1 . 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.

4 . As America continued to suffer from the pandemic (流行病), there were some ordinary individuals who held us together.

Here is how one _________ went. Louis Galvan was clearing off table 411, where a couple of his most loyal customers had _________ dinner. Like many others, his restaurant was hurting. The restaurants had just _________ some workers for the baseball season. More than 30 of his employees were counting on a big opening day that would never _________. In the days before the governor _________ his state’s restaurants, Galvan was especially _________ for regulars such as the ones at table 411. That night, they had_________ about $90 worth of food. But it was the _________ they'd left behind that blew him away. _________, it was two tips. One was $1,900 in cash. The other written on the credit card receipt, was $7,500. The couple __________ left a handwritten note on the receipt: “Hold it to __________ your guys over the next few weeks.”

“We were __________ that they were so generous. We didn't __________ it. They went above and beyond what was __________. I wasn't sure if we were going to stay open, but __________ we have someone like that, we're going to keep going. We will be offering food orders to go.” said Galvan. He divided the money __________ among the employees, so everyone got about $300. __________, Galvan could now pay the tip forward. “If there's anyone who does not have food to eat, __________ just needs a glass of water, they are __________ to come by. We are here __________ our community.” Galvan said.

Beware of those who use the truth to deceive. When someone tells you something that is_______, but leaves out important information that should be_______, he can create a false impression.

For example, someone might say, “I just_______a hundred dollars on the lottery. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and_______it in for one hundred dollars!”

This guy’s a winner,_______? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought two hundred_______, and only one was a winner. He’s really a big_______!

He didn’t say anything that was_______, but he deliberately left out some important_______. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically__________, but they are just as not__________.

Untrustworthy candidates in__________campaigns often use this tactic (策略，手段). Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and__________three million jobs. Then she__________another term. One of her opponents runs an ad__________, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true.__________, an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of__________million jobs.”

Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s__________the law to make false claims so they try to mislead you with the__________. An ad might boast, “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples.” It__________to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.

This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.