VOA标准英语2012--Medical Exam Provides Stage for Actors

Medical Exam Provides Stage for Actors

Ted¹ Bell portrays² a 55-year-old patient who'd had stomach pain for three months.
“I am a teacher," he tells nursing student Emily Tyrrell. "Several times it has happened at school."
Bell is actually a retired³ civil engineer. Acting⁴ as a patient for students training to be health-care professionals is his new career. The job’s formal title is “standardized⁵ patient”.
“It has developed into a great part time, or retirement⁶ job actually, for me," he says, "and I go to all six [medical] schools in this region, Baltimore-Washington area.”
There are about 700 standardized patients in this region. The pay starts at $17 per hour and can go up to $35 depending on the project. And the demand for their services is high.
“It is quite common at schools of medicine," says Kathy Schaivone, clinical director at the University of Maryland. "So every medical school in the United States and many medical schools around the world use standardized patients.”
Acting experience, while helpful, is not required. Nor is medical knowledge. The schools provide training and payment for the performances.
“Many of them are professionals but I have never been paid for acting other than the [this] role-playing," Bell says, "but it requires some acting ability so I guess I would consider myself an actor.”
Professional actor Tom Wyatt doesn’t think of his side job as acting.
“I use some of the acting skills, but honestly when it is going well, I am not really acting, I am reacting," he says. "I am listening to them and reacting naturally and honestly to what they are saying to me and what they are giving me.”
Wyatt and fellow standardized patients spend many hours training for each of the cases in order to know how to respond to questions appropriately. But memorizing their characters’ symptoms and medical history is not always easy.
“Especially when I do sometimes nine or 10 cases in a week at three different hospitals so they are all completely different,” Wyatt says.
The actors' role is not limited to portraying⁷ a sick patient. After each session, they give feedback to the student.
“The things that really stood out for me; your manner is extremely professional," Wyatt tells Kurt Haspert, the nurse practitioner⁸ student who treated him. "You command at all times, you kind of take charge of the room.”
Haspert finds the session to be very useful.
“It is always good to do the standardized patients because it kind of keeps you thinking about how your thought process has to go," he says, "and how you can narrow down your differential diagnosis⁹ while you are asking questions.”
While the primary focus is on providing the best educational experience possible for the students, the actors enjoy performing.
“Very rewarding," says Bell, the retired engineer. "They say it is very helpful. That makes me feel good that we are turning out some good medical people.”
After three sessions here, Bell heads out to his next gig at another medical school, to continue his role in helping¹⁰ train tomorrow's health professionals.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

6 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

7 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

9 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。