Idiomatic expressions.

4. The following expressions were used in the conversations with the doctor. What do you think they mean?

1. That's easier said than done. 5. to be/feel worn out

2. to feel off colour 6. to be/feel run down

3. to burn the candle at both ends 7. to feel under the weather

4. to take it easy 8. to feel as right as rain

5. Which of these idiomatic expressions could you use in the following situations?

a. Your friend has been working very hard and you think she needs a rest.

b. You're at work but you don't feel very well and you want to go home, с Someone gives you advice which is very difficult to follow.

d. You want to tell your friend she'll soon recover from her illness.

e. Your friend is looking tired. He works during the day and stays up late at night.

6. Work in pairs. Take turns to ask and answer the questions below. Try to use the multi-word verbs and expressions from this unit.

a. Do you smoke? If yes, how many cigarettes do you smoke a day?

b. Have you ever tried stopping or reducing the amount you smoke? с Have you changed your eating habits recently (for example, re­ duced the amount of fatty food you eat, or gone on a diet)?

d. Would you consider doing any of the following activities to keep fit? □ jogging □ aerobics □ cycling □ golf □ other

e. Are you ever out of breath? If yes, when?

f. Do you ever feel worn out or ran down? If yes, when?

g. Have you ever fainted? If yes, explain what happened,

h. When was the last time you did not feel well? What was wrong

with you?

i. When did you last have a cold? How long did it take you to re­cover from it?

j. How healthy do you think you are?

C. Work in pairs. Discuss the following questions.

1. What do you understand by the expressions 'Healthy body, healthy mind?'

2. Comment on the proverbs: Good health is above wealth.

— 284 —

— 285 —

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Never say die.

A sound mind in a sound body.

D. Write the story of Mr X. Use the following phrasal verbs and expressions.

out of condition

out of breath

to put on (an amount of something)

to get through (an amount of something)

to cut something out

to cut down (on) something

to take something up

to be/go on a diet

to give something up

Listening

The Doctor's Advice

One day an old man went to see a doctor. The doctor examined him and said, 'Medicine won't help you. You must have a rest. Go to a quiet country place for a month, go to bed early, drink milk, walk a lot and smoke only one cigar a day.' 'Thank you very much,' said the old man. 'I'll do everything you say.'

A month later the man came to the doctor again. 'How do you do?' said the doctor. 'I'm very glad to see you. You look much younger.' 'Oh, doctor,' said the man, 'I'm quite well now. I had a good rest. I went to bed early. I drank a lot of milk, I walked a lot. Your advice certainly helped me. But you told me to smoke one cigar a day and that one cigar a day almost killed me at first. It's no joke to start smo­king at my age.'

A. Questions.

1. Where did the old man go one day? 2. What did the doctor advise him to do? 3. Did the old man follow his advice? 4. Did he have a good rest? 5. But there was one thing that troubled him. What was it?

A Skiing Holiday

Robert was skiing down a mountain with a tall, beautiful American girl. Her name was Isabel and he had met her only the day before. Isabel was a very good skier. The ski ran twisted and turned but she went round all the curves very fast. Robert tried to do the same.

Suddenly, he fell. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle while he was lying in the snow. Isabel came back. Another skier, a handsome young man, stopped as well. The two of them helped Robert to get back to the hotel. There was a doctor there.

The doctor was a Scotsman. He was married to a Swiss girl. That was why he was working in Switzerland.

'Hmm,' he said when he saw Robert's ankle, and shook his head.

'I haven't broken it, have I?' Robert asked hopefully.

'No, but you've twisted it badly.'

'You mean I've sprained it?'

'Yes, I'm afraid so. And it's badly bruised and swollen,' the doctor answered, pointing to the dark blue marks on Robert's ankle, which was now getting bigger.

Robert lay back with a groan. No more skiing for him! Just then he heard Isabel laughing on the terrace. He could see her. She was smiling at the young man.

A. Questions.

1. What was Robert doing when he fell? 2. What happened then? 3. Who was Isabel? 4. How did Robert get back to the hotel? 5. Was Robert seriously injured? 6. What else disappointed him?

At the Dentist's

The tooth had been bothering David for some time. He knew he should have gone to the dentist's earlier. But in spite of the pain he had put it off. He always put off going to the dentist as long as possible.

The dentist smiled pleasantly at first. David told him that the tooth had kept him awake the night before. Then the dentist looked into his mouth, but he did not look only at the one tooth. Instead he looked them all over.

