Vocabulary:

shivery - trembling, esp. with fever

flu (influenza) - general name for viruses that cause chills, fever, headache, and/or nausea

hot water bottle - rubber container for hot water which is used for warming beds

“Just over a hundred and two” - 102F (Fahrenheit) corresponds to 38, 9 Centigrade.

giddy - dizzy: feeling as everything is spinning around.

Health and the body

Keeping fit and staying healthy have, not surprisingly, become a growing industry. Quite apart from the amount of money spent each year on doctor’s prescriptions and medical treatment, huge sums are now spent on health foods and drugs of various kinds, from vitamin pills to mineral water, not to mention health clubs and books and videos about keeping fit. We are more concerned than ever, it seems, about the water we drink and the air we breathe, and are smoking less, though not yet drinking less alcohol. This does not appear to mean that coughs and sneezes have been banished, or that we can all expect to live to a hundred. To give a personal example one of my friends, who is a keeping –fit fanatic, a nonsmoker (and teetotaler), and who is very particular about what heat’s is at present lying in bed with a wrist in a cast and a badly sprained ankle. He also cycles everywhere, and if you have ever tried to cycle through rush-hour traffic with a sprained ankle, you will understand now he acquired the broken wrist. For health, it seems, is not just a matter of a good diet and plenty of exercise. Too much exercise can be harmful, as many joggers have discovered. Eating the right food can easily become an obsession, as I can overworking, which you might have to do to be able to afford your membership in the squash club, your mountain bike, your health food, and a few holidays in peaceful and healthy paces.

Vegetarians.

A vegetarian is someone who avoids eating the flesh of animals (meat, or fish, including shellfish). Most vegetarians will also not eat eggs or cheese or use cosmetics or toiletries made that contain animal ingredients or are tested on animals. The word “vegetarian”, coined around 1842, comes not from “vegetable” but from the Latin word vignettes meaning “whole, fresh, and full of life”.

People are vegetarians for a number of reasons. Some think that it is wrong to keep and kill animals for use as food and in other products. Others choose to be vegetarians because they believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat. Indeed, a vegetarian diet fits in very well with modern medical advice to cut down on fats, salt and sugar, and to eat more fiber and fresh vegetables. It is also cheaper than meat. Some people are vegetarian because of their religious beliefs. Some people have

chosen to be vegetarian for ecological reasons. They argue that the growing of vegetables takes up much less valuable space than the raising of livestock; moreover, it is easier to provide food for all the people on earth by growing vegetables for food rather than raising vegetable-eating animals.