ESL Podcast 551 – Scheduling a Medical Appointment

I needed to make an appointment with a doctor so I called my health plan’s phone number for new patients. Before I could schedule my appointment, I had to listen to several recorded messages to be routed to the right medical office. The recording1 said to stay on the line for assistance2. Clerk: Hello, Western Medical Group. Damien: Hello, I’d like to make an appointment with Dr. Gupta. Clerk: Are you a new patient or a returning patient? Damien: I’m a new patient. Clerk: Who referred you to Dr. Gupta? Damien: No one. One of the health benefits of my plan is that I can self-refer to some specialists. Clerk: What is the name of your plan and your medical record number? Damien: It’s Waiser and my medical record number is 23456789. Clerk: It looks like Dr. Gupta is booked up for the next three weeks. She has an opening on March 2nd, at 4:30 p.m. Damien: I was hoping to get an early morning appointment. Clerk: The next morning appointment won’t be until March 18th, at 11:00. You’ll need to check in at 10:45 to fill out paperwork. Should I put you down for that? Damien: Is it possible to get an even earlier appointment? Clerk: Dr. Gupta doesn’t begin seeing patients until 10:30. Damien: 10:30? Isn’t that pretty late? Clerk: Dr. Gupta likes to play golf in the mornings. Damien: Why do you think I want an early morning appointment? Doesn’t she know that some of her patients prefer late-morning golf? Script3 by Dr. Lucy Tse

 

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 assistance   

n.援助，帮助

参考例句：

• She called and called but no one came to her assistance.她叫了又叫，但没有人来帮。
• He will get the great possible assistance.他将获得尽可能大的帮助。

3 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。