2、       This is a doubtful age, but although our faith in many of the things has weakened, our confidence in the curative (治疗，药物) properties of the bottle medicine remains the same. This modern faith in medicine is proved by the fact that the annual drug bill of the Health Services is increasing to huge figures and shows no signs at present of stopping to rise. The majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients(门诊病人) departments of our hospitals feel that they have not received enough treatment unless they are able to carry home with them some tangible(有形的) curative in the shape of a bottle of medicine, a box of pills, or a small jar of ointment(软膏), and the doctor in charge of the department is only too ready to provide them with these requirements. There is no quicker method of treating of patients than by giving them what they are asking for, and since most doctors in the Health Services are overworked and have little time for offering time-consuming and little-appreciated advice on such subjects as diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits etc.

Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who has such faith in the bottle of medicine. It is said that Thomas Carlyle (a famous Scottish writer), when he heard of the illness of his friend, went off immediately to visit him carrying with him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly used for a slight illness of Mrs. Carlyle’s. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his pocket contained or the nature of the illness from which his friend was suffering, but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would surely be of equal benefit in another, and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his friend, he rushed to Henry Taylor’s house. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his medical help, but probably he did.

 

45.   According to the author, patients feel that they have been properly treated only if they _____.

A.      can take home some medicine doctors give them

B.      have confidence in the curative properties of a bottle of medicine

C.      are given careful check-ups by doctor

D.     are offered advice on diet and living by the doctor

46.   It can be learned from the passage that most doctors ________.

A.        feel morally bound(有义务的) to give patients advice about diet and right living

B.        are reluctant to provide patients with their requirements

C.        are confident in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine

D.       tend to satisfy patients’ demand for tangible medicine

47.   The story about Thomas Carlyle is used to illustrate that _________.

A.        a medicine that will cure one illness is not necessarily good for another

B.        Thomas Carlyle was ignorant

C.        Even educated people can be misled into believing that one can’t be cured by medicine

D.       Educated people may also have confidence in the bottle of medicine

48.   The passage mainly tells us that _________.

A.        we are in a skeptical age

B.        people’s faith in the bottle of medicine has not weakened in the modern age

C.        there are some problems in modern medical service

D.       patients have a tendency to put their own will on doctors