Twenties Girl

Unit 1. Telling Lies

Warm-up

§ Have you ever lied to your parents?

§ What do children usually lie to their parents about?

§ What are the reasons children prefer telling lies to telling the truth?

§ “Honesty is the best policy” or “Lies have short legs.” What do you think of that?

§ Do you believe in “white lie”?

Vocabulary extension

Twenties Girl

by Sophie Kinsella

(Extract)

The thing about lying to your parents is you have to do it to protect them. It’s for their own good. I mean, take my own parents. If they knew the unvarnished truth about my finances/love life/plumbing/council tax, they’d have instant heart attacks and the doctor would say, “Did anyone give them a terrible shock? ” and it would all be my fault. Therefore, they have been in my flat for approximately ten minutes and already I have told them the following lies:

1. L& N Executive Recruitment will start making profits soon, I’m sure of it.

2. Natalie is a fantastic business partner, and it was a really brilliant idea to chuck in my job to become a headhunter with her.

3. Of course I don’t just exist on pizza, black cherry yoghurts, and vodka.

4. Yes, I did know about interest on parking tickets.

5. Yes, I did watch that Charles Dickens DVD they gave me for Christmas; it was great, especially that lady in the bonnet. Yes, Peggotty. That’s who I meant.

6. I was actually intending to buy a smoke alarm at the week-end, what a coincidence they should mention it.

7. Yes, it’ll be nice to see all the family again.

Seven lies. Not including all the ones about Mum’s outfit. And we haven’t even mentioned The Subject.

As I come out of my bedroom in a black dress and hastily applied mascara, I see Mum looking at my overdue phone bill on the mantelpiece.

“Don’t worry, ” I say quickly. “I’m going to sort that out.”

“Only, if you don’t, ” says Mum, “they’ll cut off your line, and it will take ages for you to get it installed again, and the mobile signal is so patchy here. What if there was an emergency? What would you do? ” Her brow is creased with anxiety. She looks as though this is all totally imminent, as though there’s a woman screaming in labour in the bedroom and floods are rising outside the window and how we will contact the helicopter? How?

“Er… I hadn’t thought about it. Mum, I’ll pay the bill. Honest.”

Notes

chuck in / up (informal)

- give up (a job or activity) suddenly

e.g. Richard chucked his cultural studies course

- break up with smb.

e.g. His old girl-friend chucked him finally.