3 . Inconvenient Truths

If doctors lie, it is surely inexcusable. One of the basic_________ the public have of doctors is honesty. But what would you think if I told you that research has shown that 70 per cent of doctors   _________ to lying to their patients? If I am honest, I have told lies to my patients.

Mrs Walton was in her eighties and _________ to see her husband. She would try to get up to find him, despite being at risk of falling. “He’s on his way, don’t worry,” the nurses would say this to calm her down. I said the same thing to her. But it was a lie. He died two years ago. The truth, if I can use that word, is that it is a _________ to lie sometimes.

Mrs Walton is one of the dementia (痴呆) sufferers, who lose their short-term memory and the memory of_________ events, but hold memories from the distant past. Sufferers are trapped forever in a confusing past that many realize bears little   _________ to the present, but are at a loss to explain. Those with dementia often feel upset, scared and confused that they are in a strange place, _________ by strange people, even when they are in their own homes with their family, because they have gone back to decades ago.

They look at their adult children   _________ and wonder who they could be because they think their children are still little kids. I have had countless families break down in tears, not knowing how to react as their loved one moves further away from them back into their distant past and they are   _________ in the present. And how, as the doctor or nurse caring for these patients, does one manage the anger and outbursts of distress that comes with having no   __________ of your life for the past ten or 20 years? The lies that doctors, nurses and families tell these patients are not big, elaborate lies — they are   __________ comforts intended to calm and allow the subject to be swiftly changed.

__________ with them about this false reality is not heartless or unprofessional — it is actually kind. That’s not to say that lying to patients with dementia__________ is right or defensible. But what kind-hearted person would put another human being through the unimaginable pain of learning, ________ again and again, that they have lost their beloved ones. It would be an unthinkable cruelness.

Sometimes honesty is __________ not the best policy.

5 . More than half the world’s population live in cities, and by 2050 the UN expects that proportion to reach 68%. This means more homes, roads and other infrastructure. Such a construction ________ does harm to tackling climate change, though, because making steel and concrete generates around 8% of the world’s carbon-dioxide emissions. If cities are to ________ and become greener at the same time, they will have to be made from something else.

As it happens, Chicago might become part of the ________. In recent years, as architects have become increasingly interested in modern timber (木材) — construction methods, wooden buildings have been getting steadily ________. The current record is held by the 85-metre-tall Mjostarnet building in Norway, completed in 2019. But this would be ________ by the River Beech Tower, a 228-metre building proposed for a site beside the Chicago river.

As the AAAs meeting heard this week, wood is one of the most ________ sustainable alternatives to steel and concrete. It is not, however, everyday wood but a material called engineered timber, composed of different layers for specific purposes. Besides engineering the shape of a component, designers can arrange the grains (纹理) in the layers to provide levels of ________ that equal steel, in a product that is up to 80% lighter. Engineered timber is, ________, usually assembled into large sections of a building in a factory. That cuts down on the number of ________ that have to be made to a construction site.

All this ________ to carbon-dioxide emissions. Michael Ramage of the University of Cambridge told the meeting of a 300-square-metre four-storey wooden building that generated 126 tonnes of CO₂. Had it been made with ________, emissions would have risen to 310 tonnes. If steel had been used, they would have topped 498 tonnes. Indeed, from one point of view, this building might actually be viewed as “carbon ________”. When trees grow, they lock carbon up in their wood — in this case the equivalent of 540 tonnes of CO₂, representing a long-term reduction of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

If building with wood takes off, it does raise concern about there being enough trees to ________. But with sustainably managed forests that should not be a problem, says Dr Ramage. A family-sized apartment requires about 30 cubic metres of timber, and he estimates Europe’s sustainable ________ alone grow that amount every seven seconds. Nor is fire a risk, for engineered timber does not burn easily, because the inner cores of large ________ timbers are protected by a charring (炭化) layer if burnt.

6 . Bad Dreams Are Good!

Most of us dream, whether we remember them or not. What are dreams for? A handful of _______ dominate. Sigmund Freud famously maintained that they reveal hidden truths and wishes. More recent research suggests that they may help us process intense emotions, or perhaps sort through and strengthen memories, or _______ random neuron (神经元) activity, or prepare responses to threatening situations. Others argue that dreams have no evolutionary function, but simply _______ personal concerns.

Despite being largely unsupported by _______, Freud’s view maintains strong following around the world. Researcher found that students in the U.S., South Korea, and India were much more likely to say that dreams reveal hidden truths than to accept better _______ theories. In the same study, respondents said that dreaming about a plane crash would cause them more _______ than an official warning about a terrorist attack. Even if dreams can’t foretell the future, they seem to _______ our shared fascinations. The majority of dreams occur during REM sleep (深度睡眠) cycles, of which the average person has four or five a night.

