There Are Two Sides to Everything

Lesson 26

                      There Are Two Sides to Everything

                                      Text A

    I had a most exasperating¹ and frustrating² experience with the hospital today: But Granny had it much worse. First she was the victim of an accident and then she was the suffering patient.

    She was out shopping early this morning, and was hardly a few scores of yards from our house when she was knocked down hy a bicycle. The rider was a reckiess young man who didn't even stop after the accident, but raced away as though an army was after him. It was a neighbour who recognized her and came to call me (both of my parents were out ).

When I heard the news, my heart jumped up to my mouth. I raced downstairs, two or three steps at a time and sprinted³ to the spot. I never ran so fast in my iife. There I saw a crowd of people. I elbowed my way in, and saw Granny sitting on the ground leaning against a tree, her face all swollen⁴ and her mouth bleeding. She was holding her left arm with her right hand. It must be a fracture judging rom the way it hurt her.

Some of the crowd were concerned and offering help and advice, but most were just curious onlookers⁵.omeone managed to stop a passing car for us, and the driver kindly⁶ drove us to the nearest hospital. Then our ordeal⁷ began.

    Naturally I took her to the emergericy room first and expected immediate⁸ attention. But we had to wait for at least ten minutes before a doctor came over to us. I-Ie just took a brief look at her and said simply: "Go to the dental department. " "But doctor, aren't you going to give her a thorough check?" I asked "Don't worry, her life is not in danger. " Before I could say anything more , he was already out of sight.

    There was nothing for us to do but look for the dental department which took us a long time because it was on the third floor. There the dentist told us that we must register first, so I had to rush all the way down again to the ground floor, there only to find a long queue. I tried to jump the queue explaining it was an emergency case, "Go to the emergency room if it's an emergency case ! "

 I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Anyway I stood obediently at the end of the line and at last when my turn came I was given many forms to fill, some of which were very detailed⁹ and quite unnecessary I thought. After filling them I found I had to queue up once again to hand them in! By the time everything was finished and I rushed upstairs, I was happy to find the dentist had the decency¹⁰ not to wait for me before treating Granny. That was the first comforting thing after entering the hospital and I really felt grateful to the dentist. After putting several stitches to lips and gum, the dentist said "That's all. Now go and pay your bill. "

    "But doctor, her arm hurts. "
    "You have to go to the surgical¹¹ department for that. It's just opposite. I'll take you there. "
    I really like the man. But all the same I had to run all the way down to the ground floor to register again for the surgical department. And for all that much trouble the doctor spent less than five minutes examining Granny and sai: "She'll need an X-ray." He wrote out a chit and that was that.

    The X-ray department was on the ground floor and I had to help her all the way down. The complications and rigmarole involved in getting the X-ray done were too complicated and irritating to describe. The long and short of it was, after we got the X-ray picture, I had to take Granny all the way up again to the third floor. After taking a look at it , the doctor said :"No bones broken. I'll prescribe some pain-killer and antibiotics¹². "

    So it was all the way down again. The complications in paying the bill and getting the medicine were too silly for words. I had to queue from window to window-to~get the medicine priced and added up , to pay the bill ; to get the medicine. . . And if you didn't know the right order and sequence, which I didn't, it often meant standing¹³ in the wrong queue only to be told to come back again after queuing up at another window.

    By the time we got home it was almost one o'clock. We had spent almost four hours at the hospital, and I made a calculation: Five minutes with the doctor in the emergency room, half an hour with the dentist, ten minutes with the surgeon-three
quarters of an hour all told. The rest of the time was spent waiting, queuing,rushing from place to place. If Granny had had to do all that by herself, she wouldn't have left the hospital alive, I'm sure.

                                       Taxt B

    Dr Ding Ping, a bone specialist in No. 2 People's Hospital of Anqing in Anhui Province, won a bronze medal at the 37th International Eureka Fair in Brussels iast year for his invention, a new bone-setting device. Not only the doctor himself vvas happy and honoured . his hospital , indeed the whole city felt honoured and happy too. But who would have thought that his invention not only brought the doctor a bronze medal , but also plunged¹⁴ him into a heavy debt.

