英语博客：A check-up at the dentist.

　　A check-up at the dentist.
Summer time is check-up time for the kids. When school is out, it's convenient to take them to their various appointments with doctors or dentists. Now, believe it or not, dental check-ups are quite exciting for my kids. I know, it sounds crazy. The reason for the excitement is that we have an agreement. If they have no new cavities¹, then they get a cash prize. The aim is to encourage them to brush their teeth well. They make their plans to buy a certain toy, and I hope that they don't need any fillings. You might think that it's a bit extravagant² to pay the kids for not having cavities. Well, when you consider that one filling costs anywhere between one hundred and two hundred dollars, it's worth paying a lot less to a child to keep them brushing. Of course, I help my little ones brush. They always need a bit of extra help cleaning out the hard to reach places of their teeth. But, so far, I'm happy with our system. Only once did one of my children not get his prize, and that was because he would sneak³ candies into his room and eat them at night, and then fall asleep without brushing his teeth. I only realised this after cleaning his room one day, when I decided⁴ to pull out everything that was under his bed. What an experience. Amongst the jumble⁵ of toys, books, dirty socks, rocks from the garden, and gross⁶ unrecognisable thing, were candy wrappers. "Uh-oh," I thought to myself, "I wonder how long this has been going on..." When we found out that he had a couple of cavities, I had to give him the bad news that he wouldn't get his cash prize. That made a lasting⁷ impression! So he had two appointments with the dentist. They gave him the gas to relax him, the injections in his mouth, the fillings and the clean-up. Fortunately, the dentist and his assistant are extremely friendly, - not scary at all. They made every stage of his appointments fun and pleasant, as far as is possible at the dentist. And you know little kids, they love all the equipment, from the reclinable chair, to 'Mr. Thirsty', the liquid extractor that is put in your mouth. And the place looks so nice. There are flowers everywhere, nice furniture, photos of smiling people, and little toys for kids. They manage to create quite an illusion⁸!
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: check-up, fillings, extravagant, 'hard to reach' places.
1. It's time for a dental check-up; we have them every six months.
2. He didn't brush his teeth at all. When he went to the dentist, he needed to have twelve fillings!
3. That lady is quite extravagant. She spends a lot of money on jewellery.
4. My new mop helps me to clean the 'hard to reach' places of my kitchen.

1 cavities   

腔，洞( cavity的名词复数 )； （龋齿的）洞

参考例句：

• Cavities in teeth are caused by decay. 牙齿上的空洞是由龋蚀造成的。
• The dentist filled several cavities in my teeth. 牙医给我的牙堵了好几个洞 excavation 指“挖掘的洞”，如：

2 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

3 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

4 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。

5 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

6 gross   

adj.全部的，粗俗的，肥胖的；vt.获得...总收入

参考例句：

• The gross weight of the box of chocolates is 500 grams.那盒巧克力的全部重量是500克。
• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。

7 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

8 illusion   

n.幻想，错误的观念，错觉，幻觉，假象

参考例句：

• The sun appears to go round the Earth,but it's an illusion.太阳看起来好像绕着地球转，但这只是个错觉。
• They were under the illusion that the company was doing well.他们误以为该公司生意很好。