2) Speak on the underlined parts of the text.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION:

Listening I

1) Listen to the text “Pet Therapy” and take notes to expand on the following statements:

Pets improve the health of their owners.

The difference a dog made.

A pioneering new method of treatment.

Pets linked to longer lifespan.

A new view of the world.

Pets are not for everyone.

Healing physical and mental scars.

Prison relations improved by animals.

Animals ease tension.

2) Discuss the medical benefits of keeping pets, advantages and disadvantages of having a pet.

Listening II

1) Listen to the text about Qigong, a type of therapy. Complete the sentences and expand on your choice :

Qigong is perfect for those who……. (a) do not like vigorous exercise; (b) enjoy jogging; (c) are exhausted; (d) do not enjoy routines.

Qigong….. (a) is a type of body building; (b) helps the body fight disease more effectively; (c) is a form of acupuncture; (d) is like aerobics.

Qi is believed to be…… (a) the training of energy; (b) a channel in the body; (c) the life-force; (d) the circulatory system.

Some governments approve Qigong because…. (a) they are keen on it; (b) it is cheap; (c) they have been persuaded that it works; (d) it is better than conventional methods.

In Europe, Qigong has mainly been used….. (a) for serious conditions; (b) for those who can’t afford private treatment; (c) for easily treated ailments; (d) for those with allergic reactions to drugs.

What made a French air stewardess nearly die? (a) cancer; (b) Qigong; (c) the established way of treatment; (d) limited life expectancy.

According to the conclusion of the passage, Qigong…… (a) will definitely make you live longer; (b) will only cure you if you believe in it; (c) has miraculous effects; (d) is ineffective.

2) Talk about the benefits of Qigong.

Do you know anything about other forms of alternative medicine? Do you believe they work?

3) Make 5-7 min. Reports on forms of alternative medicine (choose one from active vocabulary). Great Medical Achievements

1) You are going to read a story about n.I. Pirogov, the “wonderful doctor”, as he was called by ordinary people, and a story about Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin.

2) Make sure you know the words/ word- combinations and phrases: enroll, immeasurable suffering, ether, tremendous importance, to test on smb., associates, pave the way, to make wide use of, field hospitals, field surgery, carry out, cause of inflammation, pus formation, wound infection, antiseptic field-dressing, to give assistance to, besieged, to work out principles, ardent, profoundly, staphylococci, streptococci, pneumococci, bacilli, moulds, to be calm by nature, genus penicillium, solution, antagonism, to keep a small store, sulpha drugs, to cause a great stir, to exaggerate, bacterial antagonisms, antagonistic substances, decisive experiment, deadliest strain, to retain, to inject into the blood stream, to resume.

Nikolai Pirogov

The foundations of modern medical science were laid by many men working in different countries. A tremendous contribution to the development of world medical science was made by Russian scientists, great sons of our country.

Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, the great Russian surgeon and one of the most outstanding personalities in Russian medicine, was born on November 25, 1810.

At the age of fourteen Pirogov enrolled as a student in the Medical Faculty of Moscow University, and three years later he got his doctor’s diploma. As one of the best graduates he was sent to Derpt (Tartu) to take a special course.

Pirogov brilliantly completed the course and in 1833 very successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Then he became professor and head of the major surgical clinic at the University of Derpt. A few years later he was elected professor of the Medico-Surgical Academy of St. Petersburg. There his talent developed in full.

At that time anaesthesia was unknown to surgery, and as a result even minor operations caused patients immeasurable suffering. At times they even caused their death.

Then in 1846 ether was first used in an operation carried out in Boston, USA. Pirogov was one of the first to appreciate the tremendous importance of the discovery. However, he made many experiments with animals and tested the effect of ether on himself and on his associates before using it as an anaesthetic in the clinic. It was only after he was convinced that ether anaesthesia was absolutely harmless that he began to use it on a wide scale in his operations. Then Pirogov tested and began using another anaesthetic, chloroform. It was Pirogov who paved the way in Russia for the scientific use of anaesthesia.

He was the first surgeon to make wide use of anaesthesia in field hospitals. This was in 1847 at salty, in the Caucasus. At the time he was working day and night at a field surgery and he did not carry out a single operation without preliminary anaesthesia.

Pirogov was the first to open the door to the “bacteriological” era in medicine. Even before the brilliant discovery made by Louis Pasteur he had correctly defined the cause of inflammation and pus formation after an operation. To prevent wound infection Pirogov used substances all of which are still used by surgeons. He introduced a simple antiseptic field-dressing, the use of which brought good results.

During the Crimean War Pirogov was very active. Working under enemy fire and risking his life, he gave assistance to wounded soldiers and officers. In besieged Sevastopol Pirogov worked out principles for giving medical assistance at the front.

Pirogov was the first medical man in Russia to use nurses to care for the sick and wounded in the field. An ardent advocate of women’s emancipation, Pirogov greatly appreciated modest and noble work.

This outstanding surgeon and scientist was also a prominent public figure. He devoted much of his time to the training and education of the younger generation. His ideas and his active methods of teaching and the use of visual aids were widely appreciated and adopted in Russia and other countries and profoundly influenced the development of the system of public education.