Question 19 is based on the recording you have just heard.

听力原文

    Now, believe it or not, people sometimes lie in order to maintain a good, honest reputation—even if it hurts them to do so. At least, this is what a team of scientists is suggesting, with evidence to prove it.

    Picture this scenario: You often drive for work and can be compensated for up to 400 miles per month. Most people at your company drive about 300 miles each month. But this month, you drove 400 miles. How many miles do you think you’d claim in your expense report?

    The scientists asked this exact question as part of the study we’re discussing today. With surprising results, (19) [they found that 12% of respondents reported the distance they drove as less than the actual figure, giving an average answer of 384 miles. In other words, they lied about the number of miles,] even though they would forfeit money they were owed. The researchers believe this was to seem honest, with the assumption being that others would be suspicious of a high expense claim.

    But why would people fabricate numbers to their own detriment? (20) [The researchers explained that many people care a great deal about their reputation and how they’ll be judged by others.] If they care enough, they’re concerned about appearing honest and not losing their respect of others, maybe greater than their desire to actually be honest. The researchers assert that the findings suggest that when people obtain very favorable outcomes, they anticipate other people’s suspicious reactions and prefer lying and appearing honest to telling the truth and appearing as selfish liars.

    So why is this research important? Well, experts generally agree there are two main types of lie—selfish lies and lies that are meant to benefit others. The first, as you may predict, is for selfish gain, such as submitting a fraudulent claim to an insurance company; while the second involves lying to help others or not offend others, for example, telling a friend whose outfit you don’t like that they look great.

    But the researchers are suggesting a third type of lying: lying to maintain a good reputation. Now this hypothesis is new, and some skeptics argue that this isn’t a whole new category of lie. (21) [But the findings seem intuitive to me.] After all, one of the main motivations for lying is to increase our worth in the eyes of others. So it seems highly likely that people will lie to seem honest.

19. What did a team of scientists find in their study?（一个科学家团队在他们的研究中发现了什么？）

解析：D。四个选项中都是对respondents（受访者）的描述，预判题目可能与某项调查研究有关。录音前半部分介绍了一个科学家团队的研究，结果发现12%的受访者谎报了开车的里程数。D项与此内容相符，其中Over 10% of the respondents对应录音中的12% of respondents，lied about为原词复现，the distance they drove对应录音中的the number of miles，因此正确答案为D。

错项排除：录音中提到，12%的受访者谎报了开车的里程数，因为他们怕别人怀疑自己上报的数字虚高（high expense claim），但并不是所有受访者都这样想，A项以偏概全，故排除。录音中两次提到400miles，一次是每月400英里的补助，一次是假设你这月开了400英里，并不是说受访者回答的平均数，故B项排除。录音中提到12%的受访者上报的平均里程数为384英里，并不是大多数受访者的报销里程数，故排除C项。