Hi everyone,I am very happy for the first program last month, which got a lot of praises, especially one from my high school`s English teacher Mary, she is my good friend, and she gave me more affirmation and confidence to go on doing this English learning program.Today we are going to discuss trust, what is trust? Listen to the dialogues between Nail and Rob and here we go.

 

As well as bringing the world to a halt,the coronavirus epidemic has led to an increase in misinformation, lies and conspiracy theories on the internet.

 

In an era of fake news,where even a president of the United States is accused of spreading misinformation,

 

Could it be that we are living through a crisis in trust?

 

What is trust?

 

And who should we place our trust in?

 

These are some of the questions we`ll be discussing in this program.

 

And we`ll be hearing from a philosopher who believes the problem is not about trust itself but about trustworthiness -the ability to be trusted as being honest and reliable.

 

And as always we`ll be learning some related vocabulary along the way.

 

Of course telling lies and lacking trustworthiness is nothing new,just think of the Trojan Horse used to trick the ancient Greeks. 

 

More recently,the American financier Bernie Madoff became infamous as ‘the biggest swindler in history’.

 

In 2009 he was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his part in the Ponzi scam,but how much did he defraud from investors?

 

That`s my quiz question.

 

Was it:a) 6.5 million dollars,b) 65 million dollars or c) 65 billion dollars?

 

I`ll say b) 65 million dollars.

 

Ok, Rob,we`ll come back to that later.

 

Generally speaking,trust can be described as a judgment that someone can be believed and relied upon.

 

When we trust each other it makes life easier,quicker and friendlier.

 

Society can`t function without trust-so does that mean the more trust the better?

 

Well,not according to philosopher,Onora O`Neill.

 

He says we have another word,which is gullible,and if you simply place trust indiscriminately without making a judgment about whether the other person or institution is trustworthy,then just trusting to luck as we say,is probably not a virtue.

 

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