B

Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient–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

（变矮小）by greater needs: the need to protect from

brutal news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; 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 the doctor reject that he is ill, or minimize fee 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 patient's 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 risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate （恶化） faster, perhaps even commit suicide（自杀）．

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, humanly conveyed, helps patients cope with illness: help them tolerate pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster after operation．

There is 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 （欺骗）．Yet the public has every reason to know 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．"

60．What is the passage mainly about?

         A．Whether patients really want to know the truth of their condition．

         B．Whether patients should be told the truth of their illness．

         C．Whether different studies should be carried on．

         D．Whether doctors are honesty with their patients．

61．For the case mentioned in paragraph 2, most doctors will ____．

         A．tell the patient the truth as soon as possible

         B．choose to lie to him about his condition at that moment

         C．tell him to shorten the family vacation

         D．advise him to cancel the family vacation

62．Which of the following is TRUE?

         A．Sometimes government tells lies because they need to meet the public interest．

         B．Doctors believe if they lie, those seriously-ill patients will recover more quickly．

         C．Truthful information helps patients deal with their illness in some cases．

         D．Many patients don't want to know the truth, especially about serious illness．

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author's attitude to professional deception is ____．

         A．supportive             B．indifferent C．opposed         D．neutral

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author’s attitude to professional deception is      .

         A．supportive B．indifferent C．opposed     D．neutral

B

Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient–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

（变矮小）by greater needs: the need to protect from

brutal news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; 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 the doctor reject that he is ill, or minimize fee 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 patient's 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 risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate （恶化） faster, perhaps even commit suicide（自杀）．

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, humanly conveyed, helps patients cope with illness: help them tolerate pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster after operation．

There is 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 （欺骗）．Yet the public has every reason to know 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．"

60．What is the passage mainly about?

       A．Whether patients really want to know the truth of their condition．

       B．Whether patients should be told the truth of their illness．

       C．Whether different studies should be carried on．

       D．Whether doctors are honesty with their patients．

61．For the case mentioned in paragraph 2, most doctors will ____．

       A．tell the patient the truth as soon as possible

       B．choose to lie to him about his condition at that moment

       C．tell him to shorten the family vacation

       D．advise him to cancel the family vacation

62．Which of the following is TRUE?

       A．Sometimes government tells lies because they need to meet the public interest．

       B．Doctors believe if they lie, those seriously-ill patients will recover more quickly．

       C．Truthful information helps patients deal with their illness in some cases．

       D．Many patients don't want to know the truth, especially about serious illness．

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author's attitude to professional deception is ____．

       A．supportive           B．indifferent       C．opposed        D．neutral

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author’s attitude to professional deception is      .

       A．supportive       B．indifferent       C．opposed    D．neutral

Perhaps most surprisingly, many said they were less frightened of death now than they were before. Like most people, before their near-death incidents many had thought death would be painful, the ultimate horror—but they did not find it was.

Surviving a nearly fatal experience also gave many people a sense of invulnerability that made them feel special and even religious. Several believed they had been saved because they were to fulfill some special mission in the remainder of their lives.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, these survivors also reported an increased zest for life and a determination to enjoy life more.

A few of the survivors did report negative reactions to their experience. A dozen said they felt more vulnerable, and some even felt a sense of helplessness and a loss of control over their lives. Some had become phobic about activities associated with the accident; for example, several said they could no longer swim for fear of drowning.

Yet most of those interviewee said they came away with a strong sense of renewal or rebirth. In studying their reactions researchers have concluded that these people have come to understand the relationship of life and death better and more intimately than most of us, they have come to understand how life is actually defined by death. Life is given meaning by the fact that it will end someday.

　　  1. From the passage, we can infer that the effects of near-death experiences on the survivors' life——.

　　　　  A. vary greatly from person to person

　　　　  B. differ due to the variety of circumstances

　　　　  C. are mostly positive in terms of their outlook on life

　　　　  D. are neither positive nor negative

　　  2. The title below that best expresses the ideas of this passage is——.

　　　　    A. How to Improve a Person's Outlook on Life

　　　　  B. The Effects of Near-Death Experiences

　　　　    C. Is Death Really Horrible?

　　 　　   D. Near-Death Accidents and Their Survivors

　　  3. The positive effect of near-death experience was that——.

　　　　    A. some people loved life better because they realized its new meaning

　　　　    B. some people believed they were different from others and they had special work to do

　　　　      C. some people were no longer afraid of death just because they proved to be religious

　　　　      D. some people wanted to seek extreme happiness because they knew life was too limited

　　 4. Which effect of the near-death experience was the one that people had seldom expected?

　　　　  A. Some people felt more vulnerable.

　　　　  B. Some people did not worry too much about death any more.

　　　　  C. Some people paid more attention to the value of life.

　　　　  D. some people tended to be too pessimistic about death.

A brush with death can actually improve a person's outlook on life. That, at least, was one of the major findings of a study of some 200 people who come close to dying. Some had come through heart attack; some had fallen, come close to drowning; or survived a terrible car wreck, yet despite the variety of circumstances, they reported strikingly similar reactions to their experiences.

