阅读理解

ThereisaboycalledBillinmygymclasswhohasunbearablyyellowteeththatalmostmakeeveryonefeelunpleasant．RecentlyanotherboytoldBillthatheshould“goAjax”histeeth．Billwascrushed．Iftheotherboyhadbeenthinkinghewouldhaverealizedthatthereisabetterwaytohandlesuchasituation．Hecouldhavedealtwithitwithtact．Hecouldhaveshowedthishurtfultruthinamorecarefulsensitiveway－that's“tact”．

Ifapersonisn'tsensitivetoanother'sfeelingsthereisnowayheorshecanbetactful．Yesterdaymy5-year-oldbrotherproudlyannouncedthathehadcleanedthescreenonourtelevisionset．Unfortunatelyheusedfurniturepolishwhichproducedanoilyfilmonthetelevisionscreen．Mymothersmiledaridthankedhimforhisefforts－andthenshowedhowtocleanthescreenproperly．Hersensitivityenablesmybrothertokeephisself-respect．Yetsensitivityalonedoesnotmaketact．

“Tactfulness”alsorequires“truthfulness”．Doctorsforexamplemustbetruthful．Ifapatienthasjustbeendisabledinanaccidentatactfuldoctorwilltellthetruth－butexpressitwithsensitivity．Thedoctormaytrytogivethepatienthopebytellingthemcuringtechniquesunderstudyoraboutadvancedequipmentnowavailable．Doctorsmustusetactwithpatients'relativesaswell．Insteadofbluntlysaying“Yourhusbandisdisabled”adoctormightsay“I'msorrybutyourhusbandhaslostfeelinginhislegsand…”

Tactshouldnotbeconfusedwithtrickery．Trickeryoccurswhenanurseisabouttogiveapatientaninjection(注射)andsays“Thiswon'thurtabit．”Insteadoftrickerythenursemightguaranteethepatientthatthediscomfortoftheinjectionisasmallthingcomparedtothebenefitsofit．Itwouldalsobethoughtfulforthenursetotellthepatientsaboutsomeofthesebenefits．

Tactisawonderfulskilltohaveandtactfulpeopleareusuallyadmiredandrespected．Withouttactoursocietywouldbecomeanintolerableplacetolivein．