ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНТСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ
ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ
ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
ЭКОНОМИКИ И ФИНАНСОВ»
КАФЕДРА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА И ПЕРЕВОДА
Ю.В. ВАРЛАМОВА
СБОРНИК ТЕКСТОВ
И УПРАЖНЕНИЙ
ПО ПКРО 2 ИЯ
(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ)
ДЛЯ СТУДЕНТОВ СТАРШИХ КУРСОВ
ФАКУЛЬТЕТА ЛИНГВИСТИКИ:
«MODERN MEDICINE»
Учебное пособие
ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО
САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА
ЭКОНОМИКИ И ФИНАНСОВ
2010
2
ББК 81.2Англ.
В 18
Рекомендовано научно-методическим советом университета
Варламова Ю.В.
Сборник текстов и упражнений по ПКРО 2 ИЯ (английский) для
студентов старших курсов факультета лингвистики: «Modern medicine»:
Учебное пособие. – СПб.: Изд-во СПбГУЭФ, 2010. – 58 с.
Учебное пособие «Modern medicine» разработано на основе аутентичных
текстов, включает задания по лексике, чтению и разговорной практике и
направлено на приобретение и развитие речевых навыков и расширение
словарного запаса студентов.
Пособие предназначено для студентов 2-3 курсов филологических
факультетов, изучающих английский как второй иностранный, и соответствует
уровню Upper-Intermediate, Advanced. Может быть использовано в учебных
заведениях, а также для самостоятельного изучения английского языка.
Рецензенты:
канд. филол. наук, доц. кафедры теории языка
и переводоведения СПбГУЭФ С.Е. Полякова
канд. филол. наук, доц. кафедры английского языка
БГТУ «Военмех» Н.И. Налетова
© Издательство СПбГУЭФ, 2010
3
ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ
Part A ......................................................................................................... 4
Topical vocabulary ..................................................................................... 4
Alternative medicine ................................................................................... 9
Part B ........................................................................................................ 12
Questionnaire ............................................................................................ 12
How to beat holiday stress ........................................................................ 14
Part C ........................................................................................................ 17
Giving advices ........................................................................................... 17
Changing bodies ....................................................................................... 19
Part D ........................................................................................................ 22
The nation’s health and well-being .......................................................... 22
The national health service ....................................................................... 23
Social security and social services ........................................................... 28
Five key questions about modern medical science ................................... 32
Part E ........................................................................................................ 35
Recognize feelings ..................................................................................... 35
Men, the emotional sex ............................................................................. 38
Part F ........................................................................................................ 42
Adjective quiz ............................................................................................ 42
The use of force ......................................................................................... 43
Part G ........................................................................................................ 47
The unicorn in the garden ......................................................................... 47
Test 1 ......................................................................................................... 48
Test 2 ......................................................................................................... 52
Рекомендуемая литература .................................................................. 57
4
PART A
Topical vocabulary
Study the case history below.
I
You’re in perfect health…as fit as a fiddle…there’s nothing wrong with
you. I feel a bit off-colour…rather under the weather… I do feel funny… I
really don’t feel well…I think I’m sickening for something… I feel
feverish…like death warmed up.
He’s been taken ill…he’s in a coma…frightening for his life…still
critically ill… in a very critical condition…no change…still seriously ill…still
hasn’t regaining consciousness… is responding to treatment…off the danger
list…showing signs of coming round…making progress…his condition is
satisfactory…he’s come out of the coma…he’s as well as can be
expected…comfortable…no change…he’s turned the corner…he’s on the
mend.
We all wish you a speedy recovery…get well soon…we’re glad you’re
over it. The worst is over…he’s convalescing…coming along nicely…he’ll be
on his feet again soon…he’ll be out and about again in a few days.
He’s had a relapse…he’s no better…he’s getting worse…his condition is
deteriorating…he’s getting weaker… he’s slipping away…fading fast…his life
is hanging by a thread…it’s just a matter of time…he could go at any second.
He’s made a miraculous recovery…he’s good as new…as right as
rain…he’ll live till he’s hundred.
II
For most of the year, most of us had been allergic to work; apparently
there had been a history of such allergies in the school.
Throughout the spring there had been quite a few cases of Exams are
stupid, which proved highly contagious among friends.
Then in late May, one or two of us suffered a mild attack of Gosh, is it
really next month? And we seemed to give that to the others rather rapidly. You
could tell how it was spreading from improved attendance at lessons.
An even more serious outbreak was that of the very infectious I don’t now
a thing two weeks before. At about the same time everyone seemed to catch
You’re no good! from the teacher. Then there was a bout of I don’t really care
followed by a few chronic cases of my parents will kill me. This again proved
5
very catching; half the class was down with it in the week leading up to the
exam itself, and it had reached epidemic proportions by the Friday before.
By this time, those who had been suffering from It’ll be easy for me had
made a total recovery.
That Friday there was a What if I’m suffering from amnesia? Scare, and
this had developed by Monday into a touch of I can’t even remember my own
name.
There were also, of course, the normal isolated cases of my pen doesn’t
work and several pupils had a sudden fit of Where’s the toilet?
Afterwards there were a couple of compliments of I know I’ve failed, but
generally the worst seemed to be over. Such diseases are rarely terminal. And
after all, we had a convalescence and recuperation period of six and a half
weeks to follow.
Without looking back at the previous two texts, try to supply the missing word
that completes these expressions:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
Under the…
It’s just a… of time
… the mend
Suffer… hay fever
To go…with fly
Turn the…
As… as a fiddle
A bit… - colour
Frightening…his life
Allergic… dust
As right as…
Just a… attack of nerves
Here are some of the best known and least wanted diseases and conditions,
arranged according to where they strike or what causes them.
The heart and blood vessels
Poor circulation
High blood pressure
A stroke
Heart attack
Jaundice
the liver
gallstones
cirrhosis of the liver
hepatitis
cancer of the liver
coronary thrombosis
6
Cardiac arrest
Heart failure
The stomach and intestines
Appendicitis
Stomach ulcer
Polio
A hernia
Constipation
the blood
amaemia
pneumonia
leukaemia
a haemorrhage
a blood clot
Infectious fevers
Measles
Chickenpox
German measles (rubella)
Smallpox
Pleurisy
Glandular fever
Yellow fever
Scarlet fever
Whooping cough
Influenza
Leprosy
Malaria
food poisoning
typhoid
dysentery
diarrhea and vomiting
salmonella
mumps
The lungs and respiratory system
Diphtheria
Catarrh
Sinusitis
Tonsillitis
Laryngitis
Asthma
Angina
Cholera
Bronchitis
Tuberculosis (TB)
Lung cancer
the nervous system
migraine
epilepsy (epileptic fits)
Parkinson’s disease
multiple sclerosis
muscular dystrophy
the joints
rheumatism
enteritis
arthritis
fibrositis
mental disorders
schizophrenia
manic depression
neurosis
paranoia
7
These six exchanges between doctor and patient have been mixed up. Decide
which response should follow which question.
1. I’ve been suffering from insomnia lately. Do you think I might be heading
for a nervous breakdown?
2. I seem to have some sort of stye or infection in my right eye. Do you
think I might have conjunctivitis?
3. I can’t stop scratching this place on my foot. Do you think it is athlete’s
foot?
4. I’ve got a rather sore throat, and I keep feeling a bit flushed. Do you think
it could be flu?
5. I’ve got a big bump on the back of my head. Do you think it might be
more than a bruise?
6. I keep getting shooting pains down my shin and ankle. Is it possible that
I’ve broken or sprained something?
a) Possible. Try this lotion for a few days to stop the itching, then start
putting on this powder at night.
b) Unlikely, but I’ll let you have some cough mixture to relieve the
symptoms. You can get yourself some lozenges, if you like.
c) I would doubt it. Here, rub this cream in for the next few nights to help
reduce the swelling.
d) No, of course not. But I’ll prescribe some barbiturates – sleeping pills – to
help get a good night’s rest. OK?
e) I wouldn’t have thought so. But I’ll give you a prescription for some
drops to try and clear it up.
f) Well, the X-ray didn’t show anything. It it’s so painful, you’d better have
some crutches to walk with and some painkillers to ease the pain.
Rearrange these six paragraphs in the same way.
1. I’ve got a dull ache in my arm and occasionally I get a spasm. Could it be
a minor fracture, a chipped bone or something?
2. I’ve got these tiny little bumps all over the back of my neck. Do you think
it might be gland trouble?
3. I’ve come out in a rash on my chest. Do you think it could be a skin
disease like impetigo or dermatitis?
4. I keep getting short of breath. Is there any way I could be suffering from
asthma?
8
5. I think I’ve got an ulcer in mu mouth. Do you think it could be a sign that
I’m run down?
6. I feel so feverish, and I’m sure I’ve got a temperature. I’m so afraid that
there’s something wrong with my heart.
a) Mm, sounds a bit like it. I’ll make you out a prescription for some
penicillin, and some menthol inhalations might speed up the recovery.
b) It’s just possible. I’ll strap it up anyway and put it in a sling. That should
reduce your discomfort quite a lot.
c) Oh, I should think so, but I think perhaps you ought to start taking these
tranquillizers, to at least get your blood pressure down.
d) Oh no, no, no. You’d know if it was. I’ll give you some ointment to rub in
to get rid of the inflammation.
e) Probably not. I’ll put you on a course of tablets to prevent them from
spreading. They should go soon.
f) It might well be. I’ll put you on antibiotics for a while anyway, to lessen
the risk of serious infection.
Read about the teacher who tried hypnotherapy and complete the first column
of the grid.
Alison
Ray
Hypnotherapy Colour
therapy
His/her
symptoms of
stress
Initial attitude
to therapy
Brief
description of
therapy
Relationship
with
practitioner
His/her
assessment of
the treatment
Dayle
Thai yoga
massage
Jackie
Acupuncture
9
Hypnotherapy
Alison Hatch teaches a class of seven and eight year olds.
I often get stressed at work, and it makes me feel bad tempered and really
worked up. I get pains in my chest, and an infection flares up in my hair and
eyebrows. I’m very open minded about alternative medicine.
Prescribed
Hypnotherapy, which involves being induced into a light trance state usually by
closing your eyes and listening to the therapist’s voice. Though it directs itself
to your unconscious mind, you remain aware of your surroundings.
Alison says, ‘We spent a large part of the first session looking back at my
medical history and my life from when I was very small. She asked me what I
was stressed about, to which the answer was ‘Everything”. The discussion was
almost like therapy. I’d describe a stressful scenario, and she would look at it in
a different way, explaining how things that happened in my childhood affect
my reactions now.
‘Afterwards she taught me breathing exercises for relaxation. Then she
got me to lie down and imagine a special place where I could go to relax. I
thought of a rock pool in a green lagoon. She said that after she counted to ten
very slowly she wanted me to be in my relaxed place in my mind, which was
where I ended up.
‘She would then talk through whatever problems had come up at the
beginning of the session, then she counted back to ten and took me out. The
idea was that, when stressed, I would be able to close my eyes and remember
that state of total relaxation and it’s true, I can take myself back there if I want
to. The infection hasn’t been a problem since I started the treatment. When I
find a classroom stressful, I take a step back, breathe and tell myself to chill out.
A boy came up to me in the classroom the other day and said: ‘Miss, what are
you doing?’ and I said, ‘I’m counting to ten, Alex.’
Continuing treatment? Yes
Colour therapy
Ray Coles teaches a class of ten and eleven year olds.
I find school very rushed and I only eat when I can find a minute to grab
something. I’ve just moved to the area to take up this job and I really miss
having a social circle. When I get stressed at work, I get hyperactive and find it
difficult to unwind. I also tend to have difficulty concentrating and suffer from
an aching back when I’m tense.
10
Prescribed
Colour therapy which is all about light, and involves gazing at various coloured
lights to stimulate different parts of the brain.
