Question

Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patients to speed recovery or to cover the coming of death? In medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed by greater needs; the need to protect patients from brutal news, to uphold a promise of secrecy or to advance the public interest.

What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the truth? If he asks, should doctors reject that he is ill, or minimize the gravity of the illness? Should they at least hide the truth until after the family vacation?

Doctors face such choices often. At times, they see important reasons to lie for the patients’ own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving ones.

Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them of risks destroys their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate faster, perhaps even commit suicide.

But other studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians, a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about serious illness, and feel cheated when they learn that they have been misled. We are also learning that truthful information, humanely conveyed, helps patients cope with illness; help them tolerate pain better with less medicine, and even recover faster after surgery.

There is an urgent need to debate this issue openly. Not only in medicine, but in other professions as well, practitioners may find themselves repeatedly in difficulty where serious consequences seem avoidable only through deception. Yet the public has every reason to know the professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to trust. Neither in medicine, nor in law, government, or the social sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

Title: 1. Or Not

Different 2.	·Most doctors are in 3. of lying for the patients’ own sake.
·A great majority of patients 4. on being told the truth.
Reasons for 5. lying to patients	·Informing patients of the truth about their condition destroys their hope, 6. to recovering more slowly, or deteriorating faster, perhaps even 7. themselves.
Reasons 8. lying to patients	·The truthful information helps patients to 9. their illness, help them tolerate pain better with less medicine, and even recover faster after surgery. ·Most patients feel 10. when they learn that they have been misled.

Answer

1.Lie

2.attitudes/opinions/viewpoints

3.favo(u)r

4.insist

5.supporting

6.leading

7.killing

8.against

9.handle/approach

10.cheated

【解析】如果是为了帮助病人加速康复而需要去隐瞒死亡的来临， 医生们是不是该撒谎呢？而事实上绝大多数的病人都希望被告知真相，即使是严重的疾病，当他们得知自己被误导时也会感到上当受骗。这是在许多领域都需要迫切地公开讨论的话题。不仅在医学上，在其他职业中，那些从业者可能会发现自己反复陷入困境，在这种情况下，只有通过欺骗才能避免严重的后果。然而，无论是谁，都不会有安慰说:“你不知道的东西不会伤害你。”

1.1. Lie 根据第一段第一句话中 “Should doctors ever lie to ...?”可知填 lie

2.2. attitudes/opinions/viewpoints 本题为总结词，由右边一栏中的两种观点可知讲的是双方的看法。

3.3. favo(u)r 根据第三段中的“they see important reasons to lie for the patients’ own sake”可知医生赞同说谎，所以用短语 “in favour of”表示赞同，支持

4.4. insist 根据最后一段中的“a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth”可知病人想知道事实，所以这里填 insist，构成短语 insist on

5.5. supporting 本题为总结词，根据右边一栏中的观点，认为隐瞒病情对病人有好处，所以填 supporting，表支持，for为介词，所以用Ving形式

6.6. leading 根据第四段中的“so that they may recover more slowly”可知只是导致的结果，故使用相同意义的短语 “lead to”，根据下文deteriorating，用Ving形式

7.7. killing 根据第四段中的“perhaps even commit suicide”可知，commit suicide为自杀，等于 kill oneself，再根据上文的deteriorating，故用Ving形式

8.8. against 此题和第五题为相反意思，所以填 against，表 反对

9.9. handle/approach 根据最后一段中的“helps patients cope with illness”可知这里需要填的词可以表示 “cope with”的含义，所以填 “handle、approach”

10.10. cheated 本题为原题再现，最后一段第三行。