4. Explain the final scene of the story. Were you shocked by it or was it quite predictable? Give your reasons.

III. Follow-up activities

1. What ten things would you miss most if you were blind or deaf? In other words, what are your favourite sights and sounds?

2. What evidence have you heard of people who are deprived of one sense having unusually developed other senses?

3. Do you believe in a sixth sense? Have you heard of any cases of ESP (extra-sensory perception)?

IV. Additional tasks

Task 1. Read the text.

Private Medicine is Concerned about the National Health

Private medicine is a part of the national health. A vital part, it contributes a good deal to the National Health Service. For example, pay beds in NHS hospitals will give 240 million annually to the financially-stretched National Health Service.

But it’s not just a matter of money. Private medicine preserves everyone’s right to freedom of choice. Some million people choose to go privately when they need treatment. The vast majority are ordinary men and women and their families. They budget for health protection from their earnings through organizations such as ours. What’s more, over eight people out of every ten (82%) believe in the right to pay for private medicine.

What’s the Government up to? If it doesn’t make financial sense and the vast majority don’t want it, why are the Government proposing legislation to phase out pay beds and control private medicine? And why do they want to introduce it in advance of the findings of the Royal Commission on Health?

Patients before Politics. A doctor’s loyalty is to his patients. That’s why the Medical Profession has always shown itself to be completely opposed to any political suggestion that the patient’s freedom of choice should be tampered with. Such suggestions are rife today. The issue at stake is not just one of professional freedom but also of patient freedom.

Task 2. Express your opinion about the following issues.

1. Most people cannot afford to pay for private medicine.

2. If you are a NHS patient, you may have to wait months for a bed in hospital. If you are a private patient, you get a bed very quickly.

3. Many people complain that doctors give too much time to private patients and not enough to NHS patients.

4. Doctors are paid by the National Health Service. They earn extra money from private patients. Look at the advertisement again. Pick out the statements that are not exactly true and explain why. Is this lying? If so, why? If not, what is it?

The Emergency Ward

I. Vocabulary work

1. Study the following words.

Reminiscent, infirmity, wheedle, sage, penitent, convivial, vexatious, antidote, disheveled, aggravate, duped, relentlessly, supplicating, misconstrue.

2. Choose the best definition of the italicized word.

1) reminiscent of a market place:

a) tending to belong to, b) tending to recall, c) being exactly alike, d) in contrast to;

2) as if they were hawking wares:

a) peddling, b) manufacturing, c) comparing, d) arguing over;

3) In the sea of mendicants: Those who

a) have imaginary symptoms of illness, b) need medical attention, c) need emergency medical attention, d) beg for favours of treatment;

4) every imaginable infirmity:

a) disability, frailty, b) moral weakness, c) personality trait, d) social class;

5) try to wheedle anything:

a) ask for special favours for, b) persuade by using flattery, c) believe, accept as true, d) steal, take without permission;

6) The innocent lies next to the sage: A person who is

a) wealthy, b) successful, c) wise, d) evil;

7) the penitent patient rubs shoulders with the outraged:

a) lacking in confidence, b) talkative, c) skeptical, doubting, d) feeling remorse for one’s misdeeds;

8) not always so convivial a place:

a) sociable, jovial, b) gloomy, grim, c) surprising, astonishing, d) interesting, fascinating;

9) vexatious rapidity:

a) constant, b) dizzying, c) annoying, d) fatiguing;

10) to improve with our ministrations: Acts of

a) serving, b) praying, c) kindness, d) faith;

11) this hermetic world:

a) completely sealed against escape or entry of air, b) insulated, impervious to outside influence, c) having to do with the occult, magical, d) resembling a place where one can hide from the world;

12) the antidote to my experiences: Anything that

a) is used contrary to popular opinion, b) answers, responds, c) relieves or remedies, d) serves as a complement;

13) Disheveled and bundled in several layers:

a) shabby, dirty, b) disarranged, untidy, c) disorganized, messy, d) poverty-stricken;

14) by threatening to aggravate her asthma:

a) irritate, annoy, b) use, exploit, c) make worse, d) arouse interest in;

15) feeling empty and duped:

a) worthless, b) foolish, c) resentful, d) deceived;

16) relentlessly forward-moving:

a) steadily, persistently, b) remarkably, astonishingly, c) rapidly, swiftly, d) smoothly, fluently;

17) an almost supplicating look:

a) earnest, b) beseeching, c) penetrating, d) provocative;

18) whose face is tan but wizened:

a) wise, b) deeply lined, c) shriveled, d) unblemished;

19) he asks me nonchalantly:

a) skeptically, b) quizzically, c) affectionately, d) casually;

20) to misconstrue the evidence:

a) misinterpret, b) disregard, c) misplace, d) mismanage.