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MEDICAL ALERT!

You have a cold

diarrhea , perhaps from something you overnight in the hospital. In−patient ate or drank. If you have a lot of operations are for more serious problems headaches, it could be because you have and mean you will be staying in the a problem with your eyes. Then you would hospital for at least a couple of days. need to see an optometrist, who would If you have cancer, a heart attack or test your eyes using an eye chart . a stroke , you will probably be admitted to the hospital and have to stay until the doctor says you can go home.

You wake up in the morning with an aching head, a scratchy throat and a stuffy nose . You have a cold! What should you do? If you aren’t too sick, you could probably just stay in bed, take cough drops for your sore throat , an over−the−counter medicine for your nose and eat chicken noodle soup.

What other diseases or illnesses can you get? If there is a certain substance like dust or pet fur that makes you sneeze , you may have allergies. If you have breathing problems, perhaps you have asthma. Diabetes is a chronic condition, which means you will always have it. If you have diabetes, your pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin which means you have too much glucose in your blood. A stroke is the sudden death of some brain cells because of a lack of oxygen . It occurs when there is a blockage that affects the blood flow to your brain.

If you really feel bad, or have been sick for a couple of days, you’d better go to the doctor. You will have to make an appointment , and sometimes it’s very hard to get one quick. Once you are in the examining room , the doctor will take your temperature with a thermometer , and listen to your heart with a stethoscope. He will then probably tell you to go home and go back to bed, because there isn’t much a doctor can do for you if you have a cold.

More serious illnesses

If you have severe, recurring headaches, you may suffer from migraines . With a migraine, in addition to a really bad headache, you may also be dizzy , nauseous and sensitive to light. Headaches could also mean you have a growth , or tumor in your brain, but this is very rare. Tumors can be anywhere on the body, and can be either cancerous or not. The doctor would remove the tumor in an operation, and if it is cancer, you would probably have chemotherapy treatments to kill any cancer cells still in your body.

Injuries

When you have an operation, you can either have it out−patient or in−patient. Out−patient operations are for small easy things, and mean you do not stay

If you just break a bone, you would probably go to an emergency room and would get a plaster . The emergency room is a hospital that treats emergencies, like people who have been injured in a car crash. If you think someone is having a heart attack or other medical emergency, you would either call an ambulance that would take them to the emergency room, or drive them there yourself. The US has one telephone number that is used for emergencies. It’s 911, and if you dial it you can get help from the police, fire department or medical assistance.

If the doctor does think you need a specific medicine, he will write a prescription for it. You can take it to a pharmacy, and in the US or Great Britain, many grocery stores have pharmacies inside.

However, maybe the doctor finds out something else is wrong with you. You could have the flu, which is like a cold with a fever . The stomach flu is different, that’s when you are vomiting or have

21

Important organs of your body

Our bodies are very complicated, and while usually everything is fine, sometimes things can go wrong. If something is wrong on the inside of your body, it may involve one of your organs. The big organs are your heart and lungs . But the stomach , small and large intestines , kidneys , bladder and liver all play an important role in keeping your body functioning. It’s important to treat these organs carefully, because they are the only ones you get. If one of your organs fails , you may be lucky enough to get a transplant. That’s when an organ from someone else’s body is implanted in to yours. This is major surgery, and you will have to take lots of medicine to make sure your body doesn’t reject its new part.

When different parts of your body are working together, we say they form a system. For example, your cardiovascular system is in charge of moving blood throughout your body, while the immune system is responsible for finding and killing bacteria or other viruses that could make us sick. If you are getting sick, your body may warn you by showing you symptoms, like when you start to cough before you have a cold.

In order to prevent some diseases, you can get a vaccine or shot . Babies get lots of these so they don’t get diseases like polio . Eating healthy food and exercising regularly can help keep all our body parts in top condition. Learning first aid will help you be able to help others who may be sick and injured. And remember, if you love your body, it will love you back!

Jacy Meyer (USA)

larynx (“voice box” - helps you speak) lungs heart liver stomach large intestine small intestine

trachea (“wind pipe” - the tube for breathing) diaphragm (a muscle for breathing) kidney spleen (helps the quality of your blood) pancreas (helps your body digest food) bladder

to sneeze [sni:z] − kýchat diabetes [daI@“bi:ti:z] − cukrovka pancreas [“p&NkrI@s] − slinivka bøišní a lack of oxygen [l&k “QksIdZ(@)n] − nedostatek kyslíku blood flow [blVd fl@U] − proudìní krve emergency room [I”m@:dZ(@)nsi] − pohotovost plaster − sádra lungs [lVNz] − plíce stomach − �aludek small / large intestine [In”tEstIn] − tenké / tlusté støevo kidneys [“kIdniz] − ledviny bladder [“bl&d@] − moèový mìchýø liver [“lIv@] − játra if one of your organs fails − pokud nìkterý z vašich orgánù sel�e to reject [rI”dZEkt] − odmítnout to be in charge of − být zodpovìdný za vaccine [“v&ksi:n] − oèkování shot [SQt] − injekce polio [“p@UlI@U] − obrna first aid [eId] − první pomoc

vocabulary

scratchy throat [“skr&tSi Tr@Ut] − škrábání v krku stuffy nose [“stVfi] − ucpaný nos cough drops [kQf] − kapky proti kašli sore throat [sO:] − bolavý krk over−the−counter medicine [“kaUnt@ “mEds(@)n, “mEdIsIn] − léky bez lékaøského pøedpisu noodle [“nu:d(@)l] − nudlová to make an appointment [@“pOIntm(@)nt] − domluvit si návštìvu (u lékaøe) examining room [Ig”z&mInIN] − ordinace thermometer [T@“mQmIt@] − teplomìr prescription [prI”skrIpS(@)n] − pøedpis fever [“fi:v@] − horeèka stomach flu [“stVm@k flu:] − støevní chøipka to vomit [“vQmIt] − zvracet diarrhea [daI@“rI@] − prùjem eye chart − zraková tabule (pro úèel zkoušení zraku) severe [sI”vI@] − vá�ný recuring [rI@“k@:rIN] − vracející se migraine [“mi:greIn] − migréna to be dizzy [“dIzi] − mít závra� to be nauseous [“nO:sI@s] − trpìt nevolností growth [gr@UT] − výrùstek tumor [“tju:m@] − nádor cancerous [“k&ns(@)r@s] − rakovinný cell [sEl] − buòka heart attack [hA:t @“t&k] − infarkt stroke [str@Uk] − mrtvice to admit to the hospital − pøijmout do nemocnice fur [f@:] − chlupy

British versus American English

chemist’s (BrE) − pharmacy, drugstore (AmE) chemist (BrE) − pharmacist, druggist (AmE) GP, general practitioner (BrE) − physician (AmE) health centre (BrE) − clinic (AmE) admissions (BrE) − admitting (AmE) operating theatre (BrE) − surgery, operating room (AmE) diarrhoea (BrE) − diarrhea (AmE) plaster (BrE) − cast (AmE)