365个英语简短小故事-275. Open Wide,Say Your Prayers

Three months had passed. It was time for Tony to visit his dental hygienist again. The visit usually lasted two to three hours. The hygienist always went through a list of questions about his health. Then she took his pulse and blood pressure. Last, she ran her gloved finger all around the inside of his mouth, looking for and feeling for abnormalities.

On this visit, she found one. It was a white spot on the side of his tongue. “We often see this in smokers’ mouths,” she told him. She called the dentist over.

“How long has that been there?” he asked Tony.

“I have no idea,” said Tony.

“We’re going to have to do a biopsy,” the dentist said. “It won’t require more than two or three stitches. We have to make sure this spot is benign². We’ll do it right after your teeth are cleaned.”

Tony couldn’t eat anything except soup for a couple of days after the surgery, nor could he pronounce words clearly. If the white spot were malignant³, how much more surgery would be required? How much of his tongue would be removed? He regretted all those years of smoking.

A week later, the dentist removed the stitches and told Tony that the white spot was benign. Tony was relieved.

A few days afterward⁴, Tony was talking to a friend of his who was a long-time smoker¹. “You really ought to quit,” he suggested. “That was a good scare I just got from my dentist. Getting part of your tongue cut out is not a pleasant thought.”

“I'm not worried. You’ve got to die of something. I've got a greater chance of getting killed by a drunk driving a white SUV than by some white spot on my tongue. Besides, this is my only vice⁵. I need to be able to enjoy something in life, don’t I?”

 

1 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

2 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

3 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。

4 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

5 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。