    It all started in 1986 when for the whole ycar Dr Ding spent his every spare minute on his new invention. After another year's clinical trial use, the device proved to be effective. So in June last year Dr Ding was informed by the Science Commission of Anhui Province that this invention had been selected to compete
in the 37th Eureka International Fair.

    This was indeed happy news, but Dr Ding's happiness was marred¹⁵ by the fact that he had to pay 5, 000 yuan for entering his item for the fair. Where on earth was he to raise such a huge sum? He applied¹⁶ for aid from the Municipal Science Commission but got turned down because firstly the Commission thought his irivention was a private one , the work of an individual and therefore could not be funded by the public, and secondly¹⁷ the Commission was hard up anyway and could not afford to pay out such a large sum.

 So what was to be done? At the last moment his hospital came to the rescue : They agreed to lend Dr Ding 5, 000 yuan, but starting from January this year, they would deduct¹⁸ 50 yuan from his monthly salary until the debt was fully¹⁹ repaid.

    Dr Ding was grateful and' jumped at the chance. But he was under no illusion about the predicamentz2 he was plunging²⁰ himself into. His salary was only 97 yuan a month. His wife, a school teacher, only brought home 82 yuan a month. With two daughters at school their life was not easy as it was. To have 50 yuan deducted²¹ monthly from their meagre income for the next eight years would mean a financial burden that would surely break the camel's back

    Discarding all face problems, Dr Ding started to beg for alms from all quarters. Mostly he met with rebuffs, but he could not afford to give up. After a few months of begging from door to door, he managed to collect 1,400 yuan. Quite a substantial
sum, but he was still 3,600 yuan short.

    The news that his invention had won a bronze medal not only brought some spiritual comfort , but also some material gains. His hospital decided²² to award him 500 yuan as a token of recognition for his brilliant work. But the fact remains²³ that he still had a debt to pay, now reduced to 3,100 yuan. Again he applied for help from various municipal departments, but so far without success.
    Is Dr Ding and his family going to spend the next five years
in poverty and misery²⁴ just because he has invented something useful and won international recognition?

 

                            Additiosal Information

    It's a hospital scene. People are lining²⁵ up for registration²⁶. After seeing the doetor they come back to line up again for tgeir medicine, Of course it's a very time-consuming process, because they have to get the prescriptions²⁷ priced at one window and pay at. another. Then at the last window they get their medicine. That means altogether they have to line up at three different windows just to get their medicine.

    To avoid all this trouble, a smart woman works out the most convenient
way of getting her medicine. She herself stands at the end of the first line and puts her pram²⁸ with her baby in it, a toy duck and her own bag at the end of the other three lines. She has them all strung'together with the wool yarn²⁹ with which she's knitting. She believes this will save her the trouble
of lining up three times.

 

1 exasperating   

adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Our team's failure is very exasperating. 我们队失败了，真是气死人。
• It is really exasperating that he has not turned up when the train is about to leave. 火车快开了， 他还不来，实在急人。

2 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 sprinted   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sprinted for the line. 他向终点线冲去。
• Sergeant Horne sprinted to the car. 霍恩中士全力冲向那辆汽车。 来自辞典例句

4 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

5 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

11 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

12 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

15 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

16 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

17 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

18 deduct   

vt.扣除，减去

参考例句：

• You can deduct the twenty - five cents out of my allowance.你可在我的零用钱里扣去二角五分钱。
• On condition of your signing this contract,I will deduct a percentage.如果你在这份合同上签字，我就会给你减免一个百分比。

19 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

20 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 deducted   

v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of your uniform will be deducted from your wages. 制服费将从你的工资中扣除。
• The cost of the breakages will be deducted from your pay. 损坏东西的费用将从你的工资中扣除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

23 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

24 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

25 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

26 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

27 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

28 pram   

n.婴儿车，童车

参考例句：

• She sat the baby up in the pram. 她把孩子放在婴儿车里坐着。
• She ran in chase of the pram. 她跑着追那婴儿车。

29 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。