You’d never think he’d cause such chaos
 |
| Image: All Rights Reserved |
| London: Doubleday |
| 2002 |
Mythomania, the teachers called it. They fussed and frowned. But we all loved it. It was like sitting round a telly that ran a different soap opera everyday. He had so many lives. One day, he’d be an orphan, and we’d hear the terrible story of how he’d lost both of his parents in a hotel fire. Or tidal wave. Or hurricane. Next day, he would mysteriously have six beautiful sisters, all born dumb, and all talented at seeing the future. The day after that, there’d be some brother who worked as a spy. Or a whaler. Or an ace pilot. By the end of the school week, his father would be starring in a film, but his sisters might have vanished. And the following week, he’d be back as an orphan.
“Not even your name’s real,” Tom Hunter dared complain once. “‘Stolly!’ Honestly!”
“It makes perfect sense,” Stol insisted. “Stuart Terence Oliver. Stolly.”
And that was about the only bit of him that stayed the same from week to week. The teachers used to come unglued.
“Stolly, did you tell those poor little third years getting on the bus for their school trip that the world was going to end in two hours, and that’s why they were being taken away?”
He’d make his “vacant but trapped” face.
“You did, didn’t you?”
“I may have mentioned that some people do in fact believe—”
“Stolly! The driver had to stop four times. There was mass hysteria! By the time the bus reached the Toy Museum, everyone was in shreds!”
To look at him, you’d never think he’d cause such chaos. Mum said he was as cute as a button when he was little.
Extract from the book Up On Cloud Nine
by Anne Fine.
All Rights Reserved.
London: Doubleday, 2002.
Call Number: J English FIN
Extract contributed by Chen Wanying
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What is the difference between imagining and lying?
July 1st, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Well, imagining is about thinking or dreaming about something that you have never experienced or seen before- like your mind is distracted or it is at somewhere else. Imagining can also be good or bad and you can also achieve your goals by learning more on what you want to achieve. Sometimes, we must imagine at the appropriate time.
For lying, it means that you are deceiving the person- maybe to cover up your mistakes or do not have the guts to admit the truth.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
Lying is when someone says that he/she has not done or said something, when that person actually did do that thing. It could also be the other way round. We lie when we want to cover up what we really know about that deed or incident.Imagining is when you pretend, and that is different from lying. When somebody imagines that someone or something is there, he/she is only pretending. Imagining does not hide the truth from anyone, unlike lying.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
Lying is when you tell something that is not true and you decieve someone, or to cover up another lie or even to just trick people for the fun of it or you have done something wrong and just don’t want to tell the truth as you may end up hurting the other party, and there is a guilt inside of you that is eating you up alive and it will make you feel very upset or may even get you sick.
For dreaming, it is when you are sleeping and you have a dream about somthing that you have seen before.
Another type of dreaming is when you dream about somthing you love, what occupation you want to be or what you want to accomplish for example, getting the best grades in the class, be the best athlet, invent somthing useful, to get a new world record for somthing or being the very first person to ever try somthing.
So lying and dreaming are two very different things. You should dream, but you should not lie.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Imagining is dreaming without telling it to other people but lying is telling others what you imagined knowing they would probably believe it.
For example, you imagine thast your life is perfect with lots of money, everything you ever wanted. Now, you imagine lying that your life is perfect to a person, any person. When you imagine it, you are not lying to anyone. but when you tell someone your life is perfect when it is not, you are telling a lie.
Sure, imagining something is fine as long as you dont say it out loud. You may dream about doing and having things that are incredible, but dont take it to far as to tell someone a lie.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Imagining is like dreaming. While, lying is deceiving someone. Imagining is allowed but lying is strongly discouraged. I think that we should not even tell a white lie should not be allowed as we are still deceiving someone.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Lying is saying something that is untrue,either for selfish reasons or for good purposes.
D
An example of lying for good purposes is when you lie to someone so that they would not feel too terrible. However, this form of lying is not really appreciated by the people who are lied to, especially when they found out you have lied to them as they claim they would prefer the truth, even if the truth is something terrible.
An example of lying for selfish reasons is when one lies to the teacher so as to not get scolded by the teachers.
Personally, I feel that lying is not correct and one should be frank as that less people will be hurt or betrayed.
Imagining, however, is a totally different thing. Imagining is a neutral thing. It just depends on what you imagine about. If you imagine about things that are obscene or things that contaminate your thinking, it is absolutely wrong. However, if you imagine, aspire and have dreams and ambitions, it is right as you will work towards your dreams and strive to do your best.
Hence, I feel that imagining is not wrong, as long as you dream about the right things.
July 6th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Imagining is dreaming about something, be it possible or impossible. Imagining is keeping something to yourself and not saying it.
However, lying is something that did not happen, yet, you tell someone that it has happened. It is like fabricating stories.
Lying can be white lie or a lie that can ‘harm’ people. Alas, the person being decieved may not really like it as she/he may think you are treating her/him like a fool by lying.
