Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 949, Dealing with a Contagious Disease.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 949.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is also beautiful.
You can find it at eslpod.com.
When you go there, become a member of ESL Podcast, if you're not already, and download the learning guide for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue about contagious diseases diseases or illnesses that can spread from one person to another.
Let's get started.
You can't walk through that door with all of your clothes on.
What?
I've just come off of a 12-hour flight.
I'm tired and I want to get into my own house and into my own bed.
I know, but you've just returned from McQuillanland and I've just read that anyone who has been there may be a carrier of a communicable disease called nebola.
It can be transmitted through casual contact, so even if you don't have it, you could spread it.
So what am I supposed to do?
Stand out here for the rest of my life?
Of course not.
Take off your clothes.
You want me to take off my clothes in front of the house?
Are you crazy?
No, the best way to prevent the spread of this infectious disease is to burn clothing that has been in contact with it and to bathe you thoroughly.
I'm not stripping down to my underwear out here.
But aren't you worried about transmitting Ebola to me and everyone you know?
No one is immune.
You could start an epidemic.
All right, but I'm going around to the back door where no one can see me, okay?
Okay.
What?
You want me to take a bath in mayonnaise?
That's the only way to kill nebola.
Our dialogue begins with Isabel saying to Linus You can't walk through that door with all of your clothes on.
Linus says, What?
I've just come off of a 12-hour flight.
I'm tired and I want to get into my own house soon. and into my own bed.
So we have a situation where Linus is coming off of a plane.
He says I've just come off of a 12-hour flight, which means he was on a, But Isabel, who we guess to be his wife, is not letting him into the house.
Isabel says I know I understand you want to get into your house, but you've just returned from McQuillanland and I've just read that anyone who has been there may be a carrier of a communicable disease called nebola.
It can be transmitted through casual contact, so even if you don't have it, you could spread it.
We learn that Linus has gone to what I think sounds like a become a carrier of a communicable disease.
A carrier, C-A-R-R-I-E-R, is a person who has a certain disease but doesn't show any symptoms.
It doesn't look like the person has any disease.
However, Because they have the disease, they could give it to other people.
We're talking here about diseases or illnesses that are communicable.
The term communicable C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-B-L-E refers to things that can be transmitted or shared or given directly to other people, from one person to another.
A disease such as chickenpox can be communicated or transmitted from one person to another.
That makes it a communicable disease.
This communicable disease is called nebola.
Isabel says it can be transmitted through casual contact.
So even if you don't have it, you could spread it.
Transmit here means to share, to pass from one person to another.
We use the verb transmit in this sense when we're talking about things like communicable diseases.
We also use it in biology to talk about genetic problems, traits or characteristics that are passed from parents to their children.
The term casual contact refers to you talking to someone or perhaps touching someone, but only for a very short amount of time.
However, there are certain diseases that, even with casual contact even though you don't have a lot of contact with that person, you're not talking to them or being with them for a very long time can still end up being a way of catching or getting a disease.
Some diseases can be transmitted through casual contact.
Many cannot.
Many require some more extensive, we might say, contact with a person who has that disease.
Isabel says that even if Linus doesn't feel any of the effects of the disease, he could still spread it.
To spread S-P-R-E-A-D means to distribute something, to move something around so that it covers a larger area or, in this case, affects more people.
If you are spreading disease, you are in a way helping other people get this disease.
You are doing something that is going to increase the likelihood of other people getting the disease.
Linus says, so what am I supposed to do?
Stand out here for the rest of my life?
He's confused about what he has to do in order to get into his own house.
Isabel says, of course not.
Take off your clothes.
Remove your clothing.
Linus says, you want me to take off my clothes in front of the house?
Are you crazy?
Isabel says, no.
So this is something of an odd disease that apparently can be transmitted through someone's clothing.
Isabel says the best way to prevent the spread of this infectious disease is to burn clothing.
To prevent means to not allow something to happen, to not permit something to happen.
An infectious, INFECTIOUS disease is a disease that can be caused when some organism, some living organism, such as bacteria or a virus or fungus, enters the body.
Isabel says that nebola can be prevented, or at least we can prevent the spread of this infectious disease, by burning clothing that has been in contact with it.
To burn means to put something in a fire, to destroy something by fire.
To be in contact with something means is to have touched something or to have touched someone.
Isabel wants to burn Linus' clothing in case it has been in contact with this disease.
She also wants to bathe Linus.
To bathe, B-A-T-H-E, means to wash someone.
Typically in a large container which we call a tub T-U-B.
You put water in the tub and then you take the water and you use it to clean a person off.
Or to clean your dog off, I suppose.
Linus is not happy about this situation.
He says...
I'm not stripping down to my underwear out here.
To strip S-T-R-I-P down to something here usually means to remove your clothing to get undressed.
Linus doesn't want to strip down to his underwear, meaning to take off all of his clothes except his underwear.
Underwear just refers to clothing that you wear underneath other clothing, typically that you don't want people to see.
Underwear protects your clothing from touching directly to certain parts of your body.
Let's put it that way.
Isabel says, but aren't you worried about transmitting Ebola to me and everyone you know?
No one is immune.
To be immune, I-M-M-U-N-E, when we're talking about a disease, means that you cannot get a disease.
Maybe the biological makeup or composition of your body is such that you can't get a disease.
It might also be that you have received a vaccination, that you've taken a pill or received a shot that prevents you from getting the disease.
Isabel says that no one is immune to Ebola.
She says to Linus, you could start an epidemic.
An epidemic.
E-P-I-D-E-M-I-C is a situation in which a disease affects many people in a particular area.
It spreads.
It is transmitted to many different people.
Linus says, all right, but I'm going around to the back door where no one can see me, okay?
Linus wants to go to the back of the house so that he doesn't have to undress in front of the house.
Isabel is happy.
She says, great, I'll get your bath ready.
I just have to heat the mayonnaise.
Mayonnaise is a white sauce made from eggs vinegar, lemon juice and other things that is often used on bread or in preparing food.
It is not something we would usually associate with medicine.
Linus says, what?
You want me to take a bath in mayonnaise?
Isabel says that's the only way to kill Nebola.
So Nebola is a very strange disease, but McQuillan land is a very strange country.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
You can't walk through that door with all of your clothes on.
What?
What?
I've just come off of a 12-hour flight.
I'm tired, and I want to get into my own house and into my own bed.
I know, but you've just returned from Aquiline Land and I've just read that anyone who has been there may be a carrier of a communicable disease called Ebola.
It can be transmitted through casual contact, so even if you don't have it, you could spread it.
So what am I supposed to do?
Stand out here for the rest of my life?
Of course not.
Take off your clothes.
You want me to take off my clothes in front of the house?
Are you crazy?
No.
The best way to prevent the spread of this infectious disease is to burn clothing that has been in contact with it and to bathe you thoroughly.
I'm not stripping down to my underwear out here.
But aren't you worried about transmitting Ebola to me and everyone you know?
No one is immune.
You could start an epidemic.
All right, but I'm going around to the back door where no one can see me, okay?
Great.
I'll get your bath ready.
I just have to heat the mayonnaise.
What?
You want me to take a bath in mayonnaise?
That's the only way to kill Ebola.
If you come in contact with the scripts of our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr Lucy, Say you won't get a disease, you'll get better English.
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 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
