There is a boy called Bill in my gym class who has unbearably yellow teeth that almost make everyone feel unpleasant. Recently another boy told Bill that he should “go Ajax” his teeth. Bill was
crushed. If the other boy had been thinking, he would have realized that there is a better way to handle such a situation. He could have dealt with it with tact. He could have showed this hurtful truth in a more careful, sensitive way—that’s “tact”.
If a person isn’t sensitive to another’s feelings, there is no way he or she can be tactful. Yesterday, my 5-year-old brother proudly announced that he had cleaned the screen on our television set. Unfortunately, he used furniture polish, which produced an oily film on the television screen. My mother smiled arid thanked him for his efforts—and then showed how to clean the screen properly. Her sensitivity enables my brother to keep his self-respect. Yet, sensitivity alone does not make tact.
“Tactfulness” also requires “truthfulness”. Doctors, for example must be truthful. If a patient has just been disabled in an accident, a tactful doctor will tell the truth—but express it with sensitivity. The doctor may try to give the patient hope by telling them curing techniques under study or about advanced equipment now available. Doctors must use tact with patients’ relatives as well. Instead of bluntly saying, “Your husband is disabled,” a doctor might say, “I’m sorry, but your husband has lost feeling in his legs and. . .”
Tact should not be confused with trickery. Trickery occurs when a nurse is
about to give a patient an injection（注射） and says, “This won’t hurt a bit. ” Instead of trickery, the nurse might guarantee the patient that the discomfort of the injection is a small thing compared to the benefits of it. It would also be thoughtful for the nurse to tell the patients about some of these benefits.
Tact is a wonderful skill to have, and tactful people are usually admired and respected. Without tact our society would become an intole
rable place to live in.
小题1:.
The underlined word “crushed” in the first paragraph probably means
.
| A．surprised | B．cheated | C．regretful | D．painful |
小题2:.
According to the author, his mother’s praise for the brother is
.
| A．sensitive and tactful | B．sensitive but not tactful enough |
| C．truthful but not tactful enough | D．sensitive but trickish |
小题3:.
Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
| A． | B． | C． | D．
（The numbers stand for the paragraphs） |
