Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 589, Having Skin Problems.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 589.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download an 8-10 page learning guide for this episode that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is a dialogue between a doctor and the mother of a young boy.
They're going to be talking about the problems that this young boy has with his skin, the medical problems,
Let's get started.
Doctor, this is my son Danny.
I brought him in so you could look at his rash.
Okay, Danny.
Have a seat on the exam table.
How long have you had the rash?
My son has had that rash for about two weeks.
It started out as a blister, and then it got really itchy and turned red.
Could it be an infection?
I'll need to take a closer look at it first before I can tell you that.
I hope it's not anything serious.
I hope it's not skin cancer.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Okay, let's take a look.
While you're at it, could you look at this bump on Danny's neck?
I think it's a mole.
That looks like a birthmark, but I'll take a look.
And could you look at this wart?
If you remove it, will it leave a scar?
I'm not sure it is a wart.
Let me examine it first and I'll tell you what treatment I recommend.
Oh and doctor, could you look at Danny's pimples?
He just started getting them I had really bad acne when I was his age Is there anything else?
Well, since you asked We begin with the mother saying, Doctor, this is my son, Danny.
I brought him in, I brought him here, so you could look at his rash, R-A-S-H.
A rash is when you have a group of red, small red marks on your skin.
Oftentimes they are itchy.
You feel like you need to take one of your hands and move it rapidly across the rash back and forth to stop this feeling of itchiness.
We would call that scratching the itch.
Well, that's what Danny has.
The doctor says, okay, Danny, have a seat on the exam table.
The exam table or the examination table.
Exam is just short.
For examination table is sort of a bed-like table in a doctor's office where the patient can sit or lie down so the doctor can look at the patient.
The doctor says, Now he asks that to the boy, Danny, but the mother responds instead.
My son has had that rash for about two weeks.
It started out as a blister but then it got really itchy and turned red.
To start out is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning to begin in a certain way.
Especially, we use the expression to start out, this phrasal verb, when something begins one way, but then at the end there's a different result.
Something changes.
She started out working as a waitress in a restaurant, and after a few years, she was in the movies.
Typical Los Angeles story, I guess.
Usually they continue to be waiters and waitresses for the rest of their lives.
But In the Hollywood version you start as a lowly employee working at a cafe and then you are suddenly a big movie star.
I'm waiting for that to happen to me.
That's what to start out means.
There are actually some other meanings of this expression, and those can be found in today's learning guide.
A blister...
B-L-I-S-T-E-R, is a small area of your skin that is raised.
It's a little higher up than the other skin around it, and there's liquid inside.
Typically, if you are wearing shoes, for example, that are too tight, and your foot is Itchy.
I-T-C-H-Y.
We mentioned earlier.
It's the sensation, the feeling that you want to scratch something, that you want to take your hand and your fingernails and put it over the skin, rubbing it back and forth.
That's the sensation of something being itchy.
The son has something that started out as a blister and then it got really itchy and turned red.
Could it be an infection, the mother asks.
An infection is a medical condition caused by bacteria entering some part of your body and It makes you sicker.
It's a kind of illness, we could say.
The mother is wondering whether this rash that started out as a blister is an infection.
The doctor says, I'll need to take a closer look at it first before I can tell you that.
He needs to examine it.
The mother says, I hope it's not anything serious.
I hope it's not skin cancer.
Skin cancer is a serious disease where you have what are called cancerous cells that multiply, that grow.
This happens sometimes if you get too much sun, you can get skin cancer.
Skin cancer is usually caught early and if it is, it's not a problem to get rid of it.
It's not like some of the other kinds of cancer.
The doctor said, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The mother is worried that the son has cancer and the doctor is telling her not to get ahead of herself.
That is, don't start making plans or doing things before you really understand what you have to do.
You don't have enough information to make a decision yet.
That's to get ahead of yourself.
The mother immediately thinks the worst.
The doctor says, let's take a look.
And again the mother interrupts and says while you're at it meaning, while you are doing that, you are asking them to do something else.
In this case, the mother wants him to look at this bump, B-U-M-P, on Danny's neck.
She says, I think it's a mole.
A bump is a small raised area of something.
It could be on your skin.
There could be a bump on your desk if there was a problem with your desk.
It's not completely flat or smooth.
This is a bump on Danny's neck. which the mother thinks might be a mole, M-O-L-E.
Here, a mole means a small, dark, usually brown mark on your skin.
It's usually slightly raised.
It's usually a bit higher than the skin around it, though that isn't always the case.
The doctor says, that looks like a birthmark, but I'll take a look.
A birthmark.
One word is an area of your skin that is a different color than the area around it, and that's the way it has been since you were born.
Your skin has always been that way.
We call those things birthmarks.
It's kind of scary looking, actually, but it's okay.
I tell people it's a tattoo, which it isn't.
The mother says then, And could you look at this wart?
If you remove it, will it leave a scar?
A wart is a small spot on your skin that is dark, not usually brown.
It's raised up above the rest of the skin and it is typically very hard.
It's almost like you have a very hard piece of rock on your skin.
That's called a wart.
A scar is what can happen sometimes when you cut your skin.
If it's a deep cut, a serious one sometimes, after the wound, the opening in your skin has healed, has become better, there's a little mark on your skin where you cut it.
That would be a scar.
So the doctor is being asked if he removes the wart, will that leave a scar on little Danny's skin?
The doctor says, I'm not sure it is a wart.
Let me examine it first, and I'll tell you what treatment I recommend.
Of course, the mother won't let the doctor actually do his job and examine the patient.
Danny, treatment is what you do to cure a disease or to fix an injury that you have.
That's how it's used here.
The doctor says, I can't tell you the treatment until I look at it.
The mother says, oh, and doctor, could you look at Danny's pimples?
He just started getting them.
I had really bad acne when I was his age.
So the mother is having the doctor look at yet another thing.
That's Danny's pimples.
A pimple, P-I-M-P-L-E, is sometimes informally called a zit, Z-I-T.
But pimple is a little nicer sounding word.
It's a small red spot often on your face that might be caused by having too much oil in your skin.
It's something that happens to teenagers quite frequently, but it can also happen to adults.
Well, Danny has pimples and he just started getting them.
The mother said that I had really bad acne when I was his age.
Acne A-C-N-E is a skin condition where you have lots of different pimples on your skin, especially your face and your neck.
Again, that's the general condition of having pimples.
It's called having acne.
The doctor says, is there anything else?
The mother says well, since you asked.
The phrase since you asked means that you have another question or you have more information, but you were waiting for the other person to indicate some interest.
You weren't going to ask them or tell them, but since they asked you, well then you are going to ask the question or give the information.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Doctor, this is my son Danny.
I brought him in so you could look at his rash.
Okay, Danny, have a seat on the exam table.
How long have you had the rash?
My son has had that rash for about two weeks.
It started out as a blister, and then it got really itchy and turned red.
Could it be an infection?
I'll need to take a closer look at it first before I can tell you that.
I hope it's not anything serious.
I hope it's not skin cancer.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Okay, let's take a look.
While you're at it, could you look at this bump on Danny's neck?
I think it's a mole.
That looks like a birthmark, but I'll take a look.
And could you look at this wart?
If you remove it, will it leave a scar?
I'm not sure it is a wart.
Let me examine it first, and I'll tell you what treatment I recommend.
Oh, and doctor, could you look at Danny's pimples?
He just started getting them.
I had really bad acne when I was his age.
Is there anything else?
Well, since you asked.
Who wrote today's script?
Well, since you asked, it's Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