Ray says: ‘I’m open minded about alternative remedies, so I was ready to
give this a go. We began by having a good old natter so that she could get to
know me. It was a psychological discussion to talk about what stressed me out,
such as school and life at home. She made really constructive suggestions about
what I should actually do about my problems, and taught me some quite
straightforward relaxation exercises.
‘After the discussion she asked me to lie down on the bed and dangle a
crystal over my head from head to toe. She said that the energy from some
colours was missing from certain parts of my body, but I thought she could
have drawn a lot of her assumptions from the discussion rather than picking it
up from my crystal vibes. It could have been bluff and guesswork, but she
seems extremely genuine in what she believes.
Next she switched on the disco lights and lift me with them for 20
minutes. When she came back, she dangled the crystal again over certain points
of my body and said she could see healing had taken place and certain parts
were no longer as tense. I think it’s a bit like horoscopes when you read that
you’ll meet a handsome stranger, you do suddenly begin to notice a lot of
strange handsome people around you. An awful lot of the treatment relies on
the power of suggestion.
I was very stressed about my workload and I got things fare more in
perspective. It was like going to someone for an independent viewpoint,
because she gave me a lot of advice on interpersonal relationships. I wouldn’t
go out of my way to recommend colour therapy, but I would suggest finding
someone to go and have a good chinwag with.
Continuing treatment? No
Thai Yoga Massage
Dayle Brian teaches ten and eleven year olds
I get very stressed and often have a raging headache when I leave school. It
feels as though I’m constantly taking painkillers. Like most teachers I crash
during the first week of the holidays and get throat infections. I don’t know
much about these treatments but I wouldn’t mind doing something that involves
some gentle stretching.
11
Prescribed
Thai Yoga massage which relieves physical stress and strain and stretches your
limbs most effectively. It combines the yoga of India with the acupressure and
meridian massage of China. It’s like having your yoga done for you.
Dayle says: ‘I had only flirted with complimentary medicine before. Thai
yoga massage is certainly not massage as we know it. It involves much harder
pressing and it felt like I was a piece of dough being kneaded. When the
practitioner was massaging me (thorough clothes) I did something think,
‘please don’t do that any more.’ He didn’t actually talk to me apart from when
he gave instructions which I found very eerie. If he’d spoken to me more, I
would have felt more at ease.
I felt quite energetic after the first session, but it only lasted the day of the
treatment. The next day I felt back to normal. As the session went on, the
massage got harder and my body felt as though it had been worked on each
time, but I never got that feeling of instant energy back again.
It’s difficult to say what benefit the treatment finally had. As the
treatments went on, the headaches began to improve and things didn’t seem to
get on top of me the way they used to. I don’t know if this can necessarily be
put down to the treatment because stress depends on so many things. Taking
time out for myself had a lot to do with it. I feel selfish if I do things for myself.
I’ve spent a whole hour each tome letting someone else take over my life and I
think that’s the key.
Continuing treatment? No
Acupuncture
Head teacher Jackie Cox is 53
As head of the school, my job involves juggling several roles, and I just don’t
have time to relieve my stress. I suffer from an inflammatory disease which
flares up when I’m under stress, and I’m ill most school holidays.
Prescribed
Acupuncture, which involves inserting fine sterile needles into various trigger
points that run along 12 energy channels throughout the body.
Jackie says: ‘I was extremely skeptical beforehand because I don’t have
much time for this sort of stuff. Still, at my first session the practitioner did a
very thorough initial consultation involving my health history and important life
events. It was so comprehensive it lasted 90 minutes, and I felt very reassured
12
by her, which filled me with confidence. After that, she got started and, as the
sessions have progressed, I’ve just felt better and better.
She didn’t use big pins to start off with, she just put some very fine ones
in my back, and took them out almost immediately, so that helped me with any
initial apprehension I might have had. My husband has even noticed a
difference in me. He thinks I’m much more laid back about things, and I
certainly feel it.
I’ve just has a week off and usually I get very stressed during my
holidays. I don’t really enjoy the break, but it’s been a good week. Now I’m
back at work, which is a very stressful environment, but I’m just taking it in my
stride. It’s not a very relaxing treatment in itself – it’s very different from
having a massage, for example. I got on very well with the practitioner, though.
At the beginning of every session, we would go through what had happened in
my week. She would ask me how I was feeling and how my stress levels were,
before taking my pulses and deciding where she was going to position the
needles. I found the process riveting after having been such a skeptic.
Continuing treatment? Yes
Questions for discussion:
Which factors seem to affect how stressful the therapy was?
Would you like to try any of these therapies? Why? Why not?
The four people in the articles are primary school teachers. Do you think that is
a stressful job? Which other jobs do you think are stressful and why?
PART B
Questionnaire
1. Do you do weight training or body building?
2. Do you ever meditate?
3. Have you ever had your palm read?
4. Do you pray regularly?
5. Do you have a lucky mascot or lucky number?
6. How important is music in your life?
7. Have you ever practiced yoga?
8. Are you prone to headaches or dizzy spells?
9. Do you believe in horoscopes?
10. Have you ever had a massage?
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11. Do you take any notice of superstitions?
12. Have you ever done a high risk sport like hang-gliding or parachuting?
13. Have you ever sought spiritual advice before making a big decision?
14. Do you believe that dreams have a meaning?
15. Have you ever climbed a really high mounting?
16. Have you ever suffered from insomnia?
17. Do you believe in ghosts?
18. If you walked up six flights of stairs, would you be out of breath?
19. Have you ever followed a special diet?
20. Do you ever do relaxation exercises?
21. Have you ever tried any complementary therapies, like aromatherapy or
osteopathy?
22. Would you go to a séance if you were invited?
23. Which things most stress you out?
24. Is there any food that can’t eat for health reasons?
25. Are you allergic to anything?
26. Do you believe colours can affect your mood?
27. Do you ever loose your appetite?
28. Do you believe in life after death?
Health on holiday
Look at the words below. Tick the ones you associate with holidays.
stress
suntan improved muscle tone vitality insomnia exhaustion
tiredness depression bites relaxing high blood pressure
Here are some of the illnesses associated with holidays. What can cause them?
upset stomach sore feet broken limbs
headache bites hangover
sprained joints
cuts sunburn
Here are some remedies. Why might you take them on holiday with you?
aspirin seasickness pills insect repellent bandages antiseptic cream
brandy sun cream
elastoplasts
Can holidays really be as stressful as this article suggests?
Have you ever been on any stressful holidays?
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How to beat holiday stress
Sunshine and Sangria may sound like the ideal cure for all your ills. But
holidays can also be a source of stress – and that can affect your health. So if
you want to really relax while you’re away, follow these simple rules.
Stress is now a major health issue of the Nineties. One survey put the
annual cost to British business at $1.3 billion in absenteeism, with around 100
million workdays lost each year.
If left unchecked, stress can lead to illnesses which affect physical fitness,
such as heart disease, high blood pressure and severe aches and pains,
particularly neck and backache.
Yet although work is frequently cited as the main cause, holiday stress
can be even more damaging. The traditional summer break, regarded by most
people as the highlight of their year, can actually undermine health and put
pressure on family relationships.
Instead of tackling the problems before they go away, a lot of people
believe a holiday will work magic for them. But holidays are spent in strange
places where it may be difficult for tense people to relax.
They may feel even more distributed if they get the idea that others are
having a more wonderful time than they are. It becomes a complex vicious
circle, with people coming home more stressed than before they went away.
Holiday preparation involve a series of mini-stresses, like tying up loose
ends at work, remembering to cancel the milk and newspapers, boarding the
family pet, arranging foreign currency, last minute shopping, working out how
much spending money to take and worrying about securing the home against
burglars.
Crowded airports, delayed flights and packed hotels are also major stress
factors for most holidaymakers.
Stress experts say we should take two or three short holidays a year
instead of a long mid summer one.
Professor Gary Cooper, psychologists at the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology, says: ‘If your one holiday a year turns out
to be a disaster to you have nothing to look forward to for another year.’
‘Big mistake is to take your holidays according to the month, instead of
when your body tells you it is time to unwind. July and August can be the two
most disastrous months for holidays because there are always crowds, queues
and delays. Some people like crowds, but holidays are a time for peace, quiet
and personal space.’
15
‘Another strain is not being able to do what you want on holiday, so you
end up compromising, and no-one has a really good time. If the holiday is self
catering, a wife is going to feel stressed at having to cook, look after the
children and do all the other chores she handles at home, while her husband
goes off to play golf.’
Disappointment is very stressful. If you have high hopes of your holiday
and it lets you down, you won’t be refreshed, and may feel in need of another
holiday. It’s not going to kill you, but it won’t help you to recharge your
batteries.
‘Some people become over-anxious when they are going on holiday,’
says Professor Ben Fletcher, head of psychology at Hertfordshire University,
‘and worry about what happens if they are taken ill. So, for them, their chosen
holiday spot is not a secure place.’
‘Many couples and families are simply not used to spending a long time
with each other, and some people cannot cope with that. Others may try to
establish who is boss on holiday, while a lot of people just find it difficult to
relax.’
Which of the following words from the article collocate with one another?
Match them across the groups.
High
Family
Vicious
Crowded
Foreign
Delayed
Physical
Deeply
Recharge
Tackle
High
Fitness
Circle
Currency
Relationships
Blood pressure
Airports
Flights
Your batteries
Disappointed
Problems
Hopes
This article gives the result of a survey of exercise and health in Britain. Read
quickly through it and decide which of the headings on the right best fits the
article.
A We all need to be more active – British overweight
B Men fitter than women concludes survey
16
C Most adults too unfit for a healthy life
D British eating habits must change
Chris Mihill
Medical Correspondent
Even out of 10 men and eight out of 10 women in England do not take
exercise to keep themselves healthy, according to the largest ever survey into
activity levels.
The survey, published yesterday by the Health Education Authority and
the Sports Council interviewed 4,316 adults over the age of 16 about daily
activity including sports and recreation pastimes, with two-thirds of the group
being given laboratory assessments of fitness levels.
One third of men and two-thirds of women were unable to continue
walking at three miles an hour up a one in 20 slope without becoming
breathless and having to stop. Half of women over 55 could not sustain a
walking pace on level ground for several minutes. Among 16-24 year olds, 60
per cent of men and 91 per cent of women were below activity levels necessary
for a fit and healthy life. Thirty per cent of men and 50 per cent of women aged
65-74 had insufficient strength in their thigh muscles, making tasks such as
rising from a chair without using their arms difficult.
The survey found the fittest 10 per cent of men aged 65-74 having a
higher aerobic capacity than the least fit 10 per cent of those aged 24-34.
Dr Jacky Chambers, director of public health for the Health Education
Authority, said the survey had found 48 per cent of men and 40 per cent of
women were overweight, compared with 39 per cent and 32 per cent in 1980. If
the trend continued, most of the population would be overweight by the year
2020.
Professor Peter Fenton, head of physiology at Nottingham University,
who acted as scientific adviser to the survey, said although the levels of
unfitness came as no surprise, they had to be scientifically quantified if policies
were to be formulated to improve activity levels.
There was growing evidence that even moderate physical activity could
confer protection against heart disease and strokes as well as improving general
well-being and the quality of life.
Sir Donald Maitland, chairman of the authority, said: ‘Almost everyone in
the country can benefit from being a little more active. Just making small
changers like using the stairs instead of the lift or walking and cycling instead
17
of taking the car can help people to begin to feel the benefits of living a more
active, healthier and enjoyable life.’
The survey divided activity levels into five categories, with level five being
people who exercised vigorously at least 12 times for 20 minutes or more a
session in the previous four weeks, and level zero those who took no exercise.
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Level 0
Man (%)
14
12
23
18
16
??
Women (%)
4
10
27
25
18
??
Read the article again just to find the following information:
1 Who take more exercise, men or women?
2 Who are more overweight, men or women?
3 What percentage of the population doesn’t take enough exercise?
4 What does the article in general recommend?
5 What does the article recommend in particular?
Your thoughts
Where would you put yourself in the table in the article?
