4 Practise the following dialogue. Try to make up your own one. A bad sore throat

Harry. I thought I was to be given some fish for supper, Nora?

Nora: Harry, I meant to get you some, but I was prevented from going out. You see, Tommy Wood next door was taken ill last night, and this morning he had to be taken to the hospital.

#.: Poor little chap! What’s the trouble?

N.: Well, I was told by Mrs Wood that it was diphtheria.

#.: Good heavens! That’s bad. Anyhow, he’ll be well looked after at the hospi­tal. I suppose his mother went there with him?

N.: Yes, so you see I was asked to stay in and keep an eye on the other children.

Her husband is away, so she was left to deal with everything.

#.: Which doctor did she have?

N.: Dr Williams.

#.: He’s said to be very good. What a life doctors have! Fancy being called out in the middle of the night.

N.: Well, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t called until this morning.

#.: Why not? A doctor ought to be sent for at the first sign.

N.: I know - but then the Woods are rather careless.

#.: It seems to me that their children are badly looked after.

N.: Yes, perhaps their children have been neglected.

#.: So it’s only to be expected if one of them catches diphtheria.

N.: Oh, but it wasn’t really diphtheria.

#.: What? I thought you told me.

N.: Oh no; I didn’t finish the story. Mrs Wood thought it might be diphtheria, but the doctor himself wasn’t sure; and when they got Tommy to hospital they found it was only a bad sore throat.

5 Give one word for the following.

1. A person who makes patients’ appointments with a doctor;

2. A piece of paper which specifies the medicine for curing your illness;

3. A place where the patients come for the check-up;

4. A pre-arranged time for somebody to come;

5. A paid number of days given to you by your office when you are ill;

6. A sick person who is treated by a local physician;

7. A sort of medicine which can cure you of cold;

8. A pain in your head which you have felt for a long time;

9. Not long ago;

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10. To make a sick person healthy again;

11. To take off all clothes to the waist;

12. That which promises a lot.

6 Answer the questions.

1. What should you do if a) you feel feverish; b) you are susceptible to drugs; c) your brother/sister is running high temperature; d) you have a very bad headache.

2. What should a doctor do to diagnose you? How can you arrange for a doctor’s visit to you?

3. Which do you prefer: to go to the local out-patient clinic or to send for a doctor?

4. What should you do with those prescriptions that the doctor has written out for you?

5. How long is your sick-leave?

6. What can you cure your running nose with?

7 Paraphrase the italicized phrases.

1. The cough became very bad.

2. I think she’s running a high temperature.

3. She said she was feeling sick.

4. I phoned up on local doctor’s office and asked them to arrange for my check up.

5. You should do whatever the doctors tell you.

6. Everybody said that you looked very healthy.

7. The doctor told me I should take the medicine so that I would get better.

8. They checked her blood pressure.

8 What will you answer if the doctor asks you.

1. What’s the trouble?

2. When did you take the temperature? What was it?

3. When did you feel bad?

4. Does it hurt when you swallow?

5. What disease were you ill when you were a child?

6. When did you consult the doctor last?

7. Are you subject to headaches?

8. Where do you have pains?

9. When do you have pains?

10. What do you complain of?

11. How long have you been like that?