2007年6月英语四级模拟试卷热点题型

Passage 4

Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient —to speed recovery or to conceal the approach 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 shelter from brutal news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; to expose corruption or to promote 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 doctors deny that he is ill, or minimize the gravity of the illness? Should they at least conceal the truth until after the family vacation?

Doctors confront such choices often and urgently. 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. As one physician wrote: “Ours is a profession which traditionally has been guided by a precept that transcends the virtue of uttering the truth for truth's sake, and that is ‘as far as possible do no harm.’”

But the illusory nature of the benefits is now coming to be documented. Studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians; an overwhelming majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about grave illness, and feel betrayed 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, need less medicine, and even recover faster after surgery.

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. Yet the public has every reason to be wary of professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to erode 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.”

1. According to the author's opinion, lies _______________.

A. can benefit the patients.
B. can help the patients to recovery
C. can do nothing to the patients' illness
D. can not benefit the patients

2. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. Most of the doctors believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition.
B. The truthful information helps patients to deal with their illness.
C. There is a need to discuss whether to lie or to the patients.
D. It is true that “What you don't know can't hurt.”

3. What is the main idea of the last pa ragraph_________.

A. There is urgent need to debate this issue openly.
B. 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. ”
C. The public has every reason to be wary of professional deception.
D. We need to discuss this issue in medicine, but not in other professions.

4. From the fourth paragraph, we can infer _______.

A. the deception is beneficial to the patient
B. the deception is not beneficial to the patient
C. the patients usually don't want to know the truth
D. the patients don't want to be told the truth

5. The reasons that the doctors lie to the patients are ___

A. seriously ill patients do not want to told the truth .
B. informing them risks destroying their hope.
C. telling truth may deteriorate faster
D.all the above
答案与详解

1.D 作者在文章的第五段,通过使用but, contrary to, majority of patients do want to be told the truth, truthful information helps patients cope with illness 等文字清楚地表明了自己的观点 “欺骗并不能使病人逃离厄运”,由此可见D是正确答案。

2.D 选项D 源于文章的最后一句话,但意义与原句正相反, 因而是错误的。

3.A 一般来讲,主题句中包含中心思想,而主题句常常出现在句首,此段的中心意思正是体现在句首的主题句中,
因此A是正确答案.

4.B 这是作者在此文中想表达的观点.

5.D 参看文章第四段,列举了医生向病人隐瞒真情的原因,包括A,B,C 选项。