List the sporting and non-sporting activities you could do to be fitter. What
stops you doing them?
PART C
Match the headings with the advices. Some advices are serious, the other are
jokes.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Water while you wait
Musical relief
Empty your brain
You mind
Unblocking your emotional flow
18
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
Skip to it
Stressed out?
Getting rid of the clutter in your life
Stress in the working place
Instant air conditioning
Colour your thoughts
New beginnings
1. You can never drink enough water, so keep a bottle of filtered water in
your car and drink it while you wait at red lights. This is an especially
useful health tip for people who spend a lot of time on the road.
2. Do you find your emotional flow blocked by unwanted feelings? Unblock
your flow by asking a friend to be your feelings facilitator. If your friend
refuses, release your emotions by screaming loudly for ten minutes.
Afterwards, write a loving letter to your friend, explaining why you feel
let down.
3. Increasing your level of fitness can often seem difficult and impractical,
but it doesn’t have to be. Skipping is one of the quickest ways of getting
up your heart rate, and the best thing is, you don’t need lots of time, space
or expressive clothes and equipment.
4. Break through to a whole new life in less than a day. Here’s how. Buy ten
self help books. Take them home. Put them in a pile on the floor. Sit on
them. Watch television.
5. Whenever you feel stressed, take a few minutes to think of a relaxing
colour such as pale blue, white mauve or green. Bathe yourself in this
colour in your mind and then tackle your stress. See how much calmer
you feel.
6. Your mind is like the surface of a lake. It is calm and smooth until
anxious thoughts start ruffling the surface. Drain the lake. Empty your
mind. When there is no water, there can be no anxiety. The empty head is
the beginning of wisdom.
7. If you don’t have air conditioning in your car, don’t despair. Place an
icepack or block of ice in an ice chest on the back seat of your car. Leave
the lid off. The ice will gradually cool the air, which will make those
long, balmy drives bearable.
8. Just like a dustbin, the brain can overflow with unwanted rubbish. Make
an effort to empty your brain of all thoughts for five minutes three times a
day. Visualize travelling through a white tunnel in which you leave
behind all your unwanted thoughts and feelings.
19
9. When you are experiencing stress in the workplace, there is nothing more
smoothing than a herbal tea. Make the tea in a large mug, add a generous
spoonful of organic honey, and pour the contents over the desktop PC of
the person who’s been annoying you.
10. Go outside, lie down on your back, spread your arms and legs in an
X-shape and stare up at the sky. Stay in that position until you can feel
your connection to the infinite. If you hear the rumble of traffic, you may
be lying in the middle of a road. Ask the infinite if you can call back later.
11. Make space for yourself by getting rid of the clutter in your life. Throw
away your unwanted clothes. Burn your old files. Clear out the rubbish in
your attic. Dispose of your grandmother.
12. Music can bring calm and peacefulness to anxious moments. And the
beauty is, it can travel with you. If you find music soothing, bring a
walkman with you on public transport, while waiting in queues, or when
you’re out walking or jogging.
Changing bodies
Discuss the following questions in pairs.
Do you think the human body has changed over the last 100 years?
How have these changes affected us?
Read the texts
Text 1
British teenagers are towering over their parents because the length of the
nation’s legs has grown, according to new research. Doctors, statisticians and
cloth designers have long known that the population in general is getting taller,
but the study reveals for the last time that the increase in height is almost
entirely due to longer legs. The extra growth, which has taken place in
generation, could lead to improvements in the performance of athletes and force
the makers of clothes and cars to redesign their products.
(2) The change is thought to be the result of better diet between birth and
three years, when a child’s legs grow faster than the upper body. Experts from
the Institute of Child Health in London, Maidstone hospital and the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine measured the legs of 3000 young
people and compared the results with data gathered from 1970. They found that
the average 16 year old girl today is 1.02in taller than she would have been in
1970 and 0.98in of that increase was due to her legs. The average 18 year old
20
boys has grown overall by 1.5in, of which 1.1in is the result of longer legs.
Girls and boys have usually stopped growing by 16 and 18 respectively.
(3) The differences we found were significant because they occurred
within a single generation, said Dr Alan Dangour who led the study which is to
be published this week in the Annals of Human Biology. ‘They show that
almost all the additional height is in the legs.’ Experts believe the change in
growth is due to improved diet, particularly during a child’s early years. If a
child’s growth is stunted by poor diet during that period, they will not be able to
make it up later and so will have shorter legs as an adult.
(4) Such large increases in leg length over so short a period mean that
guidelines used by doctors to check that children are growing at a normal rate
are having to be redrawn. Some British families will not be surprised by the
results however. Mikayla Hulme, 20, form Bramhall, Cheshire, is 6ft tall and
her 47in legs are among the longest in Britain. According to the Guinness Book
of Records, the longest legs in the world are British. The 49.8in limbs belong to
Sam Stacey, 18, from Doncaster.
(5) At present, legs make up about 48% of the average person’s total
height, but the new data suggests this is likely to rise to about 50%. This
material will be eagerly investigated by clothing designers, who are already
struggling to keep up with the pace of change in body shape.
(6) The news that long legs, among the most coveted of physical
characteristics, are becoming more common, will comes as a welcome relief.
Previous surveys have made depressing reading, emphasizing that British men
are becoming increasingly pear-shaped.
(7) Car manufacturers are also having to make allowances for drivers’
long legs. Experts at companies such as Jaguar are using sophisticated computer
software to model changers in body size. Because cars could be on the road for
20 or 20 years, the cockpit of new models are designed slightly larger than
necessary for the first owner, but with room to grow into.
(8) Having longer legs may be an advantage to Britain’s sprinters and
basketball players, but other athletes are likely to be disappointed. ‘If you are
sprinting distance up to 400m it’s an advantage to be tall, mainly because of
stride distance, but when you go over that it has no bearing at all,’ said Christer
Rolf, professor of sports medicine at Sheffield University.
Text 2
The proportion of left handers in Britain has increased more than four
times over the past 100 years and may rise further, possibly bringing a surge of
21
musical, mathematical and sporting prodigies. Some 11% of women and 13%
of men are now left handed compared with only 3% of those born before 1910,
according to new research.
(2) Professor Chris McManus, of University College London, says the
rise is partly because left handers suffered severe discrimination in the 18 th and
19th centuries, meaning they had fewer children. Since left handedness is partly
hereditary, their numbers decreased until the early 20 th century. As
discrimination disappeared, their numbers rose.
(3) Other research suggests the number could rise even further as
women’s average age of childbearing increases. Older mothers are more likely
to have left handed children.
(4) Until the middle of the 20th century, prejudice against southpaws was
so prevalent that teachers often tried to beat it out of children. Such
discrimination continued into adulthood. On average, left handers married less
and had 25% fewer children than right handed people.
(5) The word left has often been used abusively. It is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon for weak and the negative connotations of words such as sinister
and gauche from the Latin and French respectively, are long established. By
contrast, dexterous, from the Latin for right, has positive connotations.
(6) As recently as the 1960s children’s hands were tied behind their backs
in class to teach them not to write with the left one or they were rapped on the
knuckles if they tried to do so. ‘It’s a right handers’ world ranging from fridge
doors to a pair of scissors handlers,’ said Gerald Kaufman, the Labour MP and
chairman of the Commons culture select committee. ‘We are a persecuted
minority. As a left hander I have been subject to antisinistralism.
(7) Some researchers suggest that left handed people are, on average,
more creative or intelligent. McManus says the real differences are more subtle:
the brains of left handers are structured in ways that give rise to a greater range
of abilities.
(8) Famous left handers have included Julius Ceasar, Leonardo da Vinci,
Napoleon and his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais, and Jimi Hendrix, who
played a right handed guitar upside down with his left hand. A similar
technique was used by Sir Paul McCartney’s spokesman, said: ‘Paul was asked
to play a rock classic. He picked up the nearest guitar and played it upside
down. Lennon was particularly impressed and Paul got his place in the band.
Read the article and find words and phrases which mean the following:
a) The act of moving or handling something in an awkward way (paragraph 1)
b) Changers in body (paragraph 1)
22
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
Able to use your hands in a skilful way (paragraph 1)
Informally called another name (paragraph 2)
The same for two people (paragraph 3)
Identify or set apart from others (paragraph 3)
Enter data into an electrical item (paragraph 4)
A finger, thumb or toe (paragraph 4)
Discuss the following questions.
Which article is the most/least interesting?
Can you think of a suitable heading for each article?
Can you relate to any of the articles? e.g. Are you left-handed? Do you send a
lot of text messages?
Which article is most relevant to your country?
Can you think of any other physical changes that are happening, or might
happen in the future, as a result of the way we live today?
PART D
The nation’s health and well-being
For most of the century the state in Britain has recognized it has a
responsibility to ensure that nobody should be without the basic necessities of
life as a result of poverty, unemployment, old age or sickness. After the Second
World War the government created health and welfare services which have
been the core of the welfare state. The system has grown over the years, funded
mainly by tax, but also through National Insurance contributions, compulsory
payments made by all earners and their employers. These contributions
guarantee a small pension on retirement (now fixed at the age of 65, except for
women born before April 1950, who still qualify at the age of 60), a period of
income support after becoming unemployed, and a pension if unable to work
because of sickness.
By the end of the 1970s these services were becoming increasingly costly
and bureaucratic. During the 1980s the Conservatives decided upon major
reforms, to use less money but to use it with more discrimination. Reforming
the welfare system has proved more complex than expected, and it still suffers
from serious problems, some arising from the very attempts at reform.
23
The national health service
The national health service (NHS) was established in 1948 to provide
high-quality free medical treatment in hospital and outside. Its fundamental
principle was equitable access for all, regardless of wealth.
The system rests on a network of family doctors, or GPs (general
practitioners) as they are usually known, with attached nurses and other
community based staff. People may register with any GP they choose, as long
as the GP is willing to register them. A GP with a full register might refuse
extra patients. Beyond the group practice lies the whole arrangement of
hospitals and community health services, for example health visitors who
monitor the health of vulnerable categories of people, such as mothers and
newborn babies, or the old and infirm.
GPs remain the backbone of the NHS, dealing with the vast majority of
ailments, and referring those requiring more specialist diagnosis to a hospital,
or notifying the health visitor of those who need to be monitored at home.
(Many other industrialized countries lost their first line of generalist family
doctors during the post war years.) Except in an emergency, it is normally the
GP who refers a patient to hospital for more specialist care, or for an operation.
Most GPs have about 2000 people on their register, some of whom will hardly
ever visit the GPs surgery. Others may be regular callers. A GP is often
expected to offer pastoral guidance as well as medical skill. On a normal day a
GP might see about 35 patients in surgery, and make up to 10 home visits to
those who feel too ill to attend surgery. The strength of the system lies in a
good working knowledge of the families and individuals in the catchment area,
their housing, lifestyle and employment conditions. Good GPs build up an
intimate knowledge of their parish, and take into account not merely the
specific complaint of a patient but also the patient’s general conditions of life.
Almost all GPs now operate in small groups of perhaps three or more,
employing nurses and other professionals such as physiotherapists or dieticians,
so that they can share the administrative load and also offer a wider service.
The NHS is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Health. Until
1995 England was divided administratively into 14 regional health authorities,
usually based upon a university medical school, each authority was subdivided
into between 10 and 15 districts, and each district was based on one large
hospital but also included other hospitals. Since 1996 the regional health
authorities have been reduced to eight. Similar authorities or boards exist in
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
24
The entire system is free, with the exception of prescribed drugs, dental
treatment, sight tests and spectacles, for which there are standard charges,
except for old pensioners, children under 16 and some other categories for
whom some of these items are free. Anyone entering hospital for surgery will
receive all their treatment while in hospital, including drugs, free of charge.
