Blogger Widgets Blogger Widgets ¡Mira que luna......! Look at that moon....! Resources for learning English: The flu

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English
Fernando Olivera: El rapto.- TEXT FROM THE NOVEL The goldfinch by Donna Tartt (...) One night we were in San Antonio, and I was having a bit of a melt-down, wanting my own room, you know, my dog, my own bed, and Daddy lifted me up on the fairgrounds and told me to look at the moon. When "you feel homesick", he said, just look up. Because the moon is the same wherever you go". So after he died, and I had to go to Aunt Bess -I mean, even now, in the city, when I see a full moon, it's like he's telling me not to look back or feel sad about things, that home is wherever I am. She kissed me on the nose. Or where you are, puppy. The center of my earth is you". The goldfinch Donna Tartt 4441 English edition

Thursday, November 19, 2015

The flu

The Flu

The Flu

Oct 28 2015
Intro
Sore throat. Aches. Sudden fever. Most of us have experienced the symptoms of this well-known disease: the flu. For many healthy people, having the flu may be nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. But for others, including children, the elderly, and those with health problems, getting the flu is no laughing matter. For people at risk, the flu can be deadly.

Because getting the flu can be so serious, health officials urge people to get vaccinated for the flu. These officials hope to prevent flu epidemics and pandemics. But not everybody feels comfortable getting vaccinated. Some people are afraid of how the vaccine might affect their health. Listen to Sara and Lily share their thoughts about the flu and the flu vaccine in this health English lesson.
Dialogue
English, baby! English lesson audio.
Sara: Lily, I have to tell you something which I probably shouldn’t even admit.
Lily: What?
Sara: I’ve never had the flu.
Lily: Really?
Sara: Never.
Lily: Me neither. Come to think of it.
Sara: We must be really lucky people.
Lily: I think so. Because aren’t you always hearing