I love my job

Recording 1

Margaret Oliver works in a hospital. Here she talks about her job.

1.

I’m a phisiotherapist. My job is to help people who have been injured. Many of my patients have had road accidents. I show them how to walk again, or move their arms, or bend their backs. It’s a difficult job and not very well paid, but it’s very interesting. I really love it. The only thing I don’t like is the long hours. Sometimes I come home from work so tired that I just fall asleep in front of the television. I’m too tired to go out - even with my boyfriend, Joe. He doesn’t like it when I work late. He says I work too hard, but he doesn’t understand that a phisiotherapist has to work hard. If she doesn’t, her patients won’t get better.

2.

Of course, working in the hospital isn’t always enjoyable. Some days nothing goes right and then it’s very frustrating. I get annoyed when nurses don’t do what I tell them to do. Some of the young ones don’t seem to listen to what I say. That makes me angry. I feel quite depressed sometimes. But then some of my patients come back to see me. That happened yesterday. It was a young girl who had smashed her arm in a bad accident. We sat in my room and had a cup of coffee. She told me she was back at work and she showed me how well she could move her arm now. That really cheered me up. It always does.

3.

The hospital I work in is about forty miles from London. It’s quite old, but it’s got all the latest equipment. I like most of the people I work with - they’re super. My patients are super too. And some are very interesting. Last week, for instance, I had a young footballer called Don. He had broken his leg in three places. He was afraid he would never play football again. I had to tell him that he would soon get better. I told him to be patient and not to worry. A phisiotherapist has to do that quite often - reassure her patients, I mean.

4.

Working with older people is much more difficult. They take much longer to get better. A lot of the older patients don’t want to leave hospital at all. They feel safe there and they have lots of friends. I go and visit them at home when I can, but it’s hard to get the time. Some of them will never really get well again. I feel sorry for them, but you can’t show them how you feel. You’ve just got to be cheerful and do what you can. I always try to do my best for all my patients. You can’t do more than that, can you?

(from Kernel Three, by R.O’Neill, A.McLean. Unit 5A)

UNIT 2

Lesson A

A day in my life

Recording 2

1.

I normally get up at seven o’clock, but today I didn’t have to start work until half past eight, so I stayed in bed for another half-hour. That was lovely. I switched on the radio and just listened to it with my eyes closed. Then I got up, washed and had breakfast. Usually, I just have some cereal, but today I made myself a proper breakfast: orange juice, a boiled egg, tea and toast.

I left home at a quarter past eight. My flat isn’t far from the hospital. In the summer, I sometimes walk to work. But if the weather’s bad, I often drive to work.

2.

My first job this morning was to see a patient who had hurt his back. He’d lifted a bag of potatoes and hurt himself because he hadn’t picked it up correctly. I gave him some heat treatment and told him to get as much rest as possible. Then it was time for what I call my ‘knee class’. These are people who have all injured their knees in some way. I show them exercises that will strengthen their knees. They’re a great group and we always have lots of fun together.

3.

I was a bit worried today because Steve Bell hadn’t turned up. Steve is a young lad of seventeen who crashed his motor-bike a few months ago. He’s improved a lot since then, but he still needs to come to the class. So I asked one of the nurses where he was.

‘Oh’, she said, ‘Steve’s knee is a lot better now, so I thought you wouldn’t need him today.’ ‘Oh, did you?’ I replied. ‘Well, let me remind you, Nurse Walker, that I am the physiotherapist here and I will make decisions about my patients - not you. I want to see Mr. Bell at my class right now.’ And I turned and walked away. I was furious.

4.

At twelve-thirty I had lunch in the canteen. I didn’t eat much because I’ve put on some weight recently and I want to take it off before the summer. I just had a cup of coffee and an apple.

After lunch, I went to see my favourite patient, Edie. She’s eighty-five now and she’s got a bad chest. I’m sure she’ll never leave hospital now. I can’t really do much for her, but she always likes to see me. She doesn’t say very much, but she loves to hear what I’ve been doing. I was just telling her about Steve when Nurse Walker came in. She said that Mrs. Callan, the head physiotherapist wanted to see me. I tried to find out what she wanted, but Nurse Walker said she didn’t know. So I said goodbye to Edie and went to see Mrs. Callan, wondering why she wanted to see me.

(from Kernel Three, by R.O’Neill, A.McLean. Unit 6)

UNIT 2

Lesson B

The rumour

Secretary I’m afraid Mr. Joyce isn’t here. He’s gone to the hospital to see his

grandmother.

Man Is Mr. Joyce here?

Secretary No, he’s gone to the hospital.

Man Oh? He wanted me to wash his car. Did he leave the keys?

Secretary His car isn’t here, I’m afraid. The police towed it away.

Man Did you hear that Mr. Joyce had gone to hospital?

Woman No, what happened?

Man A car crash, I think. Anyway, the police have towed away the

wreckage.

Woman Oh, dear. I saw an ambulance on my way to work.

Woman Have you heard about Mr. Joyce? He was rushed to hospital by
ambulance at 8.45 this morning. He had a serious car crash.

Man Perhaps we should send Mr. Joyce something.

Woman How about some fruit? I saw some very nice strawberries this morning.

