All of us rely on what we see. We say to ourselves, ‘I know, I was there; I saw it happen’ and that seems to settle the matter. Or does it? Can we really trust the evidence of our eyes?我们都依赖于我们所看到的。我们对自己说：‘我知道，我在那里；我看到了它的发生’，这似乎解决了问题。还是真的？我们真的能相信我们眼睛的证据吗？

Take competitive sports. Fans who see the same game will not agree with each other and will disagree with the referee. ‘He was out of bounds when he caught the pass,’ says one fan. Says another, ‘You’re crazy. I saw it with my own eyes. He was five feet in bounds. You must be blind.’ The referee rules that the receiver did step out of bounds. But thousands of fans are still not convinced—because they were there!

参加竞技体育。看到同一场比赛的球迷不会互相同意，也会不同意裁判的意见。一名球迷说，他接到传球时已经出界了。另一个说，“你疯了。我亲眼所见。他有五英尺高。“你一定是瞎了。”裁判判定接球者确实越界了。但成千上万的球迷仍然不相信，因为他们在那里！

It’s the same story in the courtroom. Trial procedure depends on witnesses giving sworn testimony（证词）. But just how reliable is the testimony of a person who reports what he has seen? In a recent study, ten thousand witnesses were asked to describe the man they saw commit a crime. The study reveals that, on the average, the witnesses overestimated the man’s height by five inches, his age by eight years, and gave the wrong hair color in 83 percent of the cases. These witnesses didn’t play tricks on them!

法庭上也是这样。审判程序取决于证人的宣誓作证。但是一个报告他所见的人的证词到底有多可靠？在最近的一项研究中，一万名目击者被要求描述他们看到的犯罪者。研究显示，平均而言，目击者高估了该男子的身高5英寸，高估了他的年龄8岁，83%的案件中给出了错误的发色。这些证人没有捉弄他们！

What can we do to keep error to a minimum? First of all, don’t let your emotions interfere with your vision. Don’t see something because you want to see it. Secondly, try to stay relaxed. If you are tense, you are liable to see red when the color is blue. And finally, it helps to make notes of what you see. Don’t rely on your memory alone. Take pictures, make recordings, and use any other aid to reduce distortion.

我们该怎么做才能把误差降到最低？首先，不要让你的情绪干扰你的视力。不要因为想看就看。其次，尽量保持放松。如果你很紧张，当颜色是蓝色时，你很容易看到红色。最后，把你看到的东西记下来是有帮助的。不要只依靠你的记忆力。拍照，录音，并使用任何其他辅助手段来减少失真。

1. The best statement of the main idea of this passage is that ________.

A) all of us rely on what we see

B) sworn witnesses can hardly be trusted

C) we can’t completely trust the evidence of our eyes

D) eyewitnesses are unreliable

2. The passage suggests that fans at sports events ________.

A) are influenced by emotion,球迷在体育赛事 受情绪影响

B) are crazy about sports

C) lie about what they see

D) have no respect for the truth

3. Statistical studies suggest that ________.

A) courtroom testimony only confuses the jury

B) in 83 percent of the cases, witnesses overestimate age by eight years

C) witnesses are remarkably accurate

D) testimony of people reporting what they see is often unreliable人们所说的亲眼所见往往是不可靠的

4. The word ‘them’ in the last line of paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A) the eyes of the witnesses

B) the sworn testimony given by the witnesses

C) the members of the jury

D) the height, age and hair color of the criminal

5. To keep visual error to a minimum, all of the following are necessary EXCEPT ________.

A) to stay calm

B) to get close for a better look

C) not to let your emotions interfere

D) to make notes of what you see

1. C 2. A 3. D 4. D 5. B