Unit 4.1. Health and fitness

Vocabulary: Visiting the doctor. Ailments and Illnesses

INTRODUCTORY READING

I. Read the text and find out the meaning of the target words (in bold type).

A.

The famous saying claims: health is dearer that wealth. I think everyone would readily agree that if a person is not healthy/sound (in perfect physical and mental state) nothing can make him/her happy, even piles of money. Most people hate to be ill (US sick) because when you are not well you need medical aid and care. You have to stay in bed, take your temperature with a thermometer, take pills, tablets, capsules and mixtures, apply ointments (oily medicated formulation applied to the skin to cure or protect) and go to the policlinic to consult doctors...

If the ailment/illness/discase (the state of poor health) is serious, a person should be treated/cured/healed (to take a course of medical treatment to restore health) in the hospital. There you will undergo necessary medical procedures

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like injections/ coll. shots (putting liquid into the body with a syringe), TVs/ intravenous therapy (giving of liquid medicine directly into a vein), etc. and be under continuous control and care of nurses and doctors. In life-threatening conditions people call the ambulance (a motor vehicle designed to cany sick or injured people). Everyone knows the emergency/acute care phone number - 103.

If we have fever (abnormally high body temperature), your physician, also called: G.P. (general practitioner)/medical doctor/therapist (a person who practices general medicine) or family doctor comes to your home to examine you carefully to diagnose the illness you might suffer from. The doctor will monitor your blood pressure (the pressure exerted by the blood against the walls of the arteries) as high blood pressure is serious and can be dangerous. Then the doctor would probably also take your pulse to check that your heart rate (the number of heartbeats per minute) is normal. The doctor will listen to your breathing with a stethoscope (a medical instrument for listening to the sounds made within the body, consisting of a hollow disc that transmits the sound through hollow tubes to earpieces) - particularly if you have a heart disease or chest infection. If you need medication/medicine (a medicament), a doctor will write you a prescription (doctor’s written instructions containing the list of medicines and the way they should be taken). You can get your medication at the chemist’s (U.S. drug store). If you have fever, the doctor may prescribe you antifebrile/antipyretic and sedative (having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect) medicines; if you suffer from some pain/ache (headache, earache, stomach-ache, etc.), you will be prescribed analgesics/ pain-killers. If you suffer from insomnia (cannot sleep well), the doctor may prescribe you sleeping pills. And he will definitely prescribe you vitamins. If you follow the doctor’s directions, you’ll soon recover (restore oneself to normal state of health). You will be on a sick leave till you recover. Students are given medical certificates.

In the policlinic you can undergo a check-up (a medical examination, taken at regular intervals to verify a normal state of health or discover a disease in its early stages). It is a very good habit to have annual check-ups for prevention of many diseases. Doctors say it is always easier to prevent than to cure. You will do a blood count/blood test, be X-rayed, and probably undergo an ultrasonic/ultrasound scanning (an ultrasound-based diagnostic imaging technique used to visualize internal organs, their size, structures and possible pathologies). In the policlinic you can consult various specialists: a surgeon (a medical practitioner who specializes in surgery, that is operates on people), an oculist/eye doctor, a neuropathologist, ear, nose and throat specialist, dermatologist, endocrinologist and many other specialists. Dentists/ stomatologists and psychiatrists do not usually examine their patients in the

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policlinic; they practice in separate clinics or their private offices. Many illnesses are treated by G.P. Thus, theraputists treat people for cold, running nose, cough, sore throat, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza/flu/grippe, quinsy/tonsillitis. If you suffer from abscess/boil, burn/scald, injury/wound, you should consult a surgeon. Dermatologists treat for skin diseases and allergies. Children usually consult a paediatrician/children’s doctor.

Of course, you can also visit the doctor for a number of other reasons. For example, if you are going abroad on holiday, you might also need to be inoculated (to have preventive injections of vaccines) against infectious diseases (diphtheria, cholera, whooping cough, chicken pox, rabies, mumps, measles, German measles, etc.). Inoculations help to acquire immunity (resistance to infections). Anyway it is much better if you to take care of yourself and do not fall ill/catch a disease.

B.

Medical specialists are experts in certain fields of medicine. They either treat specific parts of the body, such as the back or the brain, or they specialize in certain diseases, such as cancer. Family doctors keep a list of local specialists and can help patients choose the right specialist for each medical issue. In many cases specialists require a referral from a family doctor before they will see a patient.

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UNIT 4.3. ECOLOGY AND HEALTH

Reading Pre-Reading Activities

1) Answer the following questions:

1. What do you know about the way ecological problems affect our health?

2. Who is responsible for ecological problems? 3. The ecologists say that breathing the polluted air in Mexico City or in Cairo causes the same harm as smoking two packs of cigarettes. What diseases can the polluted air cause? 4. Why are aerosols considered to be harmful for environment? What are they most harmful for? 5. In your opinion, what should be done to improve the ecological situation on our planet?

2) Read, translate and memorise the following chains of derivatives. Say what part of speech each of them belongs to.

To pollute - pollutant - pollution; to contaminate - contaminant - contamination; fertile fertility - to fertilize — fertilizer; to create - creative - creature; to emit-emission; insect - insecticide [InrsektlsAid]; pest-pesticide; to penetrate - penetration; harm - harmful; disaster - disastrous.

31. a) Read and translate the text.