Telling the truth

Mówienie prawdy może być cnotą, ale czy nie ważniejsza jest umiejętność mówienia kłamstw? Artykuł w języku angielskim z wytłumaczonymi najtrudniejszymi słówkami.

Telling the truth may be a virtue, but is it not more important to know how to tell lies? After all, I am sure that everyone has experienced a situation where they knew that if they told the truth, they would find themselves in more trouble than if they told a lie to worm their way out of distress. And if you're already lying, then it should be convincing and so well constructed that the other wouldn't ever think that you were lying. Life goes about in a way that its necessary to tell lies. Things aren't always done on time, promises aren't always kept, we don't want feelings to be hurt, and so on.

Obviously, modern civilized society couldn't exist if everybody lied all the time. In the age of globalization and the widespread cooperation of many people, we all base our decisions and plans on what others tell us. If everyone told lies to everyone else then everything would quickly cease to function and fall apart.

But at the same time, would it not be equally disastrous if everybody always told the truth? If everyone told the pure, cold truth then it would surely have a destructive social impact and people would probably want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. In a short time, mass culture would turn into the culture of hermits and all based upon even the smallest of comments. Upon these pure truths people would either hide away or kill each other off.

In the end, one might conclude that both lying and telling the truth are a part of human nature. One might also conclude that neither truth nor falsehood may exist without each other for the opposite of one defines the other, just like day and night, and it's rather nonsensical to discuss why day and night exist…unless maybe you're studying philosophy.

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virtue - cnota

to worm one's way out - wykręcić się

obviously - oczywiście, wyraźnie

cooperation - współpraca

to cease - zaprzestać, ustać

disastrous - katastrofalny

hermit - pustelnik, samotnik

nonsensical - nonsensowny, niedorzeczny