'Hmm,' he said. 'I'm afraid several of your teeth need seeing to.' He smiled again. But this time it was a rather grim smile. He began to de­scribe exactly what needed doing. David listened to him with a kind of sick feeling in his stomach.

— 286 —

— 287 —

'I should say that at least four teeth have cavities and then some of your old fillings are loose. We'll have to see to them immediately!' David asked about the tooth that had been aching. 'I may be able to save it,' the dentist said, and smiled grimly again. He got his electric drill ready. 'Now,' he said with another grim smile, 'this shouldn't hurt too much.'

A. Questions.

1. Why had David gone to the dentist's? 2. What had he put off? 3. What was the first thing the dentist did? 4. What did he tell David? 5. What exactly was the work that needed doing? 6. What happened then?

Dr Jones and his Patient

The telephone rang and Dr Jones took up the receiver. His patient's servant asked him to come to their place. 'I can do nothing with the old man,' he said and the doctor agreed to come at once.

He had thought much about his patient since his last visit and knew what the matter was. His patient, a rich old man, liked to buy things at high prices. In a short period of time he had spent very much money. His friends were afraid that he would soon be penniless, that's why they wanted the doctor to do something to stop him.

The doctor was thinking about it when he entered his patient's house that day. 'Good morning,' he greeted the old man. 'How are you today? I want to tell you something.' The old man who was sitting in an arm­chair turned to him. 'What is it? More medicine or some other idea?' he asked. 'Would you like to study art?' asked the doctor. 'It will do your health much good.' 'Why should I, I don't understand it,' the old man answered. 'It doesn't matter. You must study it. I can get a student from an art school who will come here once a week and give you lessons,' the doctor said. His patient agreed.

A few days later the doctor found an art student who was glad to accept his offer. Five dollars a lesson was not bad at all. The next morn­ing the lessons began. The old man studied hard and often visited art exhibitions. He even stopped buying things at high prices. He decided to exhibit one of his own pictures. It was a very bad picture and the doctor could not understand why the exhibition accepted it.

Some days passed. One morning the old man received a letter. 'Read ittome,' he asked the doctor, 'I'm tired.' 'Your picture has received the first prize,' the doctor said. 'Now I believe, you like art more than any­thing else.' 'Oh, no! Art is nothing!' said the old man. 'I've bought the exhibition.'

A. Questions.

1. What was the matter with Dr Jones's patient? 2. What did the doctor suggest his patient should do? 3. Did the old man agree to study art? 4. Did he stop buying things at high prices? 5. What were the old man's results in studying art? 6. Why did the old man's picture receive the first prize?

American Business

This story is about an American general who was a very important per­son in the American Army during the First World War. Everybody in the United States knew him and many people wanted to have his photo or any other of his things in their homes. When the war was over the gen­eral returned home. He lived in Washington and worked in the office in which he had worked before the war. His health was poor. Very often he had a terrible toothache.

One day he went to a dentist. The dentist pulled out his six bad teeth. A week later the general heard that some shops were selling his extract­ed teeth. One tooth cost 5 dollars. On each of the teeth there was a label with the name of the general.

The general became very angry. He did not know what to do. Then an idea came to his mind. He told his six officers to go around the city and buy all his extracted teeth.

The officers left the office in the morning and visited a lot of shops in the capital. They were running from shop to shop all day long. In the evening they returned to the office and put all the teeth on the table in front of the general. They had bought 175 teeth.

A. Questions.

1. Why was the general so popular? 2. What did he do after the war? 3. What happened to him one day? 4. What did the dentist do? 5. What made the general very angry? 6. What did he do? 7. How many teeth did the officers buy?

The Doctor's Help

There was a bookseller who did not like paying for anything. One day he let a big box of books fall on his foot.

'Go to the doctor,' said his wife, 'and show that foot to him.'

— 288

10 За к. 2342

'

'No,' he said. 'I'll wait until the doctor comes into the shop next time. Then I'll ask him about my foot. If I go to see him, I shall have to pay him.'

On the next day the doctor came into the shop and bought some books. When the bookseller was getting them ready, he told the doctor about his bad foot. The doctor looked at it.

'Yes,' said the doctor. 'You must put that foot in hot water every night. Then you must put something on it.'

He took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. 'Buy this and put it on the foot before you go to bed every night,' he said.

'Thank you,' said the bookseller. 'And now, sir, here are your books.'

'How much?' said the doctor.

'Two pounds.'

'Good,' said the doctor. T shall not have to pay you anything.'

'Why?' asked the bookseller.

