中级口语教程13

中级口语教程13

Lesson 13 What's Wrong with Them? Text A I'm forty and married with two children. My trouble is that I haven't got enough to do. The kids are at school all day and the house is empty. So I eat chocolates, mostly. I've put on a lot of weight , but I can't give them up. I try as hard as I can but I just can't stop eating. Doctor Bruce writes : I think Mrs Allen would be happier if she found a job, or if she got out of the house more and made some interesting friends. If she did that, I think the weight problem would be solved. I'm sixteen. My trouble is my spotty skin. I've used all the creams on the market, but none of them do any good. And now I've met a marvellous girl. But I'm afraid to ask her to go out with me. Doctor Bruce writes: Most teenagers suffer from this, of course, at some time or other. And it makes them very shy and self-conscious. 'What will other people think of me, if they see me like this?' they wonder. And it's a pity, because if they didn't worry so much, the skin trouble would soon disappear. Tom should learn a relaxation technique, yoga for example. Then I think he'd solve the problem very quickly. My problem is time. I haven't enough of it. I sleep badly, and I wake up tired. I get indigestion every day and now I'm beginning to get bad headaches and pains in my chest. And don't tell me to take a holiday, doctor. I haven't got time. Doctor Bruce writes ; If Mr Tyler had more common sense ,he'd find the time to have a holiday, or change his job. If he thought for a minute, he'd see that he can't go on like this. He should rest more. Then he'd work better. But that's the silly thing about men like him. They only believe they're ill when they're almost dead. Text B Dear Doctor : I am forty-seven years old, male, and of average height and weight. My health generally seems quite good except for one problem. I wake up every morning feeling tired-so tired that I can hardly get out of bed. All day at work I fight this tired feeling, just dragging myself around. When I get home from work around 5. 30, I have a good dinner with my family and then sit dow n to read the newspaper. But before I have finished reading the front

page, I fall asleep in my chair and often sleep until 8. 30 or 9. 00 p.m. When I wake up from this nap, I feel wonderful. I'm full of energy and ready to do a day's work. But at that hour there is nothing to do but watch television, which I do until after midnight. Even at midnight I still do not feel sleepy, but I know I ought to get a good night's rest, so I take a sleeping pill and go to bed. It's often two o'clock in the morning before the pill puts me to sleep. Just a few hours after that I have to drag myself out of bed again to go to work. All day I feel too tired to work. I just drag myself around until it's time to go home. Do you think there might be something wrong with my blood? J. T. L. When this letter appeared in the DEAR DOCTOR column of a newspaper, the doctor's reply zeras printed belozo it. Here is mhat the doctor answered : Dear Mr L. : I don't think there is anything wrong with your blood. The key to your problem is that long nap after dinner. If you didn't sleep for hours during the early part of the evening, you would be more ready to sleep at bedtime. If you didn't nap after dinner, you would not want to stay up so late, and you would not feel the need to take a sleeping pill. The pill is still working in your system when you get up in the morning. This helps account for the fact that you feel tired all day. You should get out of the habit of sleeping during the evening. Right after your