In any case, whether the the lie is to make people less hurt or other reasons, we should have a habit not to lie. Sometimes there really is no choice but to lie so perhaps it is fine, depending on what the situation is.
Imaging and lying are two different things. One is harmless while the other is. We can imagine but we cannot lie. Well, I am sure you have told a lie before, right? In fact, everyone has.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Lying is someone saying something that is not truth while imaging is like thinking of something in your head.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Lying is when someone who ask you something or a question.For example: Why did you left your homework at home? Did you do it,the teacher asked.Peter reply is yes,he did his work. But actually he was lying.The book is in his bag and he did not do it.He did not tell his teacher the truth and this is called lying. Imagining is you are thinking an image or a story in your mind, but it is not a true story its just your imagination only.So… lying and imaginging is two different thing and its easy not to mix this two words up!
July 7th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Lying is when someone who ask you something or a question.For example: Why did you left your homework at home? Did you do it,the teacher asked.Peter reply is yes,he did his work. But actually he was lying.The book is in his bag and he did not do it.He did not tell his teacher the truth and this is called lying. Imagining is you are thinking an image or a story in your mind, but it is not a true story its just your imagination only.For the word lying,It is not a good thing top describe and for imagination is something that is not lying…
July 7th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Lying is something that someone must not do.According to me lying is an unforgettable sin .Lying niether brings happiness nor sadness.
Imagining is when you are in a success or nightmare.Success is caused in dreams because some people around the world dream of what they are going to do tomorrow.Nightmare is caused by watching movies of scariness or others.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Imagining is beliving and lying is not telling the truth.I think we should not lie . But imagining things is fun when you get to imagin.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:57 am
the differance is that lying is a sin but imagining is not a sin!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 8th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Imaniging means having thoughts in mind or dreaming. Lying means being dishonest to me. Dishonest means lying which is bad. When I am feeling depressed I would imagine
July 8th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Lying is bad and we should not lie but imaging is something different its ok to imagine
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July 8th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Imagining is when u imagin so things you wish to have. Lying is dishonest and very bad.
July 8th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
lying is something that is not good and is something that you should not do because it tells that you do not tell the truth and that is what lying means. Imaginating is something that is not true and it means dreaming
July 8th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Well imagining things is like for example, you saw someone that had died and after a few days later, you saw that person walking in the streets that is called imaging. And lying is like for example, you brought your homework but you lied to your teacher and said you never bring.
July 8th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Imagining is when your trying to think of a picture of something.Lying means it is a lie told by a person.We should not lie.Instead we should be truthful at all times.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I think there is a big difference between imagining and lying. Imagining is when you make believe of something that is not true. However, when you try to make others believe what you imagine, it is not imagining, but lying. It is fine to imagine, but we should not think it is true and force others to believe it is true.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Lying is not being honest. Lying is deceiving someone and not telling the truth. You are not being truthful if you lie. Imagining on the other hand, is something like daydreaming. You can be honest and truthful when you imagine. You do not need to lie when you imagine.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Imagining means he/she is thinking of doing something but is not doing it.This word is just like the word dreaming.
Lying means you are not telling the truth.doing this is wrong, because if you lie to people, they might be angry at you and you wikll not like it.
July 19th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I think that imagine is alright as you are just thinking about it and had not done the thing yet, which mean you may not do it after thinking for a period of time. Imagine is thinking only, but it may not be true and it may just be a thought by yourself.
I think that lying is not right as when you lie, you had done something wrong and had tried to cover it with a lie. We should tell the truth when we are suppose to and not a lie. Even a white lie is also a lie as you should also say the truth no matter what happen but not a lie.
July 19th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Imaginating is thinking about someting that might happen(its just like dreaming).Lying is saying something that is not true to somebody.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Erm… Imaginating is when you are thinking or dreaming of something that never happened to you before… It can be good or bad depending….
Lying is when you are not telling the truth. Usually, it is wrong to do that… but sometimes… people lie to cover for up your friend(:
July 20th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Lying is bad.We should not lie.It is not right, it is a sin. Imagination is different.It is not a sin.it’s ok to imagine.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Imagining is thinking about something not realistic while lying is not telling the truth. You can imagine but you cannot lie;it is bad.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:56 pm
To imagine is to dream and but not act. To lie, is to tell something apart from the truth and to deceive people. We should not lie, as it leads people away from the truth, especially if you are trusted.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:02 pm
imagining is exaggerating an existing situation. lying is knowing the truth but saying another thing.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:46 am
The little boy is so poor thing and yet he cant fufiled his dream
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 am
The little boy is so poor thing and yet he cant fufiled his dream.
July 29th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Imagining is just like dreaming but not to be doing any action. Even though you lie,people will still find out what the truth so just be honest. Whatever we do God is still watching you:)So be a honest person.
July 31st, 2010 at 4:37 pm
always at home i sometimw always lie cause i don like to be a honest people but someone im this world change my life so isat to myself ” i want to be a honest girl”