Unit 6 The Making of a Surgeon
Dr. Nolen
Teaching objectives
◆
Get to know career in medicine in US
◆
Understand and appreciate the text
◆
Master basic vocabularies, phrases and
grammatical points.
◆
Acquire the reading skill—reading for the
implied meaning.
◆
Improve the pronunciation by listening and
imitation
Teaching Procedures
Part One: Warming-Up Questions
Part Two: Background Information
Part Three: Fast Reading
Part Four: Detailed Study of the text
Part Five: Summary and Assignments
Part one Warming-Up Questions
In your opinion, how can a
person be successful?
◆
( hard-working, lucky,
opportunity, healthy, intelligent,
self-confident… )
Part one Warming-Up Questions
◆
As far as a doctor is concerned, what
should be the most important factor for
him to be successful?
Part Two Background Information
Ⅰ. Three Types of Doctors
●
General practitioners
●
Specialists
●
Researchers
Ⅱ. Career in Medicine in US
Part Two Background Information
Ⅰ. Three Types of Doctors
General Practitioners
全科医生
care for patients with all kinds
of illness
◆
a wide knowledge of all kinds of
illness
◆
nice skills in the art of medical
practice
◆
Part Two Background Information
Ⅰ. Three Types of Doctors
Specialists
专科医生
be engaged in certain field of
medicine
◆
◆
special training and skill
dentist, pediatrican( 儿 科 医 生 ),
physician ( 内 科 医 生 ), surgeons
(外科医生) or obstertrician (产科医
◆
生)
Part Two Background Information
Ⅰ. Three Types of Doctors
Researchers
医学研究者
◆
devotion to medical research
◆
teaching future physicians in
medical schools
◆
BACK
conducting research programs
Part Two Background Information
Ⅱ. Career in Medicine in US
doctor
four years
of college
chief
resident
a resident 住院医生
at a hospital
an intern实习医生 in
a hospital
BACK
four years
of medical
school
Part Three: Fast Reading
Ⅰ. General idea of the text
A. Skimming and scanning
B. General idea of the text
Ⅱ. Structure of the text
Part Three: Fast Reading
Ⅰ. General idea of the text
A. Skimming and Scanning
B. Main idea of the text
Dr. Nolen, a well-known American surgeon,
reveals to us in this article that he, as a doctor,
had gone a long way before he became a
surgeon. Then, he explains what quality is
essential in the making of a surgeon and at what
point of time a doctor finally becomes a surgeon.
Fast reading

Answer the questions
Ⅱ Comprehension 1,2 on pp.143-144

What type is the text, generally?
A. narration
B. exposition
C. description
D. argumentation
记叙文
说明文
描述文
议论文
Fast reading



What is the main idea of the text?
A famous surgeon tells about the importance of selfconfident from his own experience.
The text is mainly in the
A. general-specific
B. problem-solution
C. cause-effect
D. compare-contrast
pattern.
总分
问题-解决
因果
比较-对比
Text structure

Part division
Parts Paras
1
Main Ideas
1-2
Argument: Confidence makes a surgeon.
2
3-6
Exemplification: Contrastive states of
mind in the first few months and last
month of my residency.
3
7
Restatement: A surgeon needs conceit.
Writing skill
Part I: thesis (论点)
reasons
Argumentation
Part II: supporters (论据)
examples
Part III: conclusion (结论)
topic sentence (主题句)
illustrating (举例)
reasoning (说理)
Part Four : Detailed study of the
text
Part Four : Detailed study of the text
Step one: Paragraph 1 and 2
The Making of a Surgeon
A famous surgeon tells about the importance
of self-confidence from his own experience.
How does a doctor recognize the point in time
when he is finally a "surgeon"? As my year as
chief resident drew to a close I asked myself this
question on more than one occasion.
The answer, I concluded, was self-confidence.
When you can say to yourself, "There is no
surgical patient I cannot treat competently, treat
just as well as or better than any other surgeon" then, and not until then, you are indeed a
surgeon. I was nearing that point.
Paragraph 1 and 2
Questions to understand paragraph 1 and 2:

What question did Dr. Nolen ask himself as the
year of his chief residency came to an end?