'I told you about your foot. I want two pounds for that. If people come to my house, I ask them to pay one pound for a small thing like that. But when I go to their houses, I want two pounds. And I came here, didn't I? Good morning.'

A. Questions.

1. What happened to the bookseller one day? 2. Why didn't he want to go to the doctor? 3.When did the doctor come to the shop? 4. What advice did he give the bookseller? 5. Why did the doctor refuse to pay for the books?

Wrong Pronunciation

A Frenchman who had learnt English at school, but had half forgotten it, was staying in London on business. It was in the month of November, and the weather was most unpleasant, damp and foggy.

The Parisian, not being accustomed to the English climate, had caught a severe cold, and was coughing day and night. At last he decided on getting a remedy for his cough but as he did not remember this English word, he looked it up in his French-English dictionary. There he found that that the English for it was cough. Unfortunately his dictionary did not tell him how to pronounce it. Remembering, however, the pronunci­ation of the word plough, he naturally concluded that cough must be pronounced [kau].

So he entered*a chemist's shop and said: 'Will you, please, give me something for my cow!' The chemist, thinking he had misunderstood him asked politely: T beg your pardon, sir?'

The Frenchman repeated his request for some remedy for his cow.

'For your cow, sir?' replied the chemist. 'Are you a farmer then?'

'A farmer?' answered the Frenchman rather indignantly. 'What in the world makes you think so? Oh, no, I came from Paris, from beautiful Paris,' he added proudly.

The chemist now almost began to think that he was dealing with a madman. In great bewilderment he asked again: 'But your cow, sir? Where is your cow?'

'Here!' cried the Frenchman, coughing very loud and pointing to his chest, 'here it is! I have a very big cow in my chest!'

Luckily, the chemist understood him and gave him the remedy he wanted.

A. Questions.

1. What happened to the Frenchman in London? 2. What did he do? 3. Did the chemist understand the Frenchman at once? Why not? 4. How did the Frenchman explain to the chemist what remedy he wanted?

Reading

Margaret's Job

Margaret Oliver works in a hospital. Here she talks about her job.

1.

I'm a physiotherapist. My job is to help people who have been injured. Many of my patients have had road accidents. I show them how to walk again, or move their arms, or bend their backs. It's a difficult job and not very well paid, but it's very interesting. I really love it. The only thing I don't like is the long hours. Sometimes I come home from work so tired that I just fall asleep in front of the television. I'm too tired to go out — even with my boyfriend, Joe. He doesn't like it when I work late. He says I work too hard, but he doesn't understand that a physiotherapist has to work hard. If she doesn't, her patients won't get better.

□ What is the only disadvantage about Margaret's job?

— 290 —

— 291

2.

1.

Of course, working in the hospital isn't always enjoyable. Some days nothing goes right and then it's very frustrating. I get annoyed when nurses don't do what I tell them to do. Some of the young ones don't seem to listen to what I say. That makes me angry. I feel quite depressed sometimes. But then one of my patients comes back to see me. That happened yesterday. It was a young girl who had smashed her arm in a bad accident. We sat in my room and had a cup of coffee. She told me she was back at work and she showed me how well she could move her arm now. That really cheered me up. It always does.

□ What makes Margaret depressed?

3.

The hospital I work in is about forty miles from London. It's quite old, but it's got all the latest equipment. I like most of the people I work with — they're super. My patients are super too. And some are very interesting. Last week, for instance, I had a young footballer called Don. He had broken his leg in three places. He was afraid he would never play football again. I had to tell him that he would soon get better. I told him to be patient and not to worry. A physiotherapist has to do that quite often — reassure her patients, I mean.

□ What did Margaret tell Don? 4.

Working with older people is much more difficult. They take much longer to get better. A lot of the older patients don't want to leave hospital at all. They feel safe there and they have lots of friends. When they go home they feel very lonely. They miss their friends. I go and visit them at home when I can, but it's hard to get the time. Some of them will never really get well again. I feel sorry for them, but you can't show them how you feel. You've just got to be cheerful and do what you can. I always try to do my best for all my patients. You can't do more than that, can you?

□ Why do some of the older patients want to stay in hospital? Margaret Oliver describes a day in her life.

I normally get up at seven o'clock, but today I didn't have to start work until half-past eight, so I stayed in bed for another half-hour. That was lovely. I switched on the radio and just listened to it with my eyes closed. Then I got up, washed, and had breakfast. Usually, I just have some cereal, but today I made myself a proper breakfast: orange juice, a boiled egg, tea, and toast.

I left home at a quarter past eight. My flat isn't far from the hospital. In the summer, I sometimes walk to work. But if the weather's bad, I often drive to work. This morning it was cold and wet, so I drove to work.

