皇嘉 注

This comes from a true story. The hospitals in different countries are different, sometimes. In Canada, hospitals give meals for free, guests don’t need to bring dinner! But, hospital food is usually not delicious. Is China like this? If you visit someone in hospital, how can you cheer them up? What will you bring?

If you are in hospital, what would you like someone to bring you? Have you broken a leg or arm before? Have you used crutches[1]? What is difficult to do with crutches? In Canada, if you have a cast[2], you can ask friends to sign it. Do you do this in China? Finally, if you were this man, would you take another motorcycle[3] trip soon? If you were his wife, how would you feel?

A: Hi, is this a good time to visit?

B: Sure, come on in. Thanks for coming.

A: This is a big hospital. It was hard to find your room. Here, I brought you some flowers to cheer you up.

B: Thanks, they’re great. Please put them in the vase over there.

A: Sure. How are you feeling? Is there any pain?

B: Could be worse. My neck hurts and this neck brace[4] is uncomfortable. My leg itches[5] under the cast, too.

A: That’s what you get for riding your motorbike too fast in the mountains! How are they treating you here?

B: I can’t complain. The nurses are nice, no one’s mean to me.

A: When’ll you get out of traction?

B: The doctor says I can get up and move around tomorrow and start using crutches. I can’t wait to get home, a.s.a.p.

A: When’ll you get out of here?

B: The nurse said they’ll discharge me in a week if I’m okay.

A: How long will it take for the leg and neck to heal?

B: The doctor said she can take the cast off my leg in six weeks. The neck brace can come off sooner, I hope. It’ll be hard to take a shower!

A: I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. I brought you some food, but you’re still hooked up to the I.V.[6] Should I leave it on the table?

B: No, I can eat. Hospital food is the pits. This looks great, thanks.

A: Well, visiting hours are almost over. If there’s anything you need, call me.

B: I’m fine. Next time you come, please bring some maps. As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to take a long trip on my motorcycle.

A: Don’t tell your wife, or you’ll be back in hospital soon!

Vocabulary

1. crutch: T字形拐杖。

2. cast: 【醫】固定用敷料，即“石膏”。

3. motorcycle: 摩托車。下文出現的motorbike與此同義。

4. neck brace: 【醫】（治療用的）頸項支架，頸部固定器，頸套。

5. itch: 發癢。

6. I.V.: 即intravenous drip，靜脈滴注，靜脈注射。

Exercise

1. cheer sb. up a. not kind, not nice

2. could be worse b. connect machine to machine

3. that’s what sb. get for c. I’m fine, not perfect but nothing bad

4. mean d. the worst, terrible.

5. traction e. hope for good luck for this

6. a.s.a.p. f. make you happy when you’re sad

7. discharge g. immediately after this

8. heal h. the earliest possible time

9. keep one’s fingers crossed i. you did a silly thing, bad happens!

10. hook up j. get better after injury (cut, break...)

11. the pits k. hospital lets you go home

12. as soon as l. in bed, ropes to keep broken bones high.

Answers: 1–f, 2–c, 3–i, 4–a , 5–l, 6–h , 7–k, 8–j, 9–e, 10–b, 11–d, 12–g.

Usage Tips

1. treat一詞最常用的有兩種意思。先看如下例句：How is he treating you? He treats me well / badly.此處，treat是“對待，看待”的意思，再如：He treats me like garbage. He treats me with respect / with kindness；該詞的另外一個截然不同的意思是“招待，款待，請客”，如：He treated me to dinner. 再如：Dinner’s on me, it’s my treat! treat在這里作名詞，此句的意思則是：I’ll pay for you, food or drink.

2. 如果你hook up a printer (to a computer)，hook up在這里的意思就是connect，即“把（電腦、電話機、打印機等的部件）裝接起來，接通”。而hook up（尤在）美語口語中還有一個較常見的用法，即與with搭配，是“跟……結交”的意思，如：I’ll introduce you to some big names to hook up with at the charity party. （我會給你引薦幾位名人，在慈善晚會上你就可以和他們結交了。）

（來源：英語學習雜志）