Listening Exercises A2 – Health

a   a cough

b   headache

c   sore eyes

b   two

c   two

d   24

e   eight

f   one or two

g   twice

Transcript

(Chu Hua = Chinese)

Pharmacist:     Hello.

Chu Hua:     Hi, um I think I’ve got the fly. Could you, um, could you give me something for it?

Pharmacist:     OK um … what are your symptoms?

Chu Hua:     Well …

Pharmacist:     Have you got a headache, sore throat, temperature? Are you coughing?

Chu Hua:     Yeah, I can’t stop coughing at night.

Pharmacist:     OK … ah … How long have you had the cough?

Chu Hua:     Oh erm … um a couple of days now. and I have a headache too.

Pharmacist:     Do you take any other medicine?

Chu Hua:     No.

Pharmacist:     OK. Um … this is cough mixture. It will stop the cough. The most important thing is … take two spoonfuls three or four times a day. Don’t take it just when you’ve got a cough because then it takes a little while to work. You need to take it before you cough … Um … or if you don’t want to make medicine, then there is a lozenge you can have. Take two. Have one and then as soon as you finish, take another one. One after the other.

Chu Hua:     Can I take both the lozenges and the cough mixture?

Pharmacist:     No, no. You must take one or the other. You can have the cough mixture at night time and carry the lozenges in your bag during the day. If you’re going to the movies, and you think that cough’s going to annoy people, you can have some lozenges. They soothe your throat, because sometimes if your throat’s dry, you cough. So that will help there.

Chu Hua:     Um, and what about my headache?

Pharmacist:     You should take paracetamol for your headache. It’s gently on the stomach and it’s café to take. And … er take two of those every four hours. Maximum of eight in 24 hours. You mustn’t take more than that.

Chu Hua:     OK. And what about my eyes? They’re really sore. Is there anything I can take for them?

Pharmacist:     Yes, try these eye drops. Squeeze one or two drops into each eye twice a day.

Chu Hua:     OK. And how long do I take this medicine for?

Pharmacist:     About ten days. You shouldn’t take it for longer than that. OK, and remember to take multivitamins too.

Ali: lemon, camomile

Seiji: Chinese radish, honey

Ana: garlic

a   flu      b   hot      c   lemon      d   sore throat

e   carrot      f   juice      g   drink      h   water

i   half hour      j   two      k   three

Transcript

(Ali = Saudi Arabian, Seiji = Japanese, Ana = Brazilian)

Ali:

In Saudi Arabia what you do if you have the flu is you drink babunej. It’s a kind of hot drink. It’s made with camomile, which is a herb. You drink it very hot and sometimes you have it with lots of lemon. You get vitamin C from that.

Seiji:

In Japan if you have sore throat, we use daikon, a Chinese radish. It’s a bit like a large white carrot. We grind the Chinese radish and put honey on it and leave it for a while. Then we wait until the juice comes out … and then we drink it.

Ana:

In Brazil if you’re not well … you’ve got a cold or flu or something like that … well garlic is really important. You have a glass of water and you put a little garlic in it and mix it together. Every half hour, you drink two or three  spoonfuls of the liquid. I don’t know if it works but we try it.