A study of Canadian university students found the most common dream topics include school, falling, being chased, and arriving too late for something. For all the commonalities dreams _______, they vary across time and culture—people who grew up watching black-and-white TV are more likely to dream in black and white. A 1958 study _______ that compared with Japanese people, Americans dreamed more about being locked up, losing a loved one, finding money, being _______ dressed or encountering a mad person. Japanese people were more likely to dream about school, trying repeatedly to do something, being paralyzed with fear, or “wild, violent beasts.” If human dreams sound _______, bear in mind that even negative ones can have positive effects.

In a study of students taking a French medical school entrance exam, 60 percent of the dreams they had beforehand _______ problem with the exam, such as being late or leaving an answer blank. But those who reported _______ about the exam, even bad ones, did better on it than those who didn’t. So the next time you dream about an education related experience in which you are unable to answer the questions or solve a problem, don’t _______: It’s probably totally meaningless. Then again, your brain might be practicing so you’ll be _______ if such an event ever comes to pass.

8 . People are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Purchasing property that is environmentally responsible is a good investment for those who are _________ their own health and the well-being of the earth. Based on this trend, entire districts, known as eco-communities, are being designed with a green _________ in mind. Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia is one of them.

If everything goes according to plan, Dockside Green will be a _________ community along the harbour front of British Columbia’s capital city. The community will be home to 2500 people and will _________ residential, office, and retail space. Builders of Dockside Green have the environment in mind with every choice they make. They ensure proper ventilation (通风), and guarantee residents 100% fresh indoor air. Building materials,, such as paints and wood, are_________ and non-poisonous. Eco-conscious builders use bamboo wherever possible because it grows fast and does not require _________ to grow.

Energy efficiency is one of the _________ concerns in eco-communities, such as Dockside Green. Not only do energy efficient appliances and light fixtures (照明设备) reduce the environmental_________ of heating and hot water, they also save residents and business owners money. Dockside Green claims that home owners will use 55% less energy than average residents in Canada. Residents will have individual water metres_________ studies show that people use around 20% less energy when they are billed for exactly what they use. __________, water is treated at Dockside Green and reused on site for flushing (冲洗) toilets.

Planners of eco-communities such as Dockside Green must take the __________ into account. Dockside Green plans on reusing 90% of its construction waste. They also plan to continue using local suppliers for all of their transport and maintenance needs. This is a great way to reduce__________.

Dockside residents will be encouraged to make use of a mini transportation system and buy into the community’s car share program. Finally, plans are in the works for a high-tech heating system that will use __________ energy instead of fossil fuels (化石燃料).

Dockside residents will __________ excellent local services with high quality healthcare, shopping and education at the heart of the community, along with excellent recreation facilities and plentiful green open spaces. The Eco-Community will favour the use of locally-sourced goods and services; they will be__________ places to live, promoting a tangible (看得见的)sense of civic pride, responsibility and, as the name suggests, community.

9 . The human memory is phenomenally strong. It also has a habit of getting things badly wrong. According to Jonathan Hancock, our memory expert, faulty memories can be ______ revealing.

Just last week,______, my wife and I were discussing how we’d chosen our youngest son’s name. I had a ______ memory of us writing out a list of possible names, but stopping after just a few because we’d spotted one we both loved.

My wife ______. In her memory, we’d had a much longer list, and gone back and chosen one from the middle of the list.

So we dug out the piece of paper we’d used-and found that we’d actually done something completely ______ to choose Nate’s name.

Memory mistakes happen on a larger scale, too. The “Mandela Effect” is when lots of people have confident recollections that turn out to be ______. It was named by researchers who were discussing their strong memories of Nelson Mandela’s death in prison-when he actually lived for 23 years after his ______.

There are plenty of other examples of this phenomenon. If you’re sure that you remember seeing the Monopoly Man wearing a spyglass, for instance, or hearing a wicked queen say “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” you’ve ______ it yourself (he doesn’t, and she says, “Magic mirror on the wall”______).

So what’s going on? Well, for starters, memory often works by ____, and similar bits of information can overlap in our brains. We’re also good at “filling in the blanks” with details that are logical but untrue. What’s more, whenever we run through a memory, we make it stronger—______ any bits that were wrong.

But there’s plenty of good news here, too.

Everyone misremembers. We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves when we make mistakes. The mental associations that sometimes lead to ______ can also help us to find information otherwise difficult to locate.

If you’re ____ with someone’s name, try thinking of things you associate with them, and see if your brain gets the push it needs.

Discussing your memories is great mental exercise. It highlights strengths and weaknesses, and lets you learn tips from others.

______ memories often builds a much more accurate picture. That was certainly true for my wife and me.

Make sure to remember that remembering is a creative ______: mind-blowingly powerful, and also likely to make mistakes.