1 . Crowdfunding (众筹) campaigns to help people with cancer pay for ineffective alternative treatments are becoming more common. They often come with six-figure targets to meet the cost of debatable therapies. ________, headlines are almost guaranteed.

The BMJ (British Medical Journal) reports ________ over this, based on information I gathered working for the charity Good Thinking. By sorting fundraising sites like JustGiving and GoFundMe, I identified appeals from people in the UK who sought money for unproven or disproven treatments, finding 400 in the past three years. Those have raised £7 million, the money destined for ________clinics.

Although the treatments, such as extreme diets, aren’t backed by scientific evidence, people who are desperate and vulnerable are often ________by remarkable testimonials(证明书) provided by the clinics themselves. However, for those who see such stories in the media, and who care about following good scientific evidence, the natural reaction is to try to ________people from possible physical, emotional and financial harm.

________ these appeals isn’t easy. People with cancer often view these therapies as ________, and their supporters don’t want to consider that their efforts to help may cause harm.

However, journalists must review the role they play in promoting the ________. Their influence is powerful. As I sorted through appeals and the heartbreaking stories of desperately ill people, I was ________ by just how many cited success stories they had read in newspapers as their reason for trusting questionable treatments.

Most concerning of all were the frequent cases where someone had died—sometimes just months after eye-catching ________of their treatment. While the uplifting story of a community helping fund someone’s “cure” is attractive, the subsequent reality when that hope proves fruitless seems far less ________.

This leaves the public with a ________ view of the effectiveness of such treatments, and serves as an advertising tool for clinics which, under UK law, wouldn’t be able to directly promote their therapies.

If journalists wish to avoid promoting ineffective treatments, they would do well to view such stories not just as human-interest ones, but as ________ and health stories. This means ________the evidence behind treatments, seeking expert opinion on their efficacy, and choosing not to run stories that fail such a careful examination.

I’m certain no journalist would want their work to be used as a recruitment tool for therapists whose treatments offer nothing but heartbreak and false hope, yet until reports of miraculous cancer cures in questionable clinics are approached with an appropriate level of skepticism(怀疑), I fear such places will continue to ________.