| 1 | I 'm sorry I didn't answer your letter - I can only plead forgetfulness. | |
| 2 | It was a narrative of victimhood and decline that I' d often heard in China. | |
| 3 | An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented. | |
| 4 | It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy. | |
| 5 | Why would you actually encourage her by supplying alibis for her missing hours? |