"Would I Lie to You?" (MP3 at www.teacherbill.com)

Well, here we are in beautiful Taroko Gorge National Park, on the east coast of Taiwan, near Hualien. And this place is just stunningly beautiful—I highly recommend it to anybody. It’s one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been in my life. It rivals Yellowstone and Yosemite as far as sheer beauty and being spectacular.
So, okay, well, it’s December 31st, and New Year’s is on my mind. So, you’ll probably look at this after New Year’s, or New Year’s Eve.
So, we make “reser”—reservations—we make resolutions, not reservations—we make reservations to go eat at a restaurant. But, for the New Year, we make resolutions about losing weight, or making more money, or changing a job, or finding love. But, maybe we should simplify our resolutions—simplify ‘em.
And, for instance, the one I’m thinking about now, not only for myself, but for everybody to consider is how about a resolution to be honest, and, um, just tell the truth. Be honest with yourself.
So, be honest with yourself, and be honest with others. So, you need to be honest with yourself in evaluating what you do, and what you say and how you impact others, and how you view the world. So, you need to be honest with yourself. But you also need to be honest with others, about others.
We normally don’t tell blatant lies about people, but, or things. But, what we do is often we will tell “white lies”—little white lies. We leave out information, or we make a little change of the information or facts, and we think it’s okay.
Normally, the reason people tell lies is, one, to protect their own “rear-end”. That’s one reason people tell lies. The other one is to make themselves look better, or to get, uh, maybe an edge on a person or some situation.
So, but in the long-run, that doesn’t help us. So, why don’t you make a resolution for 2008 to be honest, with others and yourself. I’ll check back with you later in the year, see how that went. Alright—one more look at Taroko Gorge National Park.

Key Words

Stunningly-adv-surprising beyond expectations, outstanding, very special.

Spectacular-adj-super, fantastic, very special.

Resolution-n-a promise to do something, a goal.

Simplify-v-to keep something easy to understand, easy to do.

Evaluating-v-to analyze, to determine what something is.

Blatant-adj-very obvious, not hidden, clear meaning.

White lies-n-minor changes in reporting facts, or leaving out key information.

Rear-end-n-referring to the self, the person.