Episode 47

EPISODE 47
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 

HEALTH PROBLEMS ON HOLIDAY

I think I may have some health problems during my holiday, so I’m going to prepare for them carefully. It is normal that you get some cuts or bruises (= places where your skin is dark because you hit yourself there), but people can be seriously injured (= can have health problems caused by some kind of an accident), too. I will almost certainly take some plasters (= a piece of fabric which you use when you cut yourself) and bandages (= a long, narrow piece of fabric which you use when you cut yourself really badly) with me. If you go backpacking, it is very easy to hurt yourself (= something bad happens and then you feel pain). You can twist your ankle (= your ankle gets turned very hard to one side, but not broken). Your ankle gets swollen (= a symptom, your ankle is bigger than usual, dark in color) and it can be really painful (= it aches).

 

More contexts for the new words:
He sprained his ankle during his trip to Warsaw.
(= he seriously twisted his ankle)

She was badly bruised, but nothing serious happened to her.
(= She had many bruises, but she was ok apart from that.)

 

EXERCISE 1
Complete the conversation with the missing letters.

Alice: Becky, are you all right?
Becky: I think I’m all right. I fell down the stairs. But I think I only have this big blue (1) b _ _ _ _ e on my knee. I don’t think I have (2) h _ _ t myself seriously.
A: Look! You’ve also got a cut on your forehead! Let’s put some (3) p _ _ _ _ _ r on it.
B: My forehead doesn’t hurt. But my ankle is really (4) p _ _ n _ _ _.
A: Oh no, it’s getting bigger and bigger. It’s really (5) _ _ _ ll _ _. I hope you haven’t (6) _ w _ s _ _ _ or broken it. What shall we do?
B: Let’s put some ice on it, and then some (7) _ _ _ _ _ g _ to keep it together, and we’ll go to hospital.

 

EXERCISE 2
Match the question halves, then answer the questions. What happened in each of the situations?

1. When did you last hurt                                             a. yourself?
2. Do you know anyone who has been seriously     b. swollen?
3. When did you last have something                       c. injured?

 

 

ENGLISH IN USE

What are we going to talk about today? About the future, of course! This is our sentence for today:

I will almost certainly take some plasters.

If you use „almost certainly” in such a sentence, you are nearly 100% sure, you will do it. Look at some other sentences with „almost certainly”

I will almost certainly buy this house.
I will almost certainly live abroad in the future.

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ How are you, Jess?
B/ Not good. I’ve been feeling a bit UNDER THE WEATHER this week.

If you feel under the weather, you don’t feel well.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

1. If you GO DOWN WITH an illness, you get an illness.

Five people in my office have gone down with the flu.
I really don’t want to go down with a cold this year.

 

2. The opposite is to GET OVER an illness. It means ‘to recover.’

It can take a few weeks to get over an illness like that.
Sheila was only just getting over the flu when she got a stomach bug.

 

EXERCISE 3
Complete each of the gaps with one word. Use the phrasal verbs/idioms you’ve learnt.

1. Half of Jane’s class has gone down ……………………… flu.
2. I’m feeling a bit under the ……………………….. – I think I’ve caught a cold.
3. It took him years to get ……………………….. the shock of his wife dying.

 

 

NEWS

 

COACH CRASH

Three people were killed, and seventeen injured in a coach crash which took place last Monday on a German motorway. The death toll includes two Poles. All of the passengers were on their way to a popular tourist resort in Germany. Investigation into the causes of the accidents is under way. Some early stipulations say that the driver might simply have fallen asleep at a steering wheel. Preliminary findings suggest that he had been driving nonstop for almost twenty hours. The German authorities are in the process of informing the families of the victims.

 

GLOSSARY
– a coach – a long-distance bus
– a motorway – a highway; a road where you can travel very fast
– death toll – number of people killed
– stipulations – suggestions

 

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