Is telling the truth always a better policy than telling a lie?
说实话始终胜于撒谎吗？
As with most rules, the maxim that “honesty is always the best policy” has its own exceptions. In one situation in my life, a brief volunteering opportunity at a local hospice, I gave a one-word lie, and it impacted favorably an old woman for the rest of her life.
The region of the hospice I volunteered at involved me taking care of and easing the lives of terminally ill patients （who, of course, did not have communicable diseases） . It was a quiet winter day, the outside field barren and white with frost, birds on the lone, naked tree silent in respectful contemplation. The room, though hospitable and full of contrasting amenities compared to the stark harshness of the outside,contained however the same mournful atmosphere as the winter field. The warm light,brightly flashing TV, crisply clean sheets, peaceful green wallpaper-all's assurance could not smother the insecurity of one gray-haired little lady. She
sat under the white sheets; the indescribable sad mood of the room seemed to almost completely emanate from her.
“Excuse me…young man, is my son coming to see me? ”
The sheet the doctor showed me in the lobby about Mrs. Kurlantzic said that she had perhaps a few days to live, perhaps less. There was also a list of visitors and expected visitors, stapled and clipped in a clipboard on the front desk. No one had called in the past month to visit Mrs. Kurlantzic.
She coughed lightly. “Is he coming? He is, isn't he? He's coming to see me? ” I had been with this old lady before; she always welcomed us with a smile, but her first question was if her son was coming to see her. In the few months I've been volunteering here, there hasn't been a time I recollected that her son, if he existed, had come.
Outside, the chilly wind whistled. The lone, bare tree swayed. What should I answer? Given the lady's frail state, she might not live that much longer. I only volunteered on the weekends; I might not see her again-and her last memory of me may be as a denial to her, a refusal of her true wish.
“Yes, ” I said. She smiled and closed her eyes.
It was reflective of human being's plight, the desperate need of another to affirm our own fantasies. I lied, plain and simple. Outside, the birds I thought were once mute chirped melodiously. The next time I went to the hospice, a nurse told me Mrs.
Kurlantzic had died. She died happily, the nurse also told me, peacefully.
Though one human being's life may be insignificant on a grand scale, in this small act of breaching a policy of honesty, my lie helped assuage an old lady and was the better policy.
珠海启德教育也为大家准备了关于善意的谎言的SAT作文范文的翻译，帮助大家更好的理解吸收，希望大家取长补短，更轻松的攻克SAT写作。
像大多数的法则一样，格言“诚实始终是比较好的策略”也有例外的时候。在我的生活中便有过这样的一次情形。那是我在一家当地的临终关怀中心做短期志愿服务的时候，我曾撒过一个字的谎，它善意地影响了一位处于生命后阶段的老妇人。
在我做志愿服务的那家临终关怀中心里，我的工作是照顾临终的病人，给予他们精神上的安慰（当然，他们都没有有患上传染性的疾病。）这是一个宁静的冬日，外面的大地一片凋零，因霜冻而泛白，鸟儿安静地站在孤零零的枯树上，心怀敬畏，若有所思。尽管房间里服务周到，充满着与外面的肃杀形成鲜明对比的舒适感，但仍然笼罩着像冬日野外一样的悲伤气氛。温和的光线，闪动着明亮画面的电视，留有整齐折痕的干净床单，静谧的绿色墙纸，所有的一切都不能抑制住一位灰白头发的瘦小妇人的不安全感。她盖着洁白的床单坐在那里；笼罩在房间里的难以言表的悲伤情绪看上去几乎全部是从她那里散发出来的。
“对不起……年轻人，我的儿子会来看我吗？”
医生在走廊里给我看过关于科南茨克夫人的病历，告诉我她也许只能活几天，甚至更短。服务白的笔记板上夹着一张钉好的访客登记表和她所期待的造访者名单，然而在过去的一个月里没有人打进预约电话来看望科南茨克夫人。
她轻轻地咳嗽，自言自语着：“他会来吗？他会的，难道他不会吗？他会来看我吧？”
我过去也和这位老妇人呆过，她始终用微笑欢迎我们，但她的第一个问题总是问她的儿子是否会来看她。在这里做志愿服务的过去几个月里，我从来没有见过她的儿子来探视，如果确有其人的话。
外面，寒风呼啸，孤零零的枯树摇曳着。我应该如何回答她呢？从她那虚弱的状态看，她也许活不了多久。我只在周末的时候做志愿服务；我也许就再也不会见到她了——那么，她关于我的后记忆便是我对她的真诚心愿给予否认。
“会的。”我说道。她微笑着闭上了双眼。
这件事反映了人类的窘境，即极度需要他人来证实我们自己的幻想，我撒了一个朴实而单纯的谎。外面，那些在我想象中曾经鸦雀无声的小鸟儿开始欢快地鸣叫，当我再去临终关怀中心的时候，一位护士告诉我科南茨克夫人已经去世了。护士还说，她走得愉快、安详而平静。
尽管一个人的生命在历史的长河中可能是微不足道的，但在这个小小的违反诚实原则的行为中，我的谎言抚慰了一位临终老妇人的情绪。这一谎言胜于实话。
