英语口语教程（Oral Workshop）--中级 Lesson 8

 

Lesson 8

 What to Do About Grandma

 Text A

 Hal Bohlman, his wife Judy, and their three children live in a small apartment. Hal works in the income tax division of the government where he is a public information officer. Their children are now 12, 10 and 5 years old. Their plan is for Judy to return to work after their youngest child .starts elementary school next year. They hope to save up enough money to buy a house, since they feel their present two bedroom apartment is much too crowded.

 Last week, however,Judy's father died suddenly of a heart attack. They now have to decide what to do about Judy's mother,since Judy is the only child. Judy's father was the manager of a store in a large supermarket chain, so her mother will receive a modest but sufficient pension from the company. In addition, he will receive the money from her husband's life insurance and will continue to receive social welfare benefits from the government. In order to avoid inheritance taxes, her husband in his will left his estate to Judy with the provision that his wife would have use of it as long as she lived.

 Judy realizes that it would probably be dangerous for her mother to live alone. Although her health is basically good for someone her age, 73, she has bad days when her heart or arthritis¹ acts up. Judy is afraid she might have trouble taking care of herself now that she is alone. She is living in the house that she and her husband owned . a three bedroom house in the suburbs of the same city where Hal and Judy live.

 Hal and Judy's mother never got along well in the past . but Hal rcalizes that Judy is worried about her mother.

 Text B

 The huge population of China is indeed a very serious problem.The government has made great efforts to control the birth rate in recent years.'

 But the work has encountered strong resistance, especially in rural areas, where both economy and culture are still very backward , resulting in the birthrate rising again.

 Many people blame this on the feudal² tradition that it was good to have more children to have more working hands. However. this is only half the story. In the countryside there are no pensions and no free medical care for the aged³. Many young couples are afraid that once they are old. there will he nobody to care for them. So they want a son who can tend them all their lives.

 If we raise more funds for the elderly in rural areas and build more sanatoriums and other institutions for them, the farmers can put their minds at rest.

 The majority of young couples nowadays are well educated even in the poverty-stricken areas. Although the feudal influence is strong, they can understand the importance of family planning. What worries them most is their own old age.

 Additional lnformation

 Marny Suicides Reported on Respect For Aged Day

 Tragic suicides by aged persons were reported from across the country Monday when the nation celebrated⁴ Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday.

 In the city of. . . , a 76-year-old woman was found to have hanged herself in her room at about 2 a. m. , her grandson reported to police.

 The woman,... , had been suffering from tuberculosis⁵ and the hardening of the arteries⁶ in addition to,the loss of eyesight, the grandson told police. In the city of. . . , a neighbor visited a 78-year-old man's home at 9 a.m. to find that he had gassed himself. The man,. .. , had lived alone on pension sice 1961 when his wife died.

 In. . . , a farmer reported to police that his 68-year-old wife hanged herself in a shed Monday afternoon.

 The woman, Mrs... , was worried about her frail⁷ health and had often talked of loneliness in old age, according to the husband.

 A person fishing in the sea off the city of. . . found the body of an aged woman drifting at 10.20 a. m. Monday.

 Police later identified the body as that of... , 92, of... , who had been missing since Friday.

 Her family members believed that she was overwhelmed by pessimism⁸ because she was unable to receive pension from the city office due to some flaw in her papers on Wednesday.

 A 66-year-old woman hanged herself in a room in her house in.... while her daughter-in-law was in anothei room. The daughter-in-law, Mrs... , told police that her mother-in-law,... , had been almost bed-ridden since 1973.

1 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

2 feudal   

adj.封建的，封地的，领地的

参考例句：

• Feudal rulers ruled over the country several thousand years.封建统治者统治这个国家几千年。
• The feudal system lasted for two thousand years in China.封建制度在中国延续了两千年之久。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

6 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

8 pessimism   

n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者

参考例句：

• He displayed his usual pessimism.他流露出惯有的悲观。
• There is the note of pessimism in his writings.他的著作带有悲观色彩。