Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1047, Having Breathing Problems.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1047.
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 called Having Breathing Problems, a dialogue between Russ and Cheryl with vocabulary related to breathing putting air into your lungs and breathing out again.
Let's get started.
Why are you wheezing like that?
Maybe you should get that checked out.
You could have asthma.
Do you really think so?
My nasal passages have been stopped up, so I just thought I had a bad cold.
My sinuses hurt, too.
I'm not a doctor, but you may have something more serious, maybe bronchitis or pneumonia.
You need a chest x-ray or something.
Why do you sound hopeful that you have a serious condition?
I'm not.
That would be stupid.
And yet, you sounded positively giddy that you might be laid up for a couple of weeks.
Does this have anything to do with your upcoming business trip to Abramville?
If you had to go to Abramville, wouldn't you wish for an out too?
Any out?
Our dialogue begins with Russ saying to Cheryl, why are you wheezing like that?
To wheeze W-H-E-E-Z-E means to make a loud sound while breathing, usually because you're having problems breathing.
Perhaps you're not getting enough oxygen into your lungs.
To wheeze is to... That could be an example of wheezing.
Cheryl says I'm not wheezing I'm just a little short of breath.
To be short of breath.
B-R-E-A-T-H means that you have to breathe quickly in order to get enough oxygen into your lungs, and Usually we are short of breath when we are doing a lot of physical activity or we're running up a set of stairs.
You might become short of breath.
You might have a little bit of difficulty breathing, especially if you're not used to doing a lot of physical activity.
Cheryl says, my lungs feel like they've closed up.
Your lungs.
L-U-N-G-S are the organs in your body, the parts of your body that bring in air and expel air.
We would say you inhale air.
I-N-H-A-L-E when you put air into your lungs and then you exhale E-X-H-A-L-E when the air goes out of your lungs, when it is pushed out of your lungs.
Cheryl says her lungs feel like they've closed up.
To close up normally means to no longer be open, but here it probably means something more like not having enough room to move or to expand.
Russ says maybe you should get that checked out.
To get something checked, C-H-E-C-K-E-D, out, means to have something looked at, investigated.
The phrasal verb to check out means to look at, to investigate.
We use the phrase to get something checked out, typically when we're talking about some sort of medical issue.
Say you have a...
Someone may say to you you should get that checked out, meaning you should go to a doctor or a nurse and have them look at it and make sure there's nothing wrong with you.
Russ says you could have asthma.
Asthma.
A-S-T-H-M-A is a medical condition that makes it very difficult for people to breathe properly and easily.
My older brothers had asthma and my father had asthma.
Quite a serious case of asthma, actually.
Cheryl says, do you really think so?
The word nasal, N-A-S-A-L, refers to your nose.
A passage is area where something moves in and out of or goes through.
So your nasal passages are the parts of your nose where the air goes in and out, where you breathe in, you inhale and you breathe out you exhale.
Of course, you can also breathe in and breathe out with your mouth, But the nasal passages refer specifically to your nose.
Cheryl says her nasal passages have been stopped up.
To be stopped up means that there is something blocking the passage so that things cannot move through easily or at all.
You could also talk about, say, the pipes that are connected to your sink as being stopped up.
If you put a bunch of food down into the pipes that drain the water from your sink, the pipe might become stopped up.
When we're talking about pipes and sinks and toilets, we actually use another verb more typically, which is clogged.
C-L-O-G-G-E-D.
To be clogged up means the same as to be stopped up.
What's supposed to move through this area?
This passage is not able to because something is stopping it.
That's the problem that Cheryl has with her nasal passages.
She's not able to breathe easily or at all through her nose because her nasal passages have been stopped up.
She continues, my sinuses hurt too.
Your sinuses S-I-N-U-S-E-S are open areas inside the bones of your face that are connected to your nasal passages.
So it's part of your breathing system, you might call it.
People often have problems with their sinuses.
Sometimes your sinuses can get an infection so that they hurt sometimes quite a lot.
I've had a sinus infection myself.
It's very painful.
But enough about me.
Back to Cheryl and Russ.
Russ says, I'm not a doctor.
But you may have something more serious, maybe bronchitis or pneumonia.
You need a chest x-ray or something.
Russ says he's not a doctor, but he thinks that Cheryl might have a more serious illness or problem with her body.
He says that she may have bronchitis.
Br-o-n-c-h-i-t-i-s.
Bronchitis is a condition where you have typically an infection of the tubes, the passages that lead into the lungs.
Usually it causes coughing and difficulty breathing. and can be quite serious.
You'll need to go to a doctor to get medicine if you have bronchitis, usually.
Russ says that Cheryl might also have pneumonia.
Pneumonia, P-N-E-U-M-O-N-I-A, notice the P is silent, we don't pronounce it, is also an infection that Related to your lungs, when you have pneumonia, your lungs often fill with a fluid, a liquid, which makes it difficult to breathe.
A pneumonia can also be quite serious.
In fact, you can die from pneumonia.
Russ tells Cheryl that she needs a chest x-ray.
Your chest C-H-E-S-T is the upper part of your body, where your lungs are located, as well as your heart and a few other things.
An x-ray is a special photograph that they take of the inside of your body.
So a chest x-ray would be one of these special photographs.
Usually you get a chest x-ray when the doctor thinks there might be something more seriously wrong with your lungs or your breathing.
Cheryl is surprised.
She says, wow, so this could be something really serious?
Russ says, why do you sound hopeful that you have a serious condition?
Russ is a little confused by Cheryl's reaction.
It almost seems as if Cheryl wanted to be sick.
Cheryl says, I'm not.
That would be stupid.
Russ says, and yet you sounded positively giddy that you might be laid up for a couple of weeks.
Giddy, G-I-D-D-Y, means very happy, very excited, almost out of control with excitement.
Positively here means completely, thoroughly, entirely.
Positively giddy then means you are very excited.
You are completely excited, very happy about something.
Russ thinks that Cheryl is happy about being laid up.
To be laid L-A-I-D up means to be forced to stay in bed, usually because you are sick or have some illness.
Russ says, does this have anything to do with your upcoming business trip to Abramville?
Upcoming means...
Happening soon in the future.
We might also use the word approaching.
It's something that's going to be happening soon.
Maybe in a day, maybe in a week, maybe in a month.
Cheryl says, if you had to go to Abramville, wouldn't you wish for an out too?
Any out?
Abramville is, of course, not a real place.
But it's obviously a place where Cheryl does not want to go.
That's why she asks Russ, if you had to go to Abramville, wouldn't you wish for an out too?
An out, here means a reason or an excuse for not doing something.
Cheryl is looking for a reason not to go to Abramville.
She's looking for an out.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why are you wheezing like that?
I'm not wheezing.
I'm just a little short of breath.
My lungs feel like they've closed up.
Maybe you should get that checked out.
You could have asthma.
Do you really think so?
My nasal passages have been stopped up, so I just thought I had a bad cold.
My sinus is hurt, too.
I'm not a doctor, but you may have something more serious.
Maybe bronchitis or pneumonia.
You need a chest x-ray or something.
Wow, so this could be something really serious?
I'm not.
That would be stupid.
If you had to go to Abramville, wouldn't you wish for an out, too?
Any out?
What?
We hope you feel positively giddy when you hear the wonderful scripts by our excellent scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
