365个英语简短小故事-108. The Hospital Orderly (1)

Jake was tired of his job. He’d been doing it for 10 years, and it wasn’t getting any easier. He was a hospital orderly. That’s a vague title that covers many specific duties—some of which are quite unpleasant. Whenever a patient threw up, for example, it was Jake's responsibility to clean the patient’s body and face, remove all the soiled clothing and bed linens¹, put fresh bed linens on the bed, and put clean hospital clothing on the patient. After hundreds of such incidents, Jake still had not gotten used to the odor² and sight of fresh vomit³. It was disgusting. Every time he cleaned up vomit, he thought to himself that he wasn’t getting paid nearly enough.

Jake was also responsible for checking a patient’s blood pressure, taking his pulse and temperature (usually orally, but sometimes rectally), and doing electrocardiograms to monitor his heart condition. These chores used to be done by nurses or technicians. Now they were done by Jake. He fed patients who couldn’t feed themselves. He helped move patients from their beds to gurneys, or from their beds to wheelchairs, and vice⁴ versa. Whenever a patient died in his hospital bed, it was Jake’s job to zip the body into a plastic bag, put the bag on a gurney, and roll the gurney into the elevator and downstairs into the basement morgue. Sometimes he stayed in the morgue, just thinking.

 

1 linens   

n.亚麻布( linen的名词复数 )；家庭日用织品

参考例句：

• All linens and towels are provided. 提供全套日用织品和毛巾。 来自辞典例句
• Linen, Table Linens, Chair Covers, Bed and Bath Linens. Linen. 采购产品亚麻布，亚麻布，椅子套子，床和沭浴亚麻布。 来自互联网

2 odor   

n.气味，香气，臭气

参考例句：

• The whole herb has a characteristic taste and odor.整株药草有种独特的味道和气味。
• He is in bad odor with his friends.他在朋友中声誉不佳。

3 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。