Perhaps most surprisingly, many said they were less frightened of death now than they were before. Like most people, before their near-death incidents many had thought death would be painful, the ultimate horror—but they did not find it was.

Surviving a nearly fatal experience also gave many people a sense of invulnerability that made them feel special and even religious. Several believed they had been saved because they were to fulfill some special mission in the remainder of their lives.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, these survivors also reported an increased zest for life and a determination to enjoy life more.

A few of the survivors did report negative reactions to their experience. A dozen said they felt more vulnerable, and some even felt a sense of helplessness and a loss of control over their lives. Some had become phobic about activities associated with the accident; for example, several said they could no longer swim for fear of drowning.

Yet most of those interviewee said they came away with a strong sense of renewal or rebirth. In studying their reactions researchers have concluded that these people have come to understand the relationship of life and death better and more intimately than most of us, they have come to understand how life is actually defined by death. Life is given meaning by the fact that it will end someday.

　　  1. From the passage, we can infer that the effects of near-death experiences on the survivors' life——.

　　　　  A. vary greatly from person to person

　　　　  B. differ due to the variety of circumstances

　　　　  C. are mostly positive in terms of their outlook on life

　　　　  D. are neither positive nor negative

　　  2. The title below that best expresses the ideas of this passage is——.

　　　　    A. How to Improve a Person's Outlook on Life

　　　　  B. The Effects of Near-Death Experiences

　　　　    C. Is Death Really Horrible?

　　 　　   D. Near-Death Accidents and Their Survivors

　　  3. The positive effect of near-death experience was that——.

　　　　    A. some people loved life better because they realized its new meaning

　　　　    B. some people believed they were different from others and they had special work to do

　　　　      C. some people were no longer afraid of death just because they proved to be religious

　　　　      D. some people wanted to seek extreme happiness because they knew life was too limited

　　 4. Which effect of the near-death experience was the one that people had seldom expected?

　　　　  A. Some people felt more vulnerable.

　　　　  B. Some people did not worry too much about death any more.

　　　　  C. Some people paid more attention to the value of life.

　　　　  D. some people tended to be too pessimistic about death.

Attempt a guess at the following question: In the English-speaking world, which country has the least affordable homes? You are wrong if you guessed the US, even with the housing bubble （气泡） and main sadness． Nor is it the UK, where prices have risen because demand is far from supply． According to a recent survey of 227 cities around the globe, you must go south of the equator （赤道） to Australia to find the priciest homes．

The report measured a city’s housing market along the following guidelines． An “affordable” home required three times or less of the average family’s income to purchase． At four times earnings, a home fell into the “unaffordable” category． And a “seriously unaffordable” home needed five times a family’s income． In Australia, homes in the least affordable city cost just about 9．5 times the average income． Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne were only a little under this figure．

Australian officials offered little comment, apart from a general statement on the dismal findings． These prices make the possibility that many Australians will one day own a home largely unbelievable． Land rationing （配给制） and excessive development charges have raised prices, and the problem will only be solved through urgent action by the Rudd government．

Some American cities were also included on the least affordable list, four of which were in California． America is still involved in a mortgage（抵押）crisis, though, affecting the affordability of homes． Yet a number of US cities garnered “affordable” status, namely Dallas and Kansas． Australia had no cities listed in the top fifty places with affordable homes．

The survey suggests that you can find affordable homes in most places, just not if you’re Australian and choose to live down under．

To buy an affordable house, you should pay _____．

   A． 3 times or less of the average family’s income

    B． 4 times or less of the average family’s income

    C． 5 times or less of the average family’s income

    D． 9．5 times or less of the average family’s income

What caused the prices of houses to increase in Australia?

   A． The rising family’s income．       B． The demand over supply．

   C． The excessive development charges． D． The decrease of land．

The underlined word “dismal” in Paragraph 3 may mean _____．

   A． cheerful       B． satisfactory

   C． difficult           D． gloomy 

What might be the most suitable title for the passage?

    A． Affordable Houses   B． A House is a Dream First

    C． Housing Bubble      D． Homes Too Expensive