others surrounding. |
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Dengqinbo I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Posts: 15
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