What was his answer?
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
1. making ( n.) the process of being made or coming
into being or gaining success
e.g. The perseverance was the making of the writer.
坚忍不拔是这位作家成功的因素。
in the making = in the process of being made; ready
to be produced
e.g. Our plans are still in the making.
◆
我们的计划还在酝酿之中。
◆
makings= the qualities needed
e.g. He has the makings of a good doctor.
他具有成为好医生的素质。
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
2. recognize
◆
vt.
know or identify (somebody or something) again that
one has seen or heard before
e.g. I can hardly recognize you because you’ve
changed such a lot.
你变化太大了，我几乎认不出了。
◆
admit or be willing to accept somebody or something
as being real
We recognized that his act was not right.
我们承认他的行为是不对的。
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
3. chief resident
A chief resident is the
head of a group of doctors
who work and live in a
hospital while receiving
specialized training there,
usually at the final part of
their medical training.
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
4. draw to a close = come to an end
e.g. This semester is drawing to a close.
5. occasion
◆ on occasion = sometimes but not often
e.g. I meet her on occasion at the club or in the theatre.
我有时在俱乐部或剧院里遇到她。
◆ on
an occasion : a time when something happens
e.g. She had met Tome on an earlier occasion.
她早些时候曾见过Tom
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
6. confidence, confident, confidential
confidence n. feelings that believe sb./sth. is good
self-confidence: believe in oneself
confident adj. sure that you can do sth. or deal with a situation
successfully
confidential adj. spoken or written in secret and intended to be kept;
be trusted with secret information.
Fill in the blanks with proper words given below.
1. This file contains confidential information.
2. Jeff is very confident about solving this problem.
3. We have confidence in your abilities .
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
7. There is no surgical patient I cannot treat competently.
Why does the author use double negation here?
◆
Double negation for emphatic purpose.
Paraphrase:
◆
I can treat any surgical patient competently.
◆
Translation:
我能胜任对任何外科病人的治疗，我的治疗和其他
外科医生一样高明，甚至比其他医生更高明
BACK
Paragraph 1 and 2
8. treat, cure, heal
treat vt .
to use drugs, exercises, etc. in order to cure a person
of a disease or heal an injure
指为某人诊断治疗，强调治疗过程，不强调治疗结果。
cure vt.
to make someone who is ill well again
指治愈，治好，使病人恢复健康。
heal vt.
the skin, flesh, bones etc. grows back together and
becomes healthy again 尤指伤口痊愈，治愈。

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the words
above. Change the form where necessary.
1. Which doctor is treating her for her illness?
2. Doctor cured him of his disease.
3. The wound is not
healed
yet.
4. It is said that rest in bed may cure
BACK
a cold.
Paragraph 1 and 2
9. I was nearing that point.
◆
How do you understand “
I was nearing that
point”?
I was nearing time when I was indeed a surgeon.
BACK
Par. 3-par.6
Paragraph 3 to 6
Question1:
According to para. 3, how did the
author try to find the peace of mind he
needed to relax?
( To get out of bed, to dress and to
drive to the hospital to see the
patient himself. )
Question2:
What can we learn from para. 4?
(self-confidence helps him when
he is making a decision. )
Question3:
Can you find the topic sentence in para.5?
(The first sentence: In the operating
room, I was equally confident. )
Question4:
According to para.6, what’s the author’s
attitude towards errors?
( He tried his best to avoid errors,
but he was not afraid of them,
because he knew he wasn’t able
to avoid a mistake, neither could
other surgeons. )
Question5:
From para.4 – 6, we can conclude that selfconfidence helps the author ________.
a. when is making a decision
b. when he is performing an operation
c. when he has made mistakes
d. all of the above

Par.3
1. Often, after I had told Walt or Larry what
to do in a particular situation, …
 ◆Paraphrase:
Walt and Larry : the pet names for Walter and
Lawrence, two very common English names.
Here the author only means that after he had
told this person or that person what to do…
 张三李四

Par.3
2. and not infrequently, wonder if I hadn’t
made a poor decision.
 这里的not infrequently等于frequently。此种
用法是双重否定，等于肯定，目的是加强
语气。 not + 带否定的前缀词是一种常见的
双重否定结构，表示肯定的意思。
 Example:
This is not unreasonable.


3. There were still situations in which I
couldn’t be certain my decision had been the
right one, but I had learned to accept this as a
constant problem for a surgeon, one that could
never be completely resolved — and I could
live with it.

It : the things mentioned above.

Translation

在某些情况下我仍然不能确定自己做的决定是否正
确，但我已学会把这看成是一名外科医生经常会遇
到的问题，一个永远也无法完全解决的问题——我
已能适应它了。
即医生不敢确定自己做的决定
是否正确是常有的事，这个问题永远也无法完全解决。
4. constant: adj.
1) happening all the time; continuous
 他总是抱怨头痛。
2) fixed, unchanging
Temperature is at a constant 26 degrees in this
room.
5. resolve: vt. resolution n.
resolvedly adv.
1) find an answer to
The dispute between the two countries has been
resolved peacefully.