Man I was told that Joyce was allergic to strawberries.

Man Has anyone told you about Mr. Joyce?

Woman No... what about him?

Man He crashed his car. It’s a complete write-off. He’s in hospital...intensive care, I heard.

Woman Are they going to operate?

Man Well, I’m not sure. I heard that he’s got a lot of allergies.

Woman Did you know about poor Mr. Joyce? He’s in hospital after a terrible car crash, but they can’t operate because he’s allergic to antibiotics.

Man My sister was treated for her allergies by a Swiss specialist.

Man Do you know how Mr. Joyce is?

Woman Oh, you’ve heard too. Bad news travels fast. I hear that he needs to see a Swiss specialist.

Man That’s going to be expensive.

Woman Yes, but there are 3.000 people working here. Let’s have a collection to raise the money.

Woman We’re collecting for Mr. Joyce.

Man Who’s he?

Woman He works in the Accounts Department. He had an awful crash. They are flying a surgeon in from Geneva. He’ll never work again.

Man Oh dear... well, here’s a pound.

Mr. Joyce Hello, where is everyone?

Secretary I’ve got no idea, Mr. Joyce. How was your grandmother?

Mr. Joyce Oh, she was fine. It wasn’t a heart attack - just indigestion, that’s all. I’d better go and collect my car from the police station. You know, I’d only parked on a double yellow line while I was getting her some flowers, and they towed it away...

(from Streamline English. Directions, by P.Viney. Unit 4)

UNIT 3

Lesson A

Vivisection

Presenter Good morning everybody. I’m Joe Templer. It’s eleven o’clock which means it’s time for another edition of Crosstalk, the phone-in programme which looks at today’s hot issues. The subject of today’s discussion is whether vivisection – that’s experimenting on live animals – is ever justified. Now if you want to take part in today’s debate, the number to ring is 01 – if you’re outside London – 833 3974. But before that, in the studio I have two guests to open the debate. They are Professor Anna Wright from Queen Margaret Hospital and Peter Savage of the Free the Animals Movement. Good morning to the both of you.

Anna Wright Good morning.

Peter Savage Good morning.

Presenter OK then, if you’d like to put your point of view first, Professor Wright.

Anna Wright Thank you. Now I must state categorically that for advances in medicine we count on being able to carry out experiments on animals. Without them, there would be no progress. We are unable to observe human beings in scientifically controlled conditions so unfortunately we have to rely on animals. Medicine has made enormous advances based on the results of vivisection. For example, our knowledge of the nervous system is largely due to vivisection. It has allowed us to find cures for many illnesses. Diptheria, smallpox and TB used to be killers in the old days but not any more. If you were bitten by a dog with rabies, you had very little chance of surviving. Now there is an antidote. Cancer recovery rates have greatly improved thanks to the work done on animals. And I’m afraid drugs have to be tested on animals prior to their release on the market to check for side effects. Nobody takes any pride in causing suffering and I can assure the listeners it is kept to an absolute minimum.

Presenter Thank you very much, Professor Wright. Over to you, Peter.

Peter Savage Thanks. I’d like to start by saying that I’m speaking on behalf of animals. On the issue of testing drugs on animals for side effects in human beings, as we know from the thalidomide case, it’s very difficult to predict what the effect of a drug will be on human beings from tests done on animals. They just don’t tell us the whole story. As for understanding the nervous system, I think most experts would agree that this could have been done equally well by careful observation and nothing more. Professor Wright points to the reduction in the number of deaths from diseases like diphtheria, TB and smallpox. This is utter nonsense because these diseases were in decline already and they’ve been on the decline primarily because of improvements in hygiene, not animal experiments. No, the whole thing is rubbish. If we look at penicillin and aspirin, two of the most famous modern drugs, these drugs were found by accident! So much for medical research! And Professor Wright’s argument completely ignores the moral dimension. The point is experiments on animals should be stopped because they are cruel and inhumane. Dogs are made to smoke cigarettes and rats and mice have shampoo and cosmetics squirted in their eyes to see what will happen. Dogs don’t smoke and mice don’t wash their hair. Very often these animals have suffered so much they have to be put down. Basically, we should take care of animals not take advantage of them.

Presenter Thanks, Peter. OK then. So it’s over to you, the listeners. Our first call...

(from Think First Certificate, by J.Naunton. Unit 10)

UNIT 3

Lesson B

Toothache

A. Look at this article about teeth.

B. Teeth? What does it say?

A. Well, apparently they’ve found a cure for tooth decay.

B. Really? I can’t believe that’s possible.

A. Yes. It says here we all eat far too much sugar, and that’s what causes toothache.

B. I know that.

A. Yes, well. There’s these bacteria that convert sugar into acids, and they attack the teeth and make holes in them. Well, now they’ve found a vaccine to attack the bacteria. They did tests on monkeys and it’s completely safe.

B. That’s good news. How do you get the vaccine?

A. It’s not ready yet, but when it is, you’ll get it from... Oh I don’t think it says in the article. I suppose you’ll get it from your dentist. Anyway, they’re going to give it to all kids when they’re three.

B. What a clever idea.

(from Headway Intermediate, by J. and L.Soars. Unit 13)

UNIT 4

Lesson A

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