Jigsaw reading

Read the following text and complete the sentences in exercise that follows.

Natural Remedies

Today, many people use natural ways to cure illnesses that don’t cause side-effects. Acupuncture and biofeedback are two popular methods.

Acupuncture has recently become very popular, but doctors have been using it in China for over two thousand years. Acupuncture involves pushing needles into the skin at special points around the body. Ancient Chinese philosophers believed these points were connected to different organs – such as the heart or lungs – and that the needles could cure diseases.

Today, acupuncture is used in many countries, and studies show that it works – especially for headaches, backaches and addiction to smoking. Since the 1950s, doctors in China have also been using acupuncture as an anaesthetic in major operations. Patients are awake and know what is happening in the operation but they feel little or no pain. Chinese philosophers believed that the needles helped to balance forces that they called “yin” and “yang”. Today, scientists think that the needles make the body produce a chemical called “endorphin”. This helps to reduce the feeling of pain.

Biofeedback. Can you control your breath? Can you control your body temperature with your mind? For hundreds of years, holy men in India have been saying this is possible and that they can do it. Scientists used to laugh at these claims, however, until experiments in the USA in the 1950s showed that it is possible. Today, control over our own internal processes is part of a new type of medicine called “biofeedback”.

Biofeedback uses new technology to help people control their own internal organs. For example, if a person has problems with sleeping, he or she is connected to a special computer that shows the activity of the brain. The person then does mental exercises to try to relax. When brain activity falls, the computer makes a noise. Slowly, the person learns what type of mental exercises can reduce the activity of the brain. Doctors in many parts of the world have been using biofeedback with great success for many years. It is now a very useful form of medicine for problems with stress, tension, epilepsy, the heart pain and insomnia.

Homeopathy was invented in Germany about 200 years ago. Homeopathic doctors believe that the symptoms of an illness are signs that the body is trying to cure itself. To cure an illness, therefore, they give the patient something that produces the same symptoms in a healthy person.

Before a substance is used as a homeopathic remedy, it is tested by giving small doses of it to healthy persons to see what symptoms develop. For example, onions cause your eyes and nose to produce water. To cure colds, therefore, homeopathic doctors use an extract from onions. Sometimes, homeopathic doctors use dangerous poisons as medicines, but they dilute these many thousands of times so that they are harmless.

Critics say there is no scientific support for homeopathy, and that in many cases the “illness” would disappear naturally anyway. They also say it is possible that simply believing a medicine will work can help the mind to cure some simple illnesses. Homeopathic doctors, on the other hand, say that there is plenty of evidence that homeopathy works and millions of people who take homeopathic remedies agree with them. Test have shown that animals can be cured with homeopathic medicine, and this, they say, proves that it cannot simply be because people believe in it.

Exercise 1. Which form of medicine is each sentence about? Write “homeopathy”, “acupuncture” or “biofeedback”.

1. It involves pushing needles into the skin…………………………………………

2. The medicines are diluted many thousands of time………………………………

3. It involves using a computer………………………………………………………

4. It probably makes the body produce a chemical………………………………….

5. It began in the USA……………………………………………………………….

6. It began in Germany……………………………………………………………….

7. Patients learn to take control over their own internal organs…………………….

8. It began in China………………………………………………………………….

9. The medicine produces the symptoms of the illness in a healthy person…………

Exercise 2. Speak about the contents of the text answering the following questions:

Do you believe that acupuncture can be used as an aesthetic in operations? Have you had any experience with acupuncture? Is it possible to control one’s body temperature only with the force of your mind? While having insomnia have you ever tried to do some mental exercises to fall asleep? Would you dare to try biofeedback in order to cure some illness? What is the healing effect of onions? What is your opinion whether homeopathy is simply believing or an effective form of alternative medicine? 8. Do you believe in any of the following forms of alternative medicine: aromatherapy, faith healing, herbalism, hydrotherapy, massage, meditation?

Helpful phrases First of all … To begin with … As far as … is concerned … I’d like to point out that … Talking (speaking) of … More than that … On the whole … In short … I personally think … Yes, I should say so. Summing it all up … If you ask me … All things considered I must say … I don’t quite see what people find in …

READING COMPREHENSION

Read the dialogues and do the exercises that follow.

Act the following dialogues until you can perform them without reading