Unit 7. Health

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

patient hospital physician disease illness health

chemist's medicine to cough treatment flu

to recover

to be ill

to fall ill

to prescribe a medicine

to catch (a) cold

to take one’s blood count

to check one’s blood pressure

to X-ray

complication after a disease

sick-leave certificate

I have a sore throat.

It hurts here.

This is a good medicine for colds.

What do you take for a headache?

I have a running nose.

I'm not feeling quite up to the mark.

At the dogtor's

follow-up examination out-patient hospital in-patient hospital contagious disease at the dentist's medical check-up

poor health nurse ward pill surgery

to examine the patient

to have (to run) a temperature

to take one's temperature

to loose one's appetite

to feel run-down

to sound smb's chest

to go to the dentist's

to have a toothache

to fill a tooth

to take out the tooth

to have a tooth pulled out

to have pain in one's knee

to take pills for a headache

to sneeze

to be overweight

to cure smb. of (from) smth.

to be off-colour

What seems to be the trouble ?

The trouble is . . .

The patient is feverish.

This medicine will send your temperature down.

He was cured of heart disease

HEALTH

When we are ill, we call the doctor, and he examines us and diagnoses the illness (or disease).

When we have a headache, a stomach ache, a sore throat, or pain in some part of the body, we call the doctor. He takes our temperature and our pulse. He examines our heart, our lungs, our stomach or the part where we have a pain (the part of the body which hurts us) and tells us what is the matter with us. He says: “You have a slight temperature” or “You have caught a cold” or “You have heart disease”.

The doctor prescribes medicine, and gives us a prescription, which we take to the chemist, who makes up the medicine. The doctor says: "I shall prescribe some medicine. You must take the prescription to the chemist and he will make up the medicine for you. Take the medicine twice or three times a day, before or after meals". We must follow the doctor's orders if we want to get better. If we have a temperature, we must stay in bed and take the medicine he prescribes.

If you need an operation (for example if you have appendicitis), a surgeon performs the operation on you. If we are too ill to walk, we go to hospital in the ambulance. After our illness we can go to a sanatorium until we are strong again.

When we have toothache, we go to the dentist’s. The dentist examines our teeth. The dentist asks: “Which tooth hurts you?” He says: “That tooth has a cavity. I must stop it (I must put in a filling)”. If the tooth is too bad, the dentist extracts it.

The laws of health

One of the first duties we owe to ourselves is to keep our bodies in perfect health. If our body suffers from any disorder, our mind suffers with it, and we are unable to make progress in knowledge, and we are unfit to perform those duties which are required of us in social life.

There are certain laws of health which deserve particular attention, and they are so simple that even a child can learn them. A constant supply of pure fresh air is indispensible to good health.

To secure this, nothing impure should remain either within or near our houses, and every room in the house, especially the bedrooms, should be properly ventilated every day.

Perfect cleanliness is also essential. The whole body should be washed as often as possible. The skin is full of minute pores, cells, blood vessels and nerves. It “breathes” the way the lungs do. Therefore it should always be clean.

A certain amount of exercise is necessary to keep the body in perfect condition. All the powers (mental and bodily) we possess are strengthened by use and weakened by disuse. Therefore labour and study should succeed each other.

Remember that exercises warm and purify the body. Rest is also necessary to the health of body and mind. The best time for sleep is during the darkness and stillness of the night.

Most essential to our body is food. Be moderate in eating. If you eat slowly, you will not overeat. Never swallow your food wholesale and you will never complain of indigestion.

Thus we must remember that moderation in eating and drinking, reasonable hours of labour and study, recreation and rest, cleanliness and many other essentials lay the foundations for good health and long life.