□ What does Margaret mean by 'a proper breakfast'? Why was she able to have 'a proper breakfast' today?

2.

My first job this morning was to see a patient who had hurt his back. He'd lifted a bag of potatoes and hurt himself because he hadn't picked it up correctly. I gave him some heat treatment and told him to get as much rest as possible. Then it was time for what I call my 'knee class'. These are people who have all injured their knees in some way. I show them exercises that will strengthen their knees. They're a great group and we always have lots of fun together.

□ Describe Margaret's'knee class'.

3.

At twelve-thirty I had lunch in the canteen. I didn't eat much because I've put on some weight recently and I want to take it off before the summer. I just had a cup of coffee and an apple.

After lunch, I went to see my favourite patient, Edie. She's eighty-five now and she's got a bad chest. I'm sure she'll never leave hospital now. I can't really do much for her, but she always likes to see me. She doesn't say very much, but she loves to hear what I've been doing. I was just telling her about my 'knee class' when Nurse Walker came in. She said that Mrs Callan, the head physiotherapist, wanted to see me. I tried to find out what she wanted, but Nurse Walker said she didn't know. So I said goodbye to Edie and went to see Mrs Callan, wondering why she wanted to see me.

□ Who is Margaret's favourite patient?

— 292 —

293 —

Self Check

1. The following passage is about Uncle Tom, who is a hypochondriac (a person who always thinks he is ill). Change the word or words in brackets into the correct form, where necessary. Sometimes, you must add other words, usually a preposition.

When Auntie Ivy is ill, she tries to smile about it. She tries not to let the illness (make) her (feel) unhappy. She fights against it and usually re­covers quickly. My uncle Tom, though, is different. He seems (enjoy) grumbling (be) ill, and from the way he speaks, you would think that he looks forward (be) ill. His doctor isn't very pleased (Uncle Tom visit) him so often. He once said to him, 'If every patient of mine came to visit me as often as you do, I (need) to work 48 hours a day.' Of course, there's nothing wrong with Uncle Tom. He's in good health, but he can't help (feel) ill; he's that type. Whenever I visit him, he's busy reading a medical dictionary. The next day he (usually go) to see his doctor, and describes an illness he has read about. His doctor is used (Uncle Tom describe) all types of illness, and knows that as long as he (give) him some tablets, Uncle Tom won't come and see him for three or four days. Uncle Tom is accustomed (take) at least three different tablets a day. We once threw his new white tablets away and put some sweets, which looked the same, in the bottle instead. Uncle Tom never noticed the difference, and went on (take) them. A few days later he told us the tablets had done him a lot of good!

2. Fill in the blanks with articles if necessary.

Henry is ... (1) clerk in ... (2) office in ... (3) town. He's also ... (4) health freak. He wants to live to be ... (5) hundred so ... (6) health is very important to him. He gets up at five o'clock in the morning and lifts ... (7) weights for thirty minutes. For ... (8) breakfast he eats ... (9) spinach and... (10) raw egg with ... (11) garlic and ... (12) chilli pep­per. It tastes disgusting, but he thinks it's good for him. Then he runs for ... (13) hour in ... (14) park, even if... (15) weather is bad. He leaves for ... (16) work at seven o'clock. He never goes by ... (17) bus or ... (18) train and he thinks that... (19) cars are extremely dangerous. So he walks everywhere with ... (20) mask over his nose and mouth. He also wears ... (21) uniform which he designed to protect himself from ... (22) dust and ... (23) dirt. At ... (24) office he washes his hands ten times ... (25) day and he wears ... (26) gloves to pick up ... (27) tele-

phone in case it's dirty. He takes his lunch to ... (28) work with him. He eats fifteen sunflower seeds and one onion. He is sure that... (29) lunch which the firm provides isn't good for him. After ... (30) work he rush­es home to water ... (31) plants. He has hundreds of ... (32) plants because they provide ... (33) oxygen. In the evening he sometimes lis­tens to ... (34) radio, but he never watches... (35) television because it might damage his eyesight. On Monday he goes to ... (36) deep breath­ing class and on Thursday he goes to ... (37) vegetarian cookery class. He rarely goes to ... (38) cinema or to ... (39) theatre — there are far too many germs. He goes to ... (40) bed early. In summer he sleeps in ... (41) tent in ... (42) garden. At... (43) weekend he goes camping in ... (44) country, but he never sits in ... (45) sun. On ... (46) first day of every month he goes to ... (47) doctor's, just to make sure that he isn't ill. After all, he doesn't want to find himself in ... (48) hospital.

3. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense form.

Jane (always want) to be a nurse ever since she (be) a child, but her father (tell) her that nursing (be) not a suitable profession for a young lady to follow. When she (leave) school, she (offer) a job working as a doctor's receptionist. She didn't want to take the job, so she (decide) to talk to her friend, Anne, about what she should do. Jane and Anne (be) friends for a long time and (live) in the same street. When Jane (arrive) at Anne's house, Anne (sit) in the garden, (read). She (look up) and smiled as Jane (ap­proach) 'Hello, Jane. How are you? Why are you looking so miserable?' Jane (explain) the situation and her friend (listen) sympathetically. As Jane (finish) speaking, Anne's mother (come out) of the house and (shout) to the two girls to come over. T (be) dreadfully sorry, Jane, but I'm afraid your father (have) an accident this morning in work and (be) in hospital. They (not be able) to give me many details, but they (tell) me he (be going to) be all right. I (drive) you over there now.' When they (arrive) at the hospital Jane (be) amazed to see her father sitting up in bed and smiling broadly as they (walk) into his hospital room. 'Father, I (be) so worried, I (think) something dreadful (happen).' 'Oh, there's no need to worry. I (break) my arm but the nurses here (take) such good care of me, they (be) wonderful. And Jane, I (think)...' Jane (smile) at her friend, and (know) that everything (be going to) be all right!

4. Translate into English.

1. У меня болит горло. Наверное, это ангина. 2. Она серьезно боль­на. Ее положили в больницу. Возможно, ей предстоит операция.

— 294 —

295 —

3. У тебя больной вид. Я советую тебе обратиться к врачу и чем скорее, тем лучше. 4. Я страдаю от бессонницы. Я не знаю, чтоделать. — Почему бы вам не заняться спортом? Это могло бы по­мочь. — Я слишком стар, чтобы заниматься спортом. 5. У меня сильная боль в грудной клетке. Боюсь, что это пневмония. 6. У Лены скарлатина. Она сейчас в больнице. 7. Его лечили от гриппа, но у него оказалось воспаление легких. 8. Это очень хорошее лекар­ство от головной боли (от ушной боли, зубной боли). 9. Тебе сде­лали рентген? — Нет еще. Но мне только что измерили давление. Оно нормальное. 10. У него больное сердце. Вчера у него былсильный сердечный приступ. Он в постели. Врач запретил ему вста­вать в течение трех дней. 11. У тебя два больных зуба. Тебе нужно сходить к дантисту. — Три месяца назад врач запломбировал мне два зуба, не хотелось бы пломбировать зубы каждые три месяца. 12. Доктор прописал мне лекарство и сказал, что лекарство мнеприготовят в любой аптеке. 13. У тебя воспалены глаза. Что с то­бой? 14. Он выздоровел (оправился) от бронхита и сейчас совер­шенно здоров. 15. Вам необходимо измерить температуру. Вот тер­мометр. 16. Ты неважно выглядишь сегодня утром. Что с тобой? Ты плохо спал? — Я себя неважно чувствую. Наверное, ничего се­рьезного. — Я бы на твоем месте обратился к врачу. 17. Несколько дней назад я проснулся со страшной головной болью. У меня был сильный насморк, я сильно кашлял. Кроме того, у меня болело гор­ло. Я измерил температуру. У меня было 39. Я позвонил врачу. Он пришел и тщательно осмотрел меня, пощупал мой пульс, прослу­шал сердце и легкие, измерил давление, осмотрел мой язык и гор­ло. Врач сказал, что у меня грипп, и что мне следует лежать в по­стели несколько дней. Он выписал мне рецепт на таблетки и мик­стуру и сказал, чтобы я принимал ее по столовой ложке три раза в день. Моя жена пошла в аптеку, где ей изготовили лекарство. Я последовал советам врача и через неделю выздоровел. 18. Меня слегка тошнит. У меня легкий озноб, болит все тело, кружится го­лова. Я больна. 19. У меня болит спина. Не знаю, в чем дело.

UNIT 8

COMMUNICATION: PROBABILITY AND IMPROBABILITY

There are things you consider will probably happen; others you think improbable. Here are some ways of expressing probability and improbability when talking about the future.

A D'you think?

the

it'll be | warm | tomorrow

cold

wet

The train		leave on time
The plane		be late
The film play The concert	will	start on time be good

the government will win / lose the elections

the bank

your father | will lend you the money

John

В (Yes,...)