He’ll live till dies

Not everyone cares about their health. Take my uncle Janek for example. He is the most ………. (health) person I know. We have tried to …….. (courage) him smoking and sitting in front of the television all day, but he won’t listen. Once he tried to get fit by jogging, but he had an …… (fortune) accident and broke his leg. After this, he was …… (able) to get up from the sofa for weeks. Of course, he wasn’t too disappointed about this but his wife was very ……(happy) as she had to put up with him at home all day. She says lying at home doing nothing is a …….(grace) and that he is setting a bad example to his children. His wife believes he is ….. (capable) of doing anything right and the way he lives is ….( satisfy), but he says there’s nothing to worry about, as “he’ll live till he dies.”

9. Read the passages below and fill in the gaps using the words/phrases from the box:

giving up, country, polluted, crash diet, calories, exercise, drive, junk food, sedentary life style, preservatives, balanced diet, stressed

1. Many of us today live in a noisy, 1)…… city environment, becoming 2)……… as we rush from one task to another in our busy lives. We often snack on 3)…… because we don’t have time to eat a proper meal. We 4)….. to our workplaces, then sit at a desk a day – in fact, we have a completely 5)……….. . When then get fat, and go on a 6)……….. or console ourselves by smoking and drinking more than we should.

2. There is a growing awareness of health among today’s youth. People today are becoming more health-conscious, and some people are even moving back to the 7)……. To live in a cleaner environment. Emphasis is placed on a carefully 8)……… with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, coupled with an avoidance of food with artificial 9)…….. . Intake of 10)…….. is also more closely monitored and gentle and gentle physical 11)…… is preferred to strenuous activities like jogging. Needless to say, more people than ever before are 12)…… smoking.

Which of these two lifestyles is closest to your own? Which of the factors mentioned contribute most to good/bad health?

10. Agree or disagree with the following comments. Explain why.

“The most important thing in life is health, so we should take care of ourselves”.

“There are health risks everywhere, so we may as well just do what we like”.

11. State the “maniac”, described by each of the following sentences:

He can’t take one drink and then stop. She suffers from compulsive skin picking. He is mentally deranged on one subject. She is apt to steal any little object that she sees. She suffers from compulsive urge to pull out her hair. He imagines he is God. It’s dangerous to leave him alone with matches. He suffers from compulsive biting his skin around the fingers. She suffers from compulsive nail biting.

12. Who would be most likely to say the following?

“What a night! I didn’t sleep a wink!”; “I walked around the room last night? Why, I was fast asleep.”; “ Who am I? I’ve completely forgotten my name.”; “I don’t care what the doctor says. I know I’ve got heart trouble”; “I can’t live in an apartment on the fifth floor. Isn’t there anything vacant lower down?”; “I’m getting out of here. This place is so small I think the walls are going to crush me!”; “No thanks, I can’t go fishing with you on that enormous lake. It goes on forever!”; “Help! I’m about to faint!”; “No, we’ll go only by train!”; “Boys on the party? No! Never! There’s only SEX in their heads!”.

13. Guess the disturbance due to the problem area: grandeur, illnesses, sleepwalking, one single obsession, hilarity followed by gloom, fire, no contact with reality, persecution, attachment to mother, bees, loneliness, sex harassment, thievery, open areas, plains, males, spiders, high places, confined areas, memory, liquor, attachment to father, overwhelming sadness, water, sleeplessness, insects.

14. Guess the word due to the definition:

continued gloom and depression; moods of violent excitement, alternating with black depression; loss of memory; walking and performing other actions during sleep; uncontrollable craving for alcoholic liquor.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Before you listen

1. Discuss the following questions: Do young people nowadays have a healthy lifestyle? What steps can people take to improve their health? How long do you spend with your doctor when you go for a consultation? Do you think doctors spend enough time with patients during a consultation?

Listening I

1. Before listening make sure you know the vocabulary:

unintelligible talks, to feel a bit down, heart insufficiency, circulation collapse, to make out, nifty, to unwind, in the long run, bucketful, counterparts, to have a fit, to be fobbed off with,

2. You will hear a conversation between a general practitioner, who has just returned from an international medical conference, and his wife. For the following questions, choose the alternative (A, B, C or D) which best fits according to what you hear. Prove your choice.

The GP’s reaction to typical German health complaints is (A. neutral; B. very sympathetic; C. slightly scornful; D. angry).

On the subject of rest cures, the GP is (A. enthusiastic; B. scornful; C. neutral; D. reassuring).

If a British patient is not prescribed medicine by his/her doctor, he/she feels (A. worried; B. furious; C. reassured; D. that he/she must be in need of surgery).

Compared to British patients, French patients want (A. more medicines and longer consultations; B. more medicines but shorter consultations; C. fewer medicines and shorter consultations; D. fewer medicines but longer consultations.

Listening II

1. Before listening make sure you know the vocabulary:

culprit, digestive problems, sign of a fracture, nasty lump, stud, urge, potent, excessive weight, to immunize, inevitable, current rate of vaccination, fits, obsession, live off, celery.

2. You will hear people talking in eight different situations. Answer the questions and render the passage you hear. You will hear each passage twice.

1. Listen to two people talking over a meal. Why doesn’t the woman want bread?

2. You overhear a doctor talking to a woman in the emergency ward. What is the matter with her child?

3. You hear a man and a woman discussing the man’s visit to an acupuncturist. Why did he go?

4. You hear a doctor talking on the radio. What is she describing?

5. Listen to a conversation in a doctor’s surgery. Why is the doctor annoyed with the patient?

6. You hear a husband and wife talking. What feeling does the wife express?

7. You hear a radio report about the infectious disease, measles. What is the conclusion?

8. Listen to a conversation between a boy and his sister. Why is he worried about her?

Listening III

1. Read the statements, then listen to the text “Working with the Sick” and mark them as T (true) or F (false). Expand on the statements:

34- year-old Dianne Grey was a successful actress.

She began to find her job rather boring.

“I was treating patients with routine medical problems”.

Various armies have been fighting each other in the area for days.

She will be leaving Angola next year.

2. Listen to the text again and answer the questions:

Where has Dianne Grey been living for the last eight months?

Why did she go to Africa?

What has “Doctors Without Frontiers” been doing for people in Angola since 1986?

How did Dianne feel when she first went to Angola?

How does she feel now about her experience in Angola?

3. Render the text.

4. Organize press conference on “Doctors Without Frontiers”.

Read and Discuss:

1. Read and translate the “case history” below. Then write ten headlines for the President’s ten-day illness, from President taken ill to The nation holds its breath.

“You’re in perfect health…. as fit as a fiddle… there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“I feel a bit off-colour.. rather under the weather…. I do feel funny… I really don’t feel well… I think I’m sickening for something… I feel feverish… like death warmed up.”

“He’s been taken ill… he’s in a coma…fighting for his life…. still critically ill… in a very critical condition… no change…. still seriously ill… still hasn’t regained consciousness…. is responding to treatment … off the danger list… showing signs of coming round…. making progress… his condition is satisfactory… he’s come out of the coma… he’s as well as can be expected… comfortable… no change… he’s turned the corner… he’s on the mend.”

“We all wish you a speedy recovery… get well soon… we’re glad you’re over it,”

“The worst is over…. He’s almost completely recovered… he’s practically cured.. he’s convalescing…. coming along nicely…. he’ll be on his feet again soon… he’ll be out and about again in a few days.”

He’s had a relapse… he’s no better… he’s getting worse…. his condition is deteriorating… he’s getting weaker… he’s slipping away… fading fast… his life is hanging by a tread…. it’s just a matter of time… he could go at any second!”

“He’s made a miraculous recovery…. he’s as good as new… as right as rain… he’ll live till he’s a hundred.”

2. Read and translate the text below. Note the ways that illnesses can be spoken of and reported in the text.