Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 846, Donating Blood.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 846.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development and in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
I'm going to speak very low today.
No, not really.
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This episode is a dialogue between Michelle and Gabriel about donating or giving some of your blood to people who need it.
Let's get started.
Did you hurt yourself?
No.
Why?
Why?
You have a band-aid on your arm.
Oh, that.
I donated blood today.
You did?
That's great.
I like to donate blood, but every time I get close to a needle, I feel lightheaded.
I'm afraid if I go through with it and they actually draw blood, I'll faint.
What?
That's very admirable.
I know how important it is for hospitals to have a good supply of blood for use in transfusions.
I don't mind doing it.
It's not a big deal.
But it is a big deal.
If relief organizations didn't have enough blood when they traveled to disaster areas, they couldn't help the injured people there.
I'm sure that's why you do it, right?
Well... Well what?
There is a particularly pretty nurse who works in the bloodmobile.
Michelle begins by saying to Gabriel, Did you hurt yourself?
Gabriel says, No, why?
Michelle says, You have a band-aid on your arm.
A band-aid, B-A-N-D hyphen A-I-D, is...
Actually, the name of a product of a company here in the United States, it's a bandage.
It's a small piece of cotton that has a piece of tape on it that you put over a cut on your skin.
So if you cut your finger and it's bleeding, blood is coming out, you might put a band-aid on it.
That is a bandage.
We say band-aid even when it's not the bandage made by that company.
We have another similar term, Kleenex K-L-E-E-N-I-X, which is basically tissue paper you use to blow your nose, to clean out the inside of your nose, if you will.
We say Kleenex, even though that's technically just one company's tissue paper.
Michelle is asking if Gabriel hurt himself because he has a Band-Aid on his arm.
Gabriel says, oh, that I donated blood today.
To donate blood means to give some of your blood to a hospital or to an organization like the Red Cross to help people who need blood.
When you get hurt or sick and go to a hospital, often they need to give you more blood.
Where do they get the blood?
From people who donate it.
Michelle says, you did?
That's great.
I'd like to donate blood, but every time I get close to a needle, I feel lightheaded.
A needle, N-E-E-D-L-E, is that long, sharp thing they put inside of your body.
They Basically, put a hole in your skin in order to get the blood out.
You also use a needle for putting something into your body, like a drug.
Light-headed is the same as dizzy, a feeling that you may fall down.
It feels like the world is spinning around you.
That's to feel light-headed.
Michelle says, I'm afraid if I go through with it and they actually draw blood, I'll faint.
To go through with something means to do something that is perhaps difficult or even a little dangerous, but you go ahead and do it anyway.
Have the courage, the strength to do this difficult thing.
Michelle is afraid that if she goes through with it, if she actually goes to a place to donate her blood and they actually draw blood, meaning they actually take blood out of her I'll faint.
To faint, F-A-I-N-T, is to basically lose consciousness.
You fall asleep.
If you are standing, fall down and become unconscious.
Typically for a short period of time.
I've only fainted once in my life.
I was...
Yeah, that was a long time ago.
I was sitting at a chair and someone was rubbing my neck.
I know it sounds a little weird, but someone was rubbing my neck and it was so relaxing that I fainted.
I can remember that very well.
It was probably 25 years ago.
Well, some people faint when they hear bad news.
Some people faint when they see something they don't like, like blood.
Michelle is afraid that she'll faint if she actually goes and donates blood.
Gabriel says, because he's a man, I'm used to it.
I give blood all the time.
The needle doesn't bother me, meaning it doesn't cause me any problems.
Michelle says that's very admirable.
Something that is admirable.
A-D-M-I-R-A-B-L-E is something that is impressive, something that other people respect, other people realize is important.
Michelle says I know how important it is for hospitals to have a good supply of blood for use in transfusions.
Transfusions are when a doctor at a.
They are transferring someone else's blood into your body for some medical reason.
Gabriel says, I don't mind doing it.
I don't mind means it doesn't bother me.
It's not a problem.
He says it's not a big deal, meaning it's nothing that's very important, nothing that causes any trouble.
Michelle then says it is a big deal.
Here, big deal means something important, something makes a difference.
She says, if relief organizations didn't have enough blood when they traveled to disaster areas, they couldn't help the injured people there.
Relief organizations are organizations like the Red Cross or the Red Crescent that go into areas where people are suffering, perhaps because of a war or a hurricane or some other natural disaster, some other terrible event.
And They help people in those areas.
They give them food, water, and so forth.
Michelle says, A disaster, D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R, area, is an area where something very bad has happened.
A war, a hurricane, an earthquake, that sort of thing.
To help injured people... means to help people who are hurt.
To be injured, I-N-J-U-R-E-D, means that you are hurt.
You have some part of your body that has been hurt or been damaged.
Maybe you broke your leg.
Maybe you've been cut, whatever the injury is.
Michelle says, I'm sure that's why you do it, right?
She's saying to Gabriel, I'm sure the reason you donate your blood is to help people who need help.
These relief organizations, for example.
Gabriel says, well, Michelle says, well, what?
He doesn't seem to want to give the real answer.
And then he does.
He says, there is a particularly pretty nurse who works in the blood mobile.
Now we find out why Gabriel goes and donates his blood.
It's not because he wants to be a good person.
It's because there's an attractive, a physically attractive, good-looking nurse working In the blood mobile.
A nurse N-U-R-S-E is a professional who helps doctors.
Many nurses, most nurses, are female in most countries, but there are also, of course, male nurses.
But Male nurses are the exception.
In fact typically, if you are a nurse who is male, we'll often use the expression male nurse so that people know that you're not a woman.
Of course, if they saw you, they'd probably know you're not a woman, but you know what I mean.
Well, Gabriel happens to like a pretty nurse who works in the blood mobile.
The blood mobile...
B-L-O-O-D-M-O-B-I-L-E one word is a large van or truck that travels around from place to place, and inside of it it has equipment needed so that you can donate blood.
Bloodmobiles are very popular in the United States.
They go to buildings or to big events and allow people to donate blood so they don't have to go to a hospital or to a doctor's office.
Michelle now understands why Gabriel wants to donate blood so often.
He wants to go and talk to the pretty nurse.
The question is, does the pretty nurse want to talk to Gabriel?
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Did you hurt yourself?
No, why?
You have a band-aid on your arm.
Oh, that.
I donated blood today.
You did?
That's great.
I'd like to donate blood, but every time I get close to a needle, I feel lightheaded.
I'm afraid if I go through with it and they actually draw blood, I'll faint.
I'm used to it.
I give blood all the time.
The needle doesn't bother me.
That's very admirable.
I know how important it is for hospitals to have a good supply of blood for use in transfusions.
I don't mind doing it.
It's not a big deal.
But it is a big deal.
If relief organizations didn't have enough blood when they traveled to disaster areas, they couldn't help the injured people there.
I'm sure that's why you do it, right?
Well... Well what?
There is a particularly pretty nurse who works in the bloodmobile.
Ah.
I think the scripts written by our own Dr. Lucy Say are very admirable.
I hope you do, too.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