Over 80 per cent of the costs of the NHS are funded out of the income tax
system. The balance is paid for out of National Insurance contributions and
from the prescription charges mentioned above.
On the whole the system has worked extremely well, providing care at
lower per capita cost than almost any other industrialized country. Foreign
health economists admire the NHS above all for its GP system. GPs control
referrals to hospital, and therefore costs, and also provide a local register of the
population whereby one may engage in all sorts of targeted health
measurements, including vaccination and immunization. They also admire the
NHS for its treatment for all, regardless of the ability to pay; tax-based funding
relating the service to need rather than to income. Finally, they admire its
relative efficiency – a characteristic that would surprise the patients in most
British hospital waiting rooms. They have been critical of its lack of consumer
choice, and believe that British doctors should delegate more tasks to nurses,
and nurses more tasks to order lies.
The cost of providing a service that employs just under one million staff
has always been enormous. By the late 1980s, the health and linked social
services budget reached one fifth of all public spending, two thirds allocated to
hospital and community services and one third to family practitioner services:
the GPs, dentists and pharmacists. There is little flexibility for reformers, since
over 70 per cent of the budget goes on staff costs.
During the 1980s the government tried to improve efficiency and cut
costs. Hospitals reduced the average patient stay by 20 per cent, and increased
the number of in and day patients by a quarter. For the NHS such stringency
was uncomfortable, for Britain already spent proportionately less on its health
service than any other of the main 20 industrialized countries, with the
exception of New Zealand, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
By the mid 1980s the annual financial demand on the NHS was growing
by 2 per cent above inflation. One factor was the aging population, possibly
accounting for an annual 1 per cent increase in costs. There will be over half a
million people aged over 90 by 2001. Every person over the age of 75 costs the
NHS seven times more than one of working age. In addition, medical advances
were adding about 0.5 per cent annually onto NHS costs. In the winter of 1987 -
25
8 the NHS moved into a state of crises with the sudden closure of 4000 beds all
over the country.
So the Conservative government carried out the most fundamental
reforms of the NHS since its foundation. In keeping with its free market
philosophy, it sought a demand - led system which would get as close as
possible to consumer choice, and would compel health practitioners to account
for the cost of the treatments they prescribed. As long as doctors did not have to
face the financial cost of their own work, it was argued, they would not make
the hard choices necessary for maximum efficiency. Consequently two
categories of purchaser were created: the local health authorities and volunteer
GP group practices. They purchased hospital services according to which
hospitals seemed to offer the best value for money. It was believed that such a
competitive regime would force hospitals to be ultra-efficient in order to attract
custom. Purchases were free to choose contract providers outside their own
health authority area. Furthermore, hospitals were free to opt out of local health
authority control to become NHS Trusts, autonomous and directly funded
hospitals selling their services to GPs and health authorities.
The internal-market philosophy had two inexorable effects. First, it was
inevitable that a competitive market would produce both winners and losers,
and that the winners would tend to be the best-equipped or best-located
hospitals that were not overwhelmed with high local levels of sickness. Also,
not every GP practice was given purchasing powers, and by 1996 only about 50
per cent had become fund holders. In order to qualify for fundholding status, a
GP needed to have a register of 3000 patients, except in certain rural areas.
Fundholding proved controversial. Some doctors welcomed the powers it
offered, both for their patients and themselves. Other regretted the greatly
increased administrative burden. Meanwhile those GPs without fundholding
powers were unable to exercise choice. They found themselves compelled to
belong to a market system but with the health authority determining where their
patients would get treatment. Where health authorities were under acute
financial pressure it was inevitable that the cheapest hospital treatment was the
most attractive. Thus a two-tier system, one tier superior to the other, was
unmistakenly emerging, contradicting the original NHS ethic.
Another area for concern was the loss of public accountability. The
government created a Health Executive to manage the new service. This quango
was answerable only to the Secretary of State for Health. This loss of
accountability was also true at a local level, where elected representatives of the
community were no longer part of the local health authority. The other obvious
defects were the burgeoning of a health bureaucracy to deal with the new
26
internal market at all levels, the huge transaction costs of running a contract
market, and the severely reduced ability of health authorities to plan strategy
when their own powers were largely limited to that of purchasers.
Yet there were also gains. One of the main observable achievements of
the new system was to halve the waiting times for hospital operations in its first
five years. GP practices were also encouraged to widen the services that they
were able to perform, including minor surgery, as a more effective primary
health care service that could significantly reduce the number of referrals to
hospital.
By 1996 the HNS was again in crisis, partly because of inadequate
funding. The annual budget by 1996 was in the order of 42000 million pounds,
but tight funding once again led to the closure of wards, and waiting lists again
began to grow. One of the problems was that the new system reduced the
flexibility of the health authorities to switch money between one need and
another. The creation of self-governing trusts, for example, locked up capital
investment in relatively small pockets. But it was also true that the annual
increase in the cost of the NHS had risen to almost 3 per cent before inflation,
by 1996.
A Private Finance Initiative to attract commercial enterprises to build and
own new hospitals which could then be leased to the local health authority for
periods of 25 or even 60 years, shows little sign of working. The scheme was
intended to alleviate the government’s short term difficulties. But health
authorities feared being locked into long-term contracts from which they had no
escape. Moreover, no private investor was likely to put the health of the
community before its own commercial interest.
By 1996 the NHS faced a serious staffing crises. This was the result of
several factors: a miscalculation over medical school enrolment in the 1980s
that led to a 15 per cent fall in trainee doctors between 1988 and 1994; a greater
proportion of women health professionals and of these an unexpectedly high
number wishing to work part- rather than full-time; low morale among GPs,
leading to many older ones taking early retirement. Finally, there was the quite
unforeseen impact of stricter immigration laws introduced in 1985. Twenty five
per cent of GPs and many junior hospital doctors are from abroad. The change
of law in 1985 brought this source of expertise to a halt.
It conveys the idea of the difficulties Labour inherited in 1997 that two
thirds of the health authorities entered the new financial year (which always
starts on 6 April), four weeks before Labour’s victory, already in debt. Labour
faced the immediate task of finding sufficient money to resolve the crisis it
inherited. It also had to decide what to do with the internal market to which it
27
was opposed. Rather than subject the NHS to yet more revolutionary changes,
Labour decided to modify the system in the hope of retaining its virtues but
eliminating its defects. It therefore proposed increasing and restricting the
purchasing power of general practice. It proposed to abandon fundholding by
individual group practices, and to group up to approximately 50 GPs serving up
to 100000 people, and to give them about 90 per cent of the NHS budget. These
groups would choose the best local balance between community nursing (which
keeps people out of hospital), direct primary care including the subsidy for
prescribed medicines, and referral to hospital (the least cost effective opinion).
It was hoped this would achieve a real shift from institution-centered to personcentered care, and foster strategic planning at the local level. Each group would
still make service agreements with local hospitals. The reduced number of
health authorities would receive less than 10 per cent of the NHS budget, and
use it for highly specialist treatments like heart transplants. Labour hopes that
this will achieve yet more administrative savings while making the NHS more
responsive to community needs.
Britain has one of the highest levels of coronary disease and strokes in the
industrialized world, practically among those under 65 years of age. Between
1990 and 1994 the NHS was able to achieve a reduction of 19 per cent in deaths
from these causes. But there is a long way to go to bring it into line with other
industrialized countries. The British rate of premature deaths from this cause is,
for example, three times higher than that in France. It has also been a priority to
reduce the mortality rate due to cancers. The NHS has been less successful in
some other areas. Take smoking, which accounts for 110 000 premature deaths
and 50 million lost working days each year, and cost the NHS 610 million
pounds annually in treatment. The level of adult smoking currently is about 33
per cent. While smoking among the adult population is slowly falling, it is
increasing among 11-15 year olds, particularly among girls. The level in this
age band in 1994 stood at 13 per cent of girls and 10 per cent of boys.
Like much of the industrialized world, obesity is a growing problem.
despite health warnings and advice on diet, obesity in Britain has doubled in the
decade 1986 – 96, with 17 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women now
clinically obese.
Excessive drinking is also a concern, with an increase in alcohol
consumption among women, a symptom of the growing part played by women
outside the home and the greater stress this implies. One million people have a
serious drink problem, but the disturbing feature is the peak age for alcoholic
consumption, in contrast with half a century ago when few young men drank.
28
Britain also lives with a potential time bomb cause by mad cow disease,
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The future incidence of the human
form of BSE, a strain of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) cannot be predicted,
and 15 years may pass before the scale of human infection is fully known.
Social security and social services
Although the welfare state was created after the Second World War, its origins
are a good deal older. In 1907 a reforming Liberal government provided free
school meals in its schools. The following year it introduced an old age pension
scheme, simplicity accepting responsibility to protect the old from destitution.
In 1909 it opened labour exchanges where the unemployed could look for jobs.
Two years later it made all working people pay national insurance to provide a
fund for those unable to earn either through sickness or unemployment. Thus
the crucial principle of the state’s obligation to assist the weak in society was
firmly established.
The cost of that principle, however, is potentially enormous. The number
of people dependent upon social security rose sharply during the 1980s. this
was mainly because of the rapid increase in the proportion of the population
over the age of 65, who consumed 44 per cent of social security expenditure.
But there was also an increase in the unemployed and in dependent singleparent families, partly the result of Conservative policy. Ironically, its idea of
minimum government created maximum dependency as the government ceased
to protect jobs in what it saw as inefficient or obsolete industries. A ruthless
free-market economy led many middle aged people to take early treatment,
either willingly or unwillingly. By the 1990s barely half the males aged 60-64
years old were still in work compared with 90 per cent in the 1960s.
Furthermore, 25 per cent of males and 50 per cent of females aged 55-59 no
longer worked. This reduced the number of contributors to social security and
added to its consumers.
Repeated attempts were made during the 1980s and 1990s to reduce the
government burden. The Social Security Act of 1986 sought to reduce costs and
target assistance more effectively. It encouraged people to move away from the
State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) into private pension schemes.
Because of the progressive increase in the proportion of elderly people, the
government feared the state would be unable to honour its commitments. The
Social Security Act also tried to slim down its system of help to particular
categories of people. It refused to recognize those under 25 as homeless, since it
argued that people under this age were still the responsibility of their parents.
29
This contradicted the government argument that people should be willing to
leave home in order to find work. It also ignored the fact that a substantial
number of young homeless were feeling family conflict, or had been brought up
in council care. Sixteen year old school leavers become particularly vulnerable
since they were not eligible for unemployment benefit until they become
eighteen. A growing number ended up sleeping rough.
The reduction of income support or housing benefit undoubtedly put
pressure on some to seek employment more actively, as the government
intended. The legislation was supposed to end forever the idea that some people
could be better off without a job than they would be by going to work. Family
credit, which sought to top up low pay, was meant to fulfill this intention, but
failed to rescue many people from the poverty trap. This is well described by
one opponent of family credit: ‘Family credit is bad news, I’m afraid… many
families will be getting more benefit, but you will be trapped them in poverty
because each time they earn an extra pound in net income they will lose 70p in
family credit and, taking housing benefit into account, they will lose up to 97p
in the pound.’
On the other hand, from 1993 the Conservative government provided help
for those who were not institutionalized but cared for by their families at home.
The new policy placed responsibility on local authorities to assess the needs of
dependent categories and to provide appropriate assistance in a flexible way.
This proved better for the invalid, better for the carer (many of whom in the
past suffered great stress), and better for government, since it led to a long term
saving on institutional care.
Labour inherited a major unresolved problem. By the mid-1990 half the
households in Britain were on some kind of means-tested benefit. It wanted to
avoid raising taxes for extra funding, and adopted a fresh approach, based on
the principle of a twin responsibility, that of the community to help those who
fall on hard times, and the responsibility of all individuals to make their own
provision for foreseeable extra costs, for example pension, social and nursing
care for the elderly. That implied a mixture of public (community) and private
(individual) funding provision. When it took office it examined ways to make
private provision compulsory. Besides wishing to reduce the community
burden, Labour also wished to end the enormous waste of young lives through
unemployment. In the words of Frank Field MP, Labour’s leading expert on
social security, Unemployment is both destroying self respect and teaching that
the only way to survive is to cheat. Means tested benefits paralyze self-help,
discourage self-improvement and tax honesty. It destroys social solidarity and
polarizes society between rich and poor. Labour began to assist some of the one
30
million young single parents to find work that would guarantee substantially
extra money each week.
Social security is provided by central government, but social services are
almost entirely the responsibility for services to the elderly, for example
institutional accommodation (only about 5 per cent of those over 65 live in
institutional accommodation) and support services to encourage them to
continue to live at home. Such support includes the home delivery of hot meals
(meals on wheels), domestic help, laundry services and adaptations in the home,
for example fixing handrails in the bathroom. Most of these services are either
free or heavy subsidies. Many of the 6.5 million who are physically and
mentally disabled enjoy similar support, and also counseling on the personal
and social problems arising from their disability. Residential accommodation is
available for the severely disabled, and for the mentally ill. A fundamental
principle, however, has been to encourage, wherever possible, the disabled or ill
to stay within the community, rather than enter institutions. Although this
sounds self-evidently sensible, in practice it has proved controversial since
many of those mentally ill actually needed the care of an institution, and ended
up sleeping on the streets as the ultimate result of this policy.
The local authority also has social welfare responsibilities for those with
particular problems, such as single parents and children at risk of injury, neglect
or abuse at home. During the 1980s, for example, local authorities became
much more aware of the sexual abuse of children, something which had
previously been thought of as rarity. It slowly recognized that possibly 8 per
cent of children suffer some kind of sexual abuse were related. In certain cases
the local authority is empowered to remove children from home if they are
considered to be at risk. Local authorities are also required to provide child day
care facilities.
Local authorities could not possibly carry out these responsibilities
without the help of voluntary social services. In fact, over 65,000 registered
voluntary organizations exist to provide particular forms of help. A few are
known nationally, serving, for example, the blind, or those with cerebral palsy
and other specific problems. The vast majority, however, operate on a local
level, supported by volunteers.
In London Borough of Richmond, for example, the Vineyard Project
provides a day centre in a church basement, with activities for a wide range of
people who require community support. Some have had mental illness, others
are homeless or feel alienated in some way. They have somewhere to go where
they are welcome. Nearby the Single Persons’ Emergency Accommodation in
Richmond, provides accommodation for up to three weeks for those stranded
31
without a home. It can accommodate 12 people, providing them with a base
from which to seek a job and to seek somewhere to rent. Its wardens assist in
the search for long term accommodation. Such is its success, that many of those
who pass through SPEAR continue to use it afterwards as a social centre on the
evenings. Voluntary support on a daily basis is provided by the churches of the
locality. Both the Vineyard Project, and its daughter project, SPEAR, only
begun as a result of the concern and determination of local people. Each year
they must find the money and the volunteers to keep them going. This is the
kind of thing being done all over Britain by many of these 65,000 voluntary
organizations.
During the 1980s such voluntary efforts come under greatly increased
pressure. The government believed the community, i.e. the churches and
voluntary organizations, should shoulder more of the welfare burden, while its
social security policy also resulted in increased homelessness and poverty for
certain categories. Organizations like SPEAR came into being to respond to a
growing need. It remains to be seen whether Labour will be able to meet the
demands of the needy more effectively.
Topics for discussion
What are the strengths of GP system?
What are the main reasons for the steep rise in the cost of the NHS?
What reforms did the Conservative government introduce for hospitals, GPs
and regional health authorities, and what do you think were the virtues and
defects of these reforms?
Which of these things are already possible? Which will soon be possible?
a) The cloning of plants/animals/human cells/human organs
b) Kidney transplants/ear transplants/head transplants/the transplant of
animal organs into human beings
c) The replacement of hips, elbows and other joints
d) An effective vaccine to eliminate AIDS/cancer/tuberculosis
e) Treatment to prevent the spread of AIDS/cancer in the patient’s body
f) A successful cure for AIDS/cancer
g) A cure for baldness/colour-blindness/snoring/the common cold
h) A cure for deafness and blindness
i) The implanting of microchips into animal’s brains/the human brain
32
Read the text and answer the questions.
a) Will it ever be possible to produce exact copies of human beings?
b) Why do some people criticize the idea of head transplants?
c) What are the disadvantages of the new drugs that have been produced to
treat AIDS?
d) What are the possible uses for microchips implanted into the human
brain?
Five key questions about modern medical science
What exactly is cloning and do I need to worry about it?
Cloning is making a copy of a plant or animal by taking a cell from it and
developing it artificially. There is nothing new about this – plants were cloned
in Ancient Greece over 2,000 years ago, and the first cloned frog appeared in
1968. But interest in cloning grew in 1997 when Dr Ian Wilmut and his
colleagues from Edinburgh University announced the birth of the world’s first
cloned sheep, Dolly (some people pointed out that since all sheep look identical
anyway, how could anyone tell?) However, many people were worried: what if
the same techniques were used for some rich, elderly person to reinvent
himself; or if an evil dictator produced hundreds of copies of himself in order to
take over the world; or grieving relatives used cloning to bring their loved ones
back to life?
The truth is that there is no chance that any copy of a human being would
be identical either physically or mentally, any more than children are identical
to their parents. The possible benefits of cloning, however, are numerous, for
artificially producing human tissues and organs for transplants, and for
preserving endangered animal species to name but two. Biologists have already
genetically engineered headless frogs so it may in future be possible to clone
headless humans whose organs could be used for transplants. But would we
want to?
How can transplants from other animals help humans?
In one famous case, a British girl born with a rare bone condition that left
her only one ear, had a new one grown for her at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Infirmary in the USA. By taking cells from her existing ear and transplanting
them onto the back of a mouse, scientists grew her another one, which could
then be transplanted back. American scientists have also used sheep blood cells
to make a universal blood which could be given to any patient, regardless of
33
their group while British scientists are close to manufacturing artificial blood,
with the aid of milk from genetically altered cows and sheep. Scientists have
also transplanted monkey’ heads on to new bodies, paving the way for head
transplants to be performed on humans. The monkeys were able to eat, drink
and sleep normally. Robert White, head of neurosurgery at Case Western
Reserve University in Ohio said the operation could be available to humans
within thirty years, but the experiment has been condemned as an example of
the disastrous route Western medicine is taking, in which prolonging individual
life takes precedence over everything.
Are we any nearer a cure for cancer or AIDS?
Although a definitive cure for cancer seems as elusive as ever, scientists
have produced an impressive list of things that might help prevent it: green tea,
green salad, brazil nuts, spinach, kidneys, mushrooms, and even lipstick. And
although no cure has yet been found for AIDS, extraordinary advances have
been made in its treatment. Drugs called protease inhibitors can halt and
perhaps even reverse the progress of the virus in the patient’s body, so it may be
that AIDS will soon no longer be an incurable disease. The problem is the
expense: a course of treatment costs many thousands of dollars, and so will do
nothing to stop the epidemic in poor countries, where the money would be
better spent on preventing malaria, cholera and tuberculosis.
So what can we cure nowadays?
If you’re a grey-haired, balding, colour-blinded man who snores, there
may be good news on the horizon. A doctor in England has announced that by
adding a small amount of pigment to an ordinary pair of glasses he has been
able to cure colour-blindness (though he admits he has no idea why it works!).
A drug has been tasted on dogs which stimulates muscles in their upper airway,
thus stopping them from snoring. If it works for them, why not on humans? To
prevent grey hair, a special shampoo has been developed that fools pigment
cells into producing melanin, which gives hair its colour, and there may now
even be a cure for baldness: a pill which reduces levels of the hormone
dihydrotesterone, although there may be a less desirable side effect of a
decreased interest in sex.
Why would anyone want to implant a computer chip into a human brain?
Could it be possible for all the things you need to know to be implanted
into your brain on a silicon chip? Doctors at the Max Planck Institute for
Biochemistry in Germany claim to have found a way of connecting nerve cells
34
to a silicon chip. Such implants – which have so far only been successful in rats –
could be used to restore vision to people who have become blind or repair nerve
damage after a stroke, but also to increase human intelligence. In theory, chips
could be programmed to include all the knowledge a human being is likely to
need during their life, so eliminating the need for school work!
The stories describe difficult cases of medical ethics. Read them quickly and
match these titles to the stories.
Whose baby?
Choosing the sex of your child
Drug to prevent ageing
1…
Treatments now exist which can decide the sex of the baby according to the
parents’ wishes, but most doctors continue to feel that whether the child is a
boy or a girl is a decision best left to nature. Mr. and Mrs Schwarz are a married
couple (a)… They have five healthy children – all (b)… – and are a happy,
unified family. They are now planning a sixth child, but they are desperate to
have a (c)… this time. Mrs Schwarz says she would rather have an abortion
than have (d)…; Mr Schwarz is equally insistent, ‘What possible harm can
there be in granting us our dearest wish to have (e)…?’ he asks. However,
allowing parents to choose sex of their children could affect the delicate balance
of the sexes. It is estimated that (f)… of parents in the West would prefer a
(g)…, with serious social consequences.
QUESTION: should the Schwarzes be granted their wish, or should nature be
allowed to take its course?
2…
Scientists at the University of Texas (USA) believe they have discovered
the key to stopping the ageing process – a simple chemical called telomerase
which is produced naturally by (a)… Telomerase enables human cells to divide
and replace themselves, but after a certain age the body stops producing it and
begins to age. An American drug company has now applied for a license
to produce a drug containing large quantities of telomerase which, it is claimed,
will enable takers to live for up to (b)…years. No harmful side effects have
been identified after (c)…years of laboratory tests, though some scientists
are concerned that there may be a small risk of (d)…With (e)…of the
35
population of the USA already over sixty years old, the implications for the
worlds of health and work are enormous.
QUESTION: do you allow the drug company to produce the drug Telozan?
3…
In 1996, the papers were full of the story of L., an (a)…girl paid by a Mr and
Mrs R., a (b)…couple, to be a surrogate mother for their baby, using (c)…eggs
and sperm donated by Mr R. In return for bearing it and then handing it over to
its new parents, L. received $ (d)… All seemed well until (e)…after the birth of
baby M., when L. refused to hand over the child, claiming that Mr and Mrs R.
were not suitable parents and that, as the child’s natural mother, she had the
right to keep her. Although she had no (f)… L. claimed she would work to
repay the money (which she had spent) rather than hand the baby back. The Rs
said they had no interest in the money, but only wanted their baby, and took L.
to court to get the child back. The judge ruled in their favour and, at the age of
(g)…, baby M. went to live with the Rs L. was not allowed to have any contact
with the child which was legally not hers.
QUESTION: did the judge make the right decision?
PART E
Recognize feelings
Look at the extract. It discusses why we feel feelings. Read the extract through
quickly to see which of the following its authors would agree with:
Our feelings are caused by:
our bodies
our memories
events
social factors
all of these
Here are ten key words from the extract. Find them in the text, and then in
groups explain their meanings to one another.
1 physiological
2 adrenaline
3 flushed
4 sweaty
5 placebo (line 15)
6 saline (line 16)
7 stooge (line 24)
8 euphoric
9 trigger off
10 take into account
36
Two psychologists called Schachter and Singer performed a series of
experiments designed to investigate just how much physiological changes do
matter in emotions, and also how much our knowledge of what’s going on is
important.
In 1962, they performed experiments that involved injecting people with
adrenaline, and nothing how they reacted. They had three groups of subjects.
One group was given an injection of adrenaline and told what it was, and the
sort of reactions that they could expect from it. (A flushed face, slight
tremblings, and sweaty hands.) A second group was also given an adrenaline
injection, but they were misinformed about the symptoms: they were told that it
might give them a slight headache, or other things like that. The third group had
a placebo – that is, they were given a harmless injection of saline solution,
which wouldn’t have any effect at all. So this would show up any imaginary
effects from being given what they thought was a drug.
Schachter and Singer told their students that it would take some time for
the injection to have its full effect, and asked them to wait in a waiting room in
the meantime. In the waiting room, each subject (they were tested individually)
met a stooge, who said that he was also waiting for the second part of the
experiment. The stooge was really an actor, who was instructed to act either
happy, or angry. With the angry condition, he would become increasingly
impatient, complaining about the experimenters and the waiting period, and
eventually showing every sign of becoming really angry. With the happy
condition, the stooge would appear euphoric, making jokes, and playing with
paper aero planes.
Schachter and Singer found that the mood that their real subject fell into
matched the mood of the stooge. If the stooge was angry, the subjects would get
angry; but if the stooge was euphoric, the subjects, too, would start to become
happier. So it seemed from these findings, that the emotions people experience
can depend on the social factors around them.
But another thing which Schachter and Singer found, was that the degree
to which their subjects reacted, depended on the injections that they had been
given. The subjects who had been given adrenaline, and misinformed about its
effects, reacted very extremely – they either became very angry, or very happy.
But the ones who had had adrenaline, and been told what changers they could
expect, didn’t react so strongly, nor did the control group who had been given
the placebo injection. So, from this, Schachter and Singer developed a theory
about how emotions seemed to depend on both cognitive factors – the way that
they understood their social surroundings; and on physiological factors - the
physical changers caused by the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
37
From their studies, then, Schachter and Singer’s theory was developed as
follows: a stimulus triggers off the physiological response, and at the same
time, the stimulus is interpreted in the brain, taking into account previous
experiences of similar situations. The brain produces the actual emotion that the
subject experiences, through cognitive factors, and the ANS produces the
degree to which that emotion is felt. So emotion is a mixture of both cognitive
and physiological factors.
Although criticism can be made of this study, it does seem to be likely
that both cognitive and physiological factors play their part in the emotions that
we feel. One theory argues that, in fact, we can divide the influences on
emotion three groups of factors, and that we receive information from each
group. When we put all the information together, then this makes up the
emotion that we experience.
The three groups of factors are: physiological factors, like the emergency
reaction; stimulus factors – the actual event which has caused us to react; and
cognitive factors in the form of the memories we have of previous events and
experiences.
Read the text in detail to find the best answer to the following:
1 The subjects in the experiment
A all knew the drugs would alter their moods
B were all told the truth
C were all treated in different ways
D received one of three different kinds of treatment
2 In the waiting room
A each group met a different stooge
B the stooge behaved angrily or happily with each subject
C the stooge and the subject both had to wait
D the subjects had to wait a long time
3 From their experiment Schachter and Singer concluded that
A our emotions are very dependent on who we are with
B our physical state strongly affects out emotions
C interpretation of a stimulus follows a physiological response
D our nervous system determines how much we feel
4From the extract we can conclude that its authors
A fully agree with Schachter and Singer conclusions
38
B thought their experiment was poorly designed
C developed Schachter and Singer theories
D believe Schachter and Singer’s theories were probably correct
Your thoughts
Is it wrong to mislead subjects in experiments?
From your own experience do you agree with the conclusions drawn in the
extract?
Complete this table where possible
Noun
happiness
delight
Adjective
happy
Adverb
happily
Verb
----------
determined
irritatedly
desperation
bore
guilty
frustration
contentment
fright
Read the article in detail and list the argument it contains for suggesting that
male and female thought processes are different.
Men, the emotional sex
Ever since Neanderthal man evolves into a creature with feelings, he has
been trying to conceal them. But hiding the giveaway clues isn’t easy. The
smile that doesn’t follow trough to the eyes, the hint of a quaver in the voice,
the merest suggestion of a furrowed brow – all conspire against people who
don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves…and society has always believed that
when it comes to picking up such clues, women have the edge of men.
However, a study released last week by scientists at the University of
Pennsylvania indicates that, a study released last week by scientists at the
University of Pennsylvania indicates that it is men who have the stronger
39
emotional response to other people’s feelings. It throws a whole new light on to
the male psyche and is one of the first investigations conducted into the
differences in male and female ability to process emotions.
During the research, male and female guinea pigs were shown
photographs of actors and actresses making a range of facial expressions. They
were then asked to describe the emotion portrayed. In virtually all areas men
consistently outperformed women – especially when it came to detecting
sadness.
The findings are the latest to add weight to a theory that has confounded
the equal opportunities. Quite simply, it proposes that men’s and women’s
thought processes are fundamentally different.
The theory remains highly controversial in the medical world. But the
evidence behind it has been accumulating for the past decade to the point where
it can no longer be ignored – however politically incorrect its implications.
A catalogue of studies now strongly suggests that while there is no actual
difference in male and female levels of intelligence, the sexes have markedly
different patterns of ability and perception.
Numerous scientists have now come to the conclusion that men are more
decisive, aggressive and driven by money and status than women. They also
believe they tend to be more mechanically minded, better at targeting objects
and better at activities which require spatial reasoning – such as playing with
Rubic cubes.
Women, on the other hand, are thought to have greater verbal fluency
than men, thought the sexes have equal vocabularies. They prefer amicable
solutions to problems and perform better in non-competitive situations. They
also outperform men in arithmetic calculation, can store more random
information, and are far better than men at identifying matching items in a
hurry.
The reason for the differences is thought to be largely due to levels of the
hormone testosterone in both men and women.
Scientific evidence from all over the world supports this belief –
including research conducted by Melissa Hines, a Los Angeles behavioral
scientist. Dr Hines contacted a group of women born with a rare genetic
abnormality which caused them to produce elevated levels of the hormone.
She found they had all developed skills traditionally thought of as male,
and had entered fields such as architecture, mathematics and mechanics. It
seems hormones create a mental divide between men and women even before
puberty. Recent research by Professor Doreen Kimura, of the University of
Western Ontario, has come down heavily in favour of the theory that babies are
40
born with mental gender differences – because sex hormones have affected the
brain as it develops in the womb.
It has been fashionable to insist that any differences in the intellectual
thought processes of the sexes are only minimal and the result of different
experiences during the development of a child. But, says Professor Kimura, the
bulk of evidence now indicates that sex hormones take effect so early in life
that, from the very start, the environment is acting on differently wired brains in
girls and boys.
Professor Kimura has conducted extensive tests which show that threeyear-old boys are better at targeting objects than girls of the same age. Animal
studies she looked at confirmed these early differences.
Her studies show that major differences in the intellectual function appear
to lie in patterns of ability rather than in the overall level of intelligence.
Scientists believe that the specific area of the brain affected by sex
hormones is the hypothalamus, which is situated at the base of the brain and
stimulates feelings of rage, hunger, thirst and desire.
As well as creating differences in the thinking processes of the sexes, the
same area of the brain appears to influence sexual orientation. Last summer,
San Diego scientist Simon LeVay announced the intriguing discovery that part
of the hypothalamus was twice as large in heterosexual men as in women or
homosexual men.
Here is the last part of the article. The paragraphs have been removed. Match
the paragraphs to the numbered gaps in the article. There is one extra
paragraph which does not belong in any of the gaps.
Professor Kimura has now discovered that homosexual men tend to do
worse in targeting tasks, but are superior in other areas, for example, listing
things that are a particular colour. This goes one step further towards supporting
the theory that part of the brain is pre-programmed.
But despite all the differences that appear to have emerged between male
and female brains, Professor Kimura’s studies indicate that the sexes still have
something quite striking in common: both, it appears, are sensitive to hormonal
fluctuation throughout their lives.
Women tested by scientists at Canada’s York University have been found
to score much better on spatial reasoning tests during menstruation, when their
oestrogen levels are low. Now Professor Kimura has discovered that males
perform best mental-rotation tests in the spring when, contrary to popular
41
belief, male levels of the hormone testosterone are at their lowest. Autumn,
when testosterone levels are high, is when her male subjects fare worst in tests.
1
Moreover, weaknesses in certain skills are not fixed immutably. Extra
training in weak areas for both sexes can go far towards rectifying the gender
balance.
2
It’s a good step forward towards greater harmony between men and
women. It means they can work towards understanding and helping each other,
even on the most basic level/
3
Furthermore, says Dr Apter, the latest findings mean that women need no
longer force themselves into activities for which they have no natural gift – just
for the sake of equality. They don’t have to feel guilty or inferior about doing
feminine things. With childcare, for example, women have developed the skills
of attending to babies and noticing what they need and when they need it. This
is partly social because they spend more time with them, but women do also
tend to be quicker at learning how to respond to the young.
4
a) But Dr Terri Apter, a social psychologists at Cambridge University,
welcomes the recognition that the sexes have different intellectual
abilities.
b) If women want to stay at home looking after their children, they should
do so. They happen to be very good at it.
c) What’s more, the experts acknowledge that in spite of some evidence to
the contrary women generally recognize their superiority in this field.
d) If a man finds his wife is not very good at map-reading and realizes that it
may be genetic, he will not only be more patient but he can teach her how
to do it better.
42
e) Of course, as all scientists involved in gender testing are at pains to point
out, their results are only averages. Some women will be better at football
than most men, and some men will be better at Russian than most women.
The article contains these idiomatic expressions. Read the article again to try
and work out their meanings then write a definition of each one.
1 a giveaway clue
2 the hint of a quaver in the voice
3 a furrowed brow
4 wear your heat on your sleeve
5 have the edge on
6 throw a new light on
7 guinea pigs
8 add weight to
9 target an object
10 from the very start
11 rectify the balance
Your thoughts
What do you think about the following statements?
a) Men and women’s thought processes are fundamentally different.
b) There is no real difference in male and female levels of intelligence.
c) Men are more decisive, aggressive and driven by status than women.
d) If women want to stay at home looking after their children, they should
do so.
PART F
Adjective quiz
Where do the adjectives in brackets go in the following sentences?
a) I never got that feeling of energy back again. (instant)
b) I feel if I do things for myself. (selfish)
c) Though it directs itself to your mind, you remain of your surroundings.
(aware, unconscious)
d) The practitioner did a consultation. (initial, thorough)
Some of the adjectives have two parts. What is the missing part of the adjective
in these sentences?
a) It makes me feel…-tempered and really worked…
b) I’m very open-…about alternative medicine.
43
c) My husband has ever noticed a difference in me. He thinks I’m much
more…back about things.
Form the adjective from the noun in brackets.
a) I’d describe a (stress) scenario, and she would look at it in a different
way.
b) I felt quite (energy) after the first session.
c) We spent a large part of the first session looking back at my (medicine)
history.
What prefixes were used with these adjectives?
a) When I get stressed at work, I get very…active.
b) She gave me a lot of advice on…personal relationships.
We use adverbs of degree (e.g. very, really, etc.) to change the meaning of
adjectives. Which adverbs were used with the adjectives below?
a) Four…stressed teachers put a range of alternative therapies to the test.
b) I felt…energetic after the first session.
c) I was…keptical beforehead.
The use of force
William Carlos Williams
They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olson. Please
come down as soon as you can, my daughter is very sick.
When I arrived I was met by the mother, a big startled looking woman,
very clean and apologetic who merely said, ‘Is this the doctor?’ and let me in.
In the back, she added. You must excuse us doctor, we have her in the kitchen
where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes.
The child was fully dressed and sitting on her father’s lap near the kitchen
table. He tried to get up. But I motioned for him not to bother, took off my
overcoat and started to look things over. I could see that they were all very
nervous, eyeing me up and down distrustfully. As often, in such cases, they
weren’t telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that’s
why they were spending three dollars on me.
The child was fairly eating me up with her cold steady eyes, and no
expression to her face whatever. She did not move and seemed inwardly, quiet;
an unusually attractive little thing, and as strong as a heifer in appearance. But
her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realized that she had a
high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture
children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections
of the Sunday papers.
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She’s had a fever for three days, began the father and we don’t know what
it comes from. My wife has given her things, you know, like people do, but it
do no good. And there’s been a lot of sickness around. So we tho’t you’d better
look her over and tell us what is the matter.
As doctors often do I took a trial shot at it as a point of departure. Has she
had a sore throat?
Both her parents answered me together, No…No, she says her throat
don’t hurt her.
Does your throat hurt you? added the mother to the child. But the little
girl’s expression didn’t change nor did she move her eyes from my face.
Have you looked?
I tried to, said the mother. But I couldn’t see.
As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria in the
school to which this child went during that month and we were all, quite
apparently, thinking of that, though no one had as yet spoken of the thing.
Well, I said, suppose we take a look at the throat first. I smiled in my best
professional manner and asking for the child’ first name. I said, come on,
Mathilda, open your mouth and let’s take a look at your throat.
Nothing doing.
Aw, come on, I coaxed, just open your mouth wide and let me take a
look. Look, I said opening both hands wide, I haven’t any thing in my hands.
Just open up and let me see.
Such a nice man, put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come
on, do what he tells you to. He won’t hurt you.
At that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn’t use the word
hurt I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried
or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again.
As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one cat like movement
both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them
too. In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell, though unbroken,
several feet away from me on the kitchen floor.
Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in
embarrassment and apology. You bad girl, said the mother, taking her and
shaking her by one arm. Look what you’ve done. The nice man…
For heaven’s sake, I broke in. Don’t all me a nice man to her. I’m here to
look at her throat on the chance she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it.
But that’s nothing to her. Look here I said to the child, we’re going to look at
your throat. You’re old enough to understand what I’m saying. Will you open it
now by yourself or shall we have to open it for you?
45
Not a move. Even her expression hadn’t changed. Her breath, however
were coming faster and faster. Then the battle began I had to do it. I had to have
a throat culture for her own protection. But first I told the parents that it was
entirely up to them. I explained the danger but I said that I would not insist on a
throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility.
If you don’t do what the doctor says you will have to go to the hospital,
the mother admonished her severely.
Oh, yeah? I had to smile to myself. After all, I had already fallen in love
with the savage brat, the parents were contemptible to me. In the ensuring
struggle they grew more and more abject, crushed, exhausted while she surely
rose to magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred of her terror of me.
The father tried his best, and he was a big man but the fact that she was
his daughter, his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him
release her just at the critical moment several times when I had almost achieved
success, till I wanted to kill him. But his dread also that she might have
diphtheria made him tell me to go on, go on though he himself was almost
fainting, while the mother moved back and forth behind us raising and lowering
her hands in an agony of apprehension.
Put her in front of you on your lap, I ordered, and hold both her wrists.
But as soon as h did the child let out a scream. Don’t you’re hurting me.
Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you. Then she shrieked terrifyingly,
hysterically. Stop it! Stop it! You’re killing me!
Do you think she can stand it, doctor! said the mother.
You get out, said the husband to his wife. Do you want her to die of
diphtheria?
Come on, hold her, I said.
Then I grasped the child’s head with my left hand and tried to get the
wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. She fought, with clenched teeth,
desperately! But now I also had grown furious – at a child. I tried to hold
myself down but I couldn’t. I know how to expose a throat for inspection. And I
did my best. When finally I got the wooden spatula behind the last teeth and
just the point of it into the mouth cavity, she opened up for an instant but before
I could see anything she came down again and gripping the wooden blade
between her molars she reduced it to splinters before I could get it out again.
Aren’t you ashamed, the mother yelled at her. Aren’t you ashamed to act
like that in front of the doctor?
Get me a smooth-handled spoon of some sort, I told her mother.
We are going through with this. The child’s mouth was already bleeding.
Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks. Perhaps I
46
should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would
have been better. But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of
neglect in such cases, and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I
went at it again. But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I
could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure
to attack her. My face was burning with it.
The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy, one says
to one’s self at such times. Others must be protected against her. It is social
necessity. And all these things are true. But a blind fury, a feeling of adult
shame, bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to
the end.
In a final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child’s neck and jaws. I
forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she
gagged. And there it was – both tonsils covered with membrane. She had fought
valiantly to keep me from knowing her secret. She had been hiding that sore
throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such
an outcome as this.
Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now
she attacked. Tried to get off her father’s lap and fly at me while tears of defeat
blinded her eyes.
Comprehension and discussion questions
1. What sort of people were the Olsons? Describe each of them. What time of
year was it?
2. Why was the family in the kitchen when the doctor arrived?
3. How much did the doctor cost?
4. What did the daughter look like? How old you think the daughter was?
5. How long had she had a fever? What had her parents done to treat her?
6. What did the doctor ask her to do?
7. How did the mother try to help the doctor? What was the doctor’s reaction?
8. Why was the doctor disgusted by the mother’s approach to her child?
9. Why did Mathilda react so violently to the doctor? Why were the parents so
embarrassed?
10. Why did the doctor object to being called a nice man?
11. Why was it so important for the doctor to see the child’s throat? Why does
the doctor describe the final events of the story as a battle?
12. Why couldn’t the father hold his daughter still?
13. What did the doctor finally order the father to do?
14. Why did the doctor speak so sharply to Mathilda?
47
15. What did the doctor use to force open the child’s mouth?
16. What did Mathilda do when he had almost succeeded in seeing her throat?
17. Why did Mathilda’s mother yell at her? What do you think the mother was
feeling?
18. What did the doctor use next to force her mouth open?
19. Why did the doctor not wait an hour or two and then try again?
20. What did the doctor find when he finally saw Mathilda’s throat?
21. What was Mathilda’s reaction when the doctor discovered her secret? Why
did she react that way?
PART G
The unicorn in the garden
James Thurber
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up
from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a gold horn quietly
cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his
wife was still asleep ad woke her. ‘There is a unicorn in the garden,’ he said.
‘Eating roses.’ She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. ‘The unicorn
is a mythical beast,’ she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked
slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there, he was
now browsing among the tulips. ‘Here, unicorn,’ said the man, and he pulled up
a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because
there was a unicorn in the garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife
again. ‘The unicorn,’ he said ‘ate a lily.’ His wife sat up in bed and looked at
him, coldly. ‘You are a booby,’ she said, ‘ and I am going to have put you in the
booby-hatch.’ The man who had never liked the words booby booby-hatch, and
who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the
garden, thought for a moment. ‘We’ll see about that,’ he said. He walked over
to the door. ‘He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead,’ he told her.
Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone
away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.
As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and
dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her
eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them
to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the
psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great
interest. ‘My husband,’ she said, ‘saw a unicorn this morning,’ The police
looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. ‘He told me
48
it ate a lily,’ she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police
looked at the psychiatrist. ‘He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of his
forehead,’ she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped
from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for
she put up a terrible struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her
into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.
‘Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?’ asked the police. ‘Of course
not,’ said the husband. ‘The unicorn is a mythical beast.’ ‘That’s all I wanted to
know,’ said the psychiatrist. ‘Take her away. I’m sorry, sir, but your wife is as
crazy as a jay bird.’ So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her
up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
Moral: Don’t count your boobies until they are hatched.
Comprehension and discussion questions
1. What kind of day was it? Where was the man sitting? What was he eating?
2. What did he see in the garden? What was it doing?
3. Why did he want to tell his wife about the unicorn?
4. How did the wife react to her husband’s announcement about the unicorn?
5. What suggests that the husband was disappointed by his wife’s reaction?
6. How did the wife respond to the news that the unicorn had eaten a lily?
7. What did the man do when he found that the unicorn had left?
8. What did the wife do as soon as her husband had left the house? Why was
there a gloat in her eye?
9. Whom did she telephone? What did she tell them?
10. How did the police and the psychiatrist react to her news about the unicorn?
11. Why didn’t the husband come as soon as he heard the struggle begin?
12. Why did the psychiatrist tell the police to take the wife away?
13. What sort of institution was the wife taken to?
TEST 1
1. Choose the most suitable word or phrase underlined in each sentence.
a) There were ten people waiting in the doctor’s office/surgery/ward.
b) After I ate the shellfish I experienced/fell/happened ill.
c) George’s cut art took over a week to cure/heal/look after.
d) Everyone admired Lucy because she was tall and skinny/slim/thin.
e) David fell down the steps and twisted his ankle/heel/toe.
f) I’ve been digging the garden and now my back aches/pains/injures.
49
g) Whenever I travel by boat I start feeling hurt/sick/sore.
h) The doctor can’t say what is wrong with you
cures/examines/recovers you.
i) Use this thermometer and take his fever/heat/temperature.
j) I seem to have caught/injected/taken a cold.
until
she
2. Replace the words underlined in each sentence with one of the words from
the list. Use each word once only.
agony body breath look stomachache beard brains heart spine tongue
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
Janet fell from her horse and injured her backbone…
I had a very bad toothache, and was in great pain all night…
The police discovered the dead person buried in the garden…
One thing you can say about Ann, she has certainly got intelligence…
They have a new house right in the centre of the countryside…
Italian is actually Mary’s native language…
Before I dived in the water, I took a deep mouthful of air…
After dinner, Jack had a pain from eating too much…
Shirley had a strange expression on her face…
David managed to grow a lot of hair on his face…
3. Complete each sentence with a word from the list. Use each word once only.
cheek knees
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
neck throat waist
chin lips nose thumb wrist
After speaking for two hours, the lecturer had a sore…
Terry was on his hands and…, looking for the fallen coin.
Paul give his aunt an affectionate kiss on the…
There was such a terrible smell that I had to hold my…
Stan is deaf, but he can understand people by reading their…
I never wear a watch because I don’t like the weight on my…
One of the boxes punched the other on the…and knocked him out.
When Diane was a baby, she used to suck her…
I’ve lost a lot of weight, especially around the…
Norma wears a heart on a gold chain around her…
4. Complete each sentence a) to j) with one of the endings 1) to 10). Use each
ending once only.
a) I think we should send for an ambulance…
50
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
Some people go jogging every morning…
It would be a good idea for you to go to the dentist’s…
The doctor gave Andy an injection…
I’m going into hospital tomorrow…
We took the cat to the vet…
Susan took two aspirins…
Nobody could find a stretcher…
The doctor gave Helen a prescription…
I bought some special cream…
1) …to have that bad tooth of yours taken out.
2) …to check whether it had recovered from its accident.
3) …to take old Mrs Jones to hospital.
4) …to put on my sunburnt arms and legs.
5) …to get rid of her headache.
6) …to reduce the pain and help him sleep.
7) …to take to the chemist’s.
8) …to keep fit, or to lose some weight.
9) …to carry the injured man out of the building.
10) To have an operation on my foot.
5. Choose the most suitable word or phrase to complete each sentence.
a) Martin hasn’t quite… is illness yet.
A) recovered B) got over
C) looked after D) suffered
b) Paula… birth to a baby girl yesterday afternoon.
A) was
B) put
C) had
D) gave
c) Your leg isn’t broken but it is badly…
A) fractured B) bruised
C) bandaged
D) bent
d) Several angry drivers shook their… at me as I drove away.
A) fists
B) arms
C) hands
D) elbows
e) That was a bad fall! Have you…yourself?
A) harmed B) damaged
C) wounded
D) hurt
f) Each time I sneezed, everyone said, ‘… you!’
A) cough
B) bless
C) cold
D) thank
g) Stop making that noise! You’re getting on my… !
A) muscles B) brain
C) nerves
D) blood
h) As the little boy cried, large… rolled down his cheeks.
A) drips
B) tears
C) puddles
D) streams
i) I had severe toothache and half my face was badly…
51
A) swollen B) rounded
C) exploded
j) I’ve got a headache, and I don’t feel very…
A) healthy
B) fit
C) sane
D) injured
D) well
6. Use the word in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in the
space in the same line.
Jim decided to visit the doctor after is trip to the jungle.
He was normally a tall (1) person, but over the past
MUSCLE
Month he had lost a lot of (2). He had also noticed
WEIGHT
Than his ankles and knees had become rather (3)
PAIN
He thought that he might have eaten or drunk something (4)
POISON
or caught some kind of (5) disease. The doctor
INFECT
took some blood for tests and told Jim to go back a week
later. This time the doctor had an optimistic (6) on her
EXPRESS
face, and Jim felt quite (7). ‘Don’t worry,’ said the
HEART
doctor, ‘it’s nothing serious. You haven’t caught an (8)
CURE
disease or anything terrible like that. It’s a simple virus,
and you will need some (9). Take these tablets twice a
TREAT
day for two weeks, and you’ll make a full (10).
RECOVER
7. Match each sentence a) to j) with a sentence from 1) to 10) which has the
same meaning.
a) Henry’s heart was in the right place…
b) Paul held his tongue…
c) Richard jawed away for at least an hour…
d) Dave had a lot of cheek to talk like that…
e) Keith couldn’t stomach his new boss…
f) Harry backed his boss…
g) William kept poking his nose in…
h) Graham thumbed a lift to work…
i) Charles put his foot in it…
j) Jack’s heart ached to be where he belonged…
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
He talked.
He supported him.
He said the wrong thing.
He was kind.
He was rather rude.
He didn’t say anything.
52
7) He interrupted in other people’s business.
8) He hitch hiked.
9) He missed home.
10) He didn’t like him.
8. Decide which answer best fits each space.
The day Gerald arrived at the Almara Beach Hotel, he fell (1)… the stairs. The
manager called a/an (2)…, but fortunately Gerald’s leg was only badly (3)…,
and not broken. The doctor (4)… swimming as further (5)… but gave Gerald
a/an (6)… for some tablets in case his leg became (7)… The next day Gerald
sunbathed by the pool, and then took a deep (8)… and dived into the water.
There was not very much water in the pool, and he (9)…one of his arms when
he hit the bottom. This time he complained to the hotel manager, who sent a
special meal to Gerald’s room. Later that night, Gerald was (10)… from a
(11)… back, the injuries to his arm and leg, and also had a terrible (12)… He
had a high (13)… and felt terrible. Luckily he had the tablets the doctor had
given him to (14)… the pain. As he reached for them, he fell out of bed and
broke his (15)… He spent the rest of his holiday in bed.
1 A) down
2 A) stretcher
3 A) sick
4 A) went
5 A) medicine
6 A) recipe
7 A) painful
8 A) end
9 A) hurt
10 A) ill
11 A) sunny
12 A) agony
13 A) pain
14 A) hold
15 A) waist
B) to
B) prescription
B) bruised
B) prevented
B) cure
B) paper
B) pained
B) breath
B) injury
B) injured
B) sunburnt
B) hurt
B) temperature
B) check
B) lips
C) with
D) for
C) ambulance
D) emergency
C) hurt
D) infected
C) said
D) recommended
C) drugs
D) treatment
C) prescription D) order
C) painless
D) pain
C) mouthful
D) water
C) ached
D) sore
C) suffering
D) damaged
C) sunshine
D) grilled
C) heat
D) stomachache
C) ache
D) degree
C) rid
D) reduce
C) wrist
D) throat
TEST 2
1. Choose the most suitable word or phrase underlined in each sentence
a) This is small car, but it has a powerful engine/machine.
53
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
Do you use an electric/electrical toothbrush?
I can’t see anything. Where’s the light plug/switch?
I’ve decided to buy a new typewriter/typist.
You can’t use the lift. It’s out of order/work.
If you don’t press this button the washing machine won’t go/move.
Use this torch. The other one doesn’t act/work.
The lights have gone out. It must be a power break/cut.
A car factory/industry has just been built in our town.
Who exactly discovered/invented the computer?
2. Complete each sentence with a suitable word. Use each word once only.
axe
file
corkscrew
spanner
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
needle
hammer
razor
pin
scissors
screwdriver
spade
saw
You can cut that plank in half with this…
You need a… to open this bottle of wine.
I’ve split my trousers. Do you have a… and thread?
I can’t open the back of the television without a special…
You can make the edges smooth with a…
I’ve cut myself shaving again. I think I’ll but an electric…
We could chop this tree down if we had a sharp…
Until I can sew this, I’ll fix the edges together with a…
I was going to dig the garden but I can’t find the…
Oh bother! I’ve hit my thumb with the… instead of the nail!
You can cut this cardboard if you have some sharp…
This nut is impossible to undo. I need a larger…
3. Complete each sentence with one of the endings. Use each ending once only.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
It’s very hot in here. Why don’t you…
I can’t make out what it is. I think I’ll…
We haven’t got much time but I can…
I need to put up these shelves, so I’m going to…
It’s a long way up. I think we should use…
The lamp does work. You’ll have to…
The radio isn’t very loud. I must…
This would make a nice picture. Hang on while I …
54
i) A seat on the morning flight? Let me just…
j) The tyre’s a bit flat. I’ll have to…
1) …get the pump out of the boot.
2) …fetch my camera from the living room.
3) …heat up the food very quickly in the microwave.
4) …the lift, but we can walk down if you like.
5) …put on the air conditioning?
6) …find out from the computer.
7) …put in a new light bulb.
8) …borrow William’s electric drill.
9) …go and get my binoculars.
10) …buy some new batteries.
4. Choose the most suitable word or phrase to complete each sentence.
a) James is going to be late. His car has…
A) broken out B) broken up C) broken in D) broken down
b) if your camera is faulty, you should return it to the…
A) creator B) manufacturer C) inventor D) builder
c) It is hard to get…parts for this car if something goes wrong.
A) extra B) spare C) additional D) emergency
d) I bought this electric drill from a… it-yourself shop.
A) do B) repair C) make D) fix
e) This clock… on two small batteries.
A) goes B) works C) runs D) moves
f) Lift the… and listen for the dialing tone.
A) microphone B) dial C) receiver D) number
g) Don’t touch the wire! You’ll get an electric…
A) surprise B) current C) charge D) shock
h) It’s difficult to repair a car unless you have the right…
A) gadgets B) instruments C) appliance D) tools
i) This knife is really… I’ll have to sharpen it.
A) blunt B) dull C) flat D) frank
j) Don’t forget to… your alarm clock for 6.30.
A) put B) set C) ring D) go off
55
5. Use the word in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in the
space in the same line.
When I was young, I was always dreamed of becoming a
Famous (1)… When I was at school I decided to study
(2)…, and then become a millionaire by inventing
a wonderful new (3)… which would make the world
a better place. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at technical
subjects. Any time I operate any kind of (4)…,
something terrible happens. Machines which use (5)…,
such as computers or televisions, always seem to give me a
(6)… shock. The instruction booklets are always
(7)… They never help me at all. Nowadays you need
To have (8)… knowledge just to turn on the video. To
my great (9)… it is always a child of six who helps me
out of my (10)…
SCI|ENCE
ENGINE
PRODUCE
EQUIP
ELECTRIC
POWER
USE
SPECIAL
EMBARRASS
DIFFICULT
6. Complete each sentence by putting one word in each space
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
There’s nothing good on the television. Why don’t you turn it… ?
Can you plug the electric fire… from me?
Hurry up sir. We’re just going to lock… for the night.
The machine is quite automatic – it does everything… itself.
We’d better stop for some petrol. We’ve nearly run…
The parts come from Japan, but we put them… here in Italy.
The word processor consists… a keyboard, a screen and a printer.
This looks like wood but actually it’s made… plastic.
What exactly is a file used… ?
These two metal sections are then bolted… to make one.
7. Replace the words underlined in each sentence with one of the verbs from the
list.
break down
run out
go off
hang up
keep up with
look out
pick up
put off
do without
stand for
a) My car isn’t as fast as yours. I won’t be able to stay near you…
b) The torch doesn’t work. The batteries must have been used up…
c) This radio doesn’t receive the BBC World Service very well…
56
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
The car is making a funny noise. I think it’s going to stop working…
I was going to buy a motorbike, but I was discouraged by me parents…
People call me on the phone, but then put down the receiver…
Be careful! You’re going to give yourself an electric shock!...
It’s difficult to manage if you don’t have a washing machine…
The letters CD mean compact disc, actually…
Without a fridge, fresh food will become bad very quickly…
8. Decide which answers A,B,C,D best fits each space.
What do you do when something (1)… down? Are you the kind of person who
knows how things (2)… ? Or do you prefer to have it (3)… by an expert?
personally, when I use a (4)… I always hit my finger and I can never (5)…
anything with my screwdriver because I can never find it. Despite having all the
wrong (6)…, and despite being a useless (7)…, I recently decided to take my
bike to pieces and (8)… it. I had (9)… out of money as usual, and as I use my
bike (10)… getting to college, I had no choice. It was making a terrible noise,
and the front tyre was (11)… I had a few (12)… but I didn’t have any (13)…
parts. I managed to (14)… the wheel and take it off, but then I lost my (15)…,
and couldn’t put the wheel back on properly. At least I am taking more
exercise, as now have to walk to college.
1) A) falls
B) repairs
C) breaks
D) runs
2) A) do
B) make
C) fix
D) work
3) A) repaired
B) out
C) sometimes
D) operated
4) A) drill
B) scissors
C) hammer
D) spade
5) A) drive
B) unscrew
C) cut
D) unwind
6) A) equipment
B) contents
C) instruments D) gadgets
7) A) technical
B) engineer
C) machine
D) mechanic
8) A) make
B) fix
C) build
D) construct
9) A) spent
B) paid
C) run
D) fallen
10)
A) and
B) because
C) by
D) for
11)
A) flat
B) empty
C) over
D) bad
12)
A) chances B) tools
C) information D) advice
13)
A) spare B) emergency C) renew
D) repair
14)
A) remove B) smooth
C) fill
D) undo
15)
A) saw
B) plug
C) spanner
D) file
57
Рекомендуемая литература
1. Cutting Edge (intermediate, upper intermediate, advanced) Sarah
Cunningham, Peter Moor. Longman, 2002.
2. Cutting Edge Teacher’s Tips Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor. Longman,
2002.
3. Discussion that work. Task-Сentred fluency practice. P. Ur, M. Swan,
Cambridge University Press, 1981/94.
4. Writing, Andrew Littlejohn. CUP,1998.
5. Grammar in Use. A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for
Intermediate Students of English. Raymond Murphy. CUP, 1992.
6. M.Swan. Practical English Usage. OUP, 1995.
7. G. Leech, J. Svartic. A Communicative Grammar of English. Longman
Ltd, 1975.
8. Меркулова Е.М. Grammar Practice. Английский язык для студентов
университетов. – СПб., 2002.
9. Каушанская В.Л. Грамматика английского языка. – СПб., 2004.
10. The Blue Cross (by G.K. Chesterton).
11. Philomel Cottage (by Agatha Christie).
12. An Unpleasant Man (by Cyril Hare).
13. The Unlucky Theatre (by Elliott O’Donnell).
14. The Mezzotint (by M.R. James).
15. Family Affair (by Margary Allingham).
16. The Invisible Man (By G.K. Chesterton).
17. The Case of the Thing That Whimpered (by Dennis Whealthy).
18. The Orphaned Swimming Pool (by John Updike).
19. Love (by Jess Stuart).
58
Учебное издание
Варламова Юлия Валерьевна
СБОРНИК ТЕКСТОВ И УПРАЖНЕНИЙ ПО ПКРО 2 ИЯ
(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ)
для студентов старших курсов факультета лингвистики:
«MODERN MEDICINE»
Редактор О.А. Масликова
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Издательство СПбГУЭФ. 191023, Санкт-Петербург, Садовая ул., д. 21.