Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 595, Suffering from Allergies.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 595.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Victor and his doctor.
Victor is suffering from allergies.
An allergy is a kind of illness where you eat something or you breathe something that gives you an uncomfortable reaction.
Basically, it makes you sick.
Let's get started.
Oh, doctor, you've got to help me.
Try to relax.
What seems to be the problem?
I'm sneezing all the time, and my eyes are itchy and watery.
My sinuses are killing me.
I have headaches all the time, and nothing I do seems to help.
What is this on your skin?
I don't know.
I've had red spots all over my body.
They look like hives to me.
Are you experiencing any shortness of breath?
Well, my chest feels constricted and it's hard to breathe.
I think you may be experiencing a severe allergy attack.
I started my first job.
That could be your problem.
I knew it.
I'm allergic to work.
Victor says to his doctor, The doctor says, What seems to be the problem?
What is wrong with you?
The doctor is asking.
What seems to be the problem?
Victor says, I'm sneezing all the time, and my eyes are itchy and watery.
To sneeze S-N-E-E-Z-E means to have air pushed out your nose in a somewhat short and uncontrollable way.
Basically, to sneeze is to go like this.
Achoo!
In English, a sneeze is typically spelled achoo, A-C-H-O-O.
I don't know why, but we actually make that sound when we are imitating a sneeze.
Victor is sneezing and his eyes are itchy.
I-T-C-H-Y To itch means that you have this unpleasant, uncomfortable feeling on your skin.
When you say your eyes are itchy, you mean that you feel like rubbing them in order to get rid of this uncomfortable sensation, this uncomfortable feeling.
Watery means with a lot of water.
So if your eyes are watery, there is a lot of water in your eye, perhaps even coming out of your eye.
When you cry, your eyes are watery.
Victor isn't crying, but he is in pain somewhat, because he has the sneezing, the itchiness and the watery eyes.
The doctor says to Victor, tilt your head back so I can take a look at your nasal passages.
To tilt, T-I-L-T, means to move something that was straight up and down at an angle.
You push something back, usually, when you tilt something, something that was straight up and down.
The famous Leaning Tower of Pisa... in Italy is a huge building that tilts.
It is not straight up and down like you would normally expect in a building.
Although normally we would probably use this verb more for smaller things.
For example, you have a bookcase where you keep your books, but it isn't even on the bottom.
And so perhaps it tilts to the left or to the right or tilts back.
The doctor is telling Victor to put his head back.
Tilt his head back so he can look at his nasal N-A-S-A-L passages.
Nasal refers to your nose holes, to openings that connect eventually to your lungs and allow you to breathe.
The doctor wants to take a look at these nasal passages.
He says you're very congested.
To be congested means that your nose and perhaps your breathing tube, which allows you to breathe in and out of your mouth, are not working correctly.
There is liquid or something that is preventing you from breathing easily, especially out of your nose in this case.
Victor says S-I-N-U-S-E-S are two small empty spaces inside your head, above your nose, that are connected to your nose.
Sometimes if you are sick...
Your sinuses fill with liquid and can give you a headache.
That is what is happening to Victor.
He says, my sinuses are killing me.
When we say something is killing me, we mean it is hurting me or it is damaging me in some way.
He says, I have headaches all the time.
The doctor then says Victor says A spot S-P-O-T is a small area that has a different color or a different feel than the surrounding area.
Animals often have spots.
A dog, for example, might have a very dark brown spot somewhere on its body, and the rest of his body might be light brown.
That would be an example.
Victor has red spots on his body, on his skin.
The word spot, as well as the verb to tilt, have other meanings in English that can be found in today's learning guide.
The doctor says that these red spots look like hives.
Hives H-I-V-E-S are hives red, uncomfortable spots on your skin that are caused either by some disease or by allergies.
Allergies are when you have an uncomfortable reaction to something you eat, something you touch or something you breathe.
You can sometimes have problems like sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, congestion, sinus pain.
All of the things that Victor has could be from this negative reaction he's having to something.
That is to say, an allergy.
The doctor then asks, are you experiencing any shortness of breath?
Shortness of breath means you have difficulty breathing.
Victor says well, my chest, the top part of my body, where your lungs are, feels constricted and it's hard to breathe.
Constricted means limited, tightened, narrow, something that is unable to expand, to get bigger.
And if your chest feels constricted, it's like your lungs can't work properly.
You can't breathe properly.
He says, it's hard to breathe.
It's hard to bring air into my lungs and out again.
The doctor says, I think you may be experiencing or having a severe allergy attack.
An allergy attack is a period of time when you are being bothered by these allergies, and Severe just means very strong or serious.
The doctor says, I'm going to refer you to an allergist.
To refer someone to someone else means you are going to recommend that person.
Use this other person's services.
In the United States, if you are sick, usually you go see what is called a general practitioner, a doctor who is not an expert necessarily in one thing, but knows a little bit about all different kinds of medicine.
And if the doctor can't help you, he'll refer you to a specialist, someone who is an expert in that one area.
Well, an allergist is someone who is an expert in allergies.
I went to an allergist a couple of years ago.
My allergy started bothering me seriously about two, three years ago.
And the allergist gave me some pills.
He gave me some other medicine to help me with my allergies.
Sometimes, if you hear that my voice is a little deep and it sounds like I have a cold, that's probably because my allergies are bothering me that day, the day I record that episode, like today,
The doctor says...
Victor says, The doctor says, Victor says, I'm allergic to work.
To be allergic A-L-L-E-R-G-I-C to something means that you have this negative physical reaction whenever you are near that thing or touch that thing.
Some people are allergic to cats.
If there's a cat in the room, they have this uncomfortable reaction.
I am not allergic to cats, but I still have an uncomfortable reaction when they are in the room.
Well, here Victor is making a joke.
He's saying, I'm allergic to work.
It's work that is making me sick.
Sometimes we all feel that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, doctor, you've got to help me.
Try to relax.
What seems to be the problem?
I'm sneezing all the time and my eyes are itchy and watery.
Tilt your head back so I can take a look at your nasal passages.
You're very congested.
My sinuses are killing me.
I have headaches all the time and nothing I do seems to help.
What is this on your skin?
I don't know.
I've had red spots all over my body.
They look like hives to me.
Are you experiencing any shortness of breath?
Well my chest feels constricted and it's hard to breathe.
I think you may be experiencing a severe allergy attack.
I'm going to refer you to an allergist.
What were you doing right before you started experiencing these symptoms?
I started my first job.
That could be your problem.
I knew it.
I'm allergic to work.
We're glad our script writer is not allergic to work.
That's because we enjoy the scripts written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time here 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.