2) decide or determine (resolve to do)
He resolved to succeed.
resolve& solve
resolve 主要指对问题或情况进行细微的分析或思
索，以得出结论或找到解决途径。
The Cabinet met to resolve the crisis.
solve 普通用词，含义广，指为有一定难度的问题
找到满意的答复。
The teacher teaches his students to solve a
mathematical equation.
6. live with:






We don’t like Professor Smith’s class, but we
have to live with it in order to graduate.
Live up to遵守（诺言）；不辜负（期望）；
Live high过奢侈生活
Live for为…而生活
Live with oneself保持自尊心
忍受：endure, put up with; stand; bear;
suffer；undergo
Par.4
1. dwell on: think about; speak or write a lot
about
E.g: Don’t dwell so much on your past. Let
bygones be bygones.

不要再过多地思考过去。过去的就让它过去吧。
2. any decision I’d made was bound to be a
sound one.
 bound: 1) adj. be certain; be sure
You are bound to succeed if you work as hard as
me.
 2) going (for, to)
 The bus is bound for Shanghai at 2:30.
 3)vi. jump upward or forward
 他欣喜万分。 His heart bounded with joy.

3. sound: adj.
1) not wrong, based on reason
 要任何人在任何时候都做出正确的判断并
非易事。
 It is not easy for anyone to make sound
judgment at anytime.
2) in good condition; healthy, without disease or
damage
The missing boy returned home yesterday safe and
sound

Par.5
1. There were no more butterflies in my stomach
when I opened up an abdomen or a chest.
 Paraphrase
I was no longer nervous or anxious when I was
performing an operation.
 butterflies in one’s stomach: feel nervous or anxious
I had butterflies in my stomach when I first stood in front
of the public.

2. I’d sweated through my share of stab wounds of
the belly, of punctured lungs, of compound
fractures. I had sweated over them for five years. I
didn’t need to sweat any more.
Paraphrase
I had been nervous and anxious while painstakingly
treating the serious wounds such as stab wounds in the
abdomen, punctured lungs and compound fractures. I
had been nervous for five years and I needn’t be so
nervous any more.
Translation
在我手上，我战战兢兢地治疗过像腹部刺伤、肺部穿孔
以及复合性骨折等病例。这类外科手术我已经战战兢兢
地干了五年，现在我不必再担惊受怕了。
over: prep. during; while engaged in, in the course
of
 他们边喝茶边谈话。
They talked over tea.
Par.6
3. Nor was I afraid of making mistakes. I knew that
when I was out in practice I would inevitably err at
one time or another and operate on someone who
didn’t need surgery or sit on someone who did.
 paraphrase
I knew it clearly that I would make mistakes sometimes
when I was in practice in the future. That mistake might
be that I would operate on someone who didn’t need
surgery or neglect someone who needed it urgently.
Translation

我知道，在我出去开业行医时，说不定什么时候我会不可避免地出差错。
我会给不需要手术的病人开刀，也可能会把急需手术的病人忽略过去。
4. Sit on
neglect; do nothing about
 我们不应忽视那些急需我们帮助的人。
We shouldn’t sit on those people who need our
help urgently.
 Sit down
 Sit for参加
 Sit in on列席，旁听
 Sit in静坐示威
 Sit up熬夜

5. chances are / were (that): it is / was likely (that)
 他有可能要摔下来。
Par.7

1. trying moments: moments that try one’s nerves
Every one may have trying moments in his lifetime.
2. Bother trouble, annoy, annoy
trouble 指给人在行动上带来不便或在身心上造
成痛苦。
She suffers memory lapses that trouble her children.
 annoy
强调因被迫忍受令人不快、讨厌的事而
失去平静或耐心，多指一时的打扰或恼怒。

Eg. The sound of footsteps on the bare floor annoyed
the downstairs neighbors.
bother 指使人烦恼，引起的紧张不安或感到不耐
烦。
I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me the way to
the station?
 disturb 较正式用词，多用被动态。指扰乱，使人
不能平静或妨碍别人工作、思维或正常秩序，是
程度较深的烦恼。

Before closing the door to his office, he told his secretary
that he was not to be disturbed.
Part Five: Summary and Assignments
Ⅰ. Summary
Summarize what the students have learnt in
this class.
Ⅱ. Assignment
◆
To go over what we have learned today and
try to memorize the new words and phrases.
◆
To read the text after class so as to improve
your pronunciation.
◆
Do exercises after the text.
Thank you!