Passage 1

　　In the old days,children were familiar with birth and death as part of life. This is perhaps the first generation of American youngsters (年輕人)who have never been close by during the birth of a baby and have never experienced the death of a family member.

　　Nowadays when people grow old, we often send them to nursing homes. When they get sick，we transfer them to a hospital, where children are forbidden to visit terminally ill patients—even when those patients are their parents. This deprives (剝奪)the dying patient of significant family members during the last few days of his life and it deprives the children of an experience of death, which is an important learning experience.

　　Some of my colleagues and I once interviewed and followed approximately 500 terminally ill patients in order to find out what they could teach us and how we could be of more benefit,not just to them but to the members of their families as well. We were most impressed by the fact that even those patients who were not told of their serious illness were quite aware of its potential outcome.

　　It is important for family members, and doctors and nurses to understand these patients’ communications in order to truly understand their needs，fears，and fantasies (幻想). Most of our patients welcomed another human being with whom they could talk openly, honestly，and frankly about their trouble. Many of them shared with us their tremendous need to be informed, to be kept up-to-date on their medical condition，and to be told when the end was near. We found out that patients who had been dealt with openly and frankly were better able to cope with the approach of death and finally to reach a true stage of acceptance prior to death.

　　It may be concluded from the passage that __.

　　A. dying patients are afraid of being told of the approach of death

　　B. dying patients should be truthfully informed of their condition

　　C. most doctors and nurses understand what dying patients need

　　D. most patients are unable to accept death until it is obviously inevitable

　　【講解答案】

　　B推理題。文章最后一段表明許多病人要求被告知實情，接受現代化的醫療，并告知其死期。那 些能夠公開地坦誠地被告知的患者能更好地對付死亡的臨近，達到接受死亡的境界。因此a、c、d 均可排除，B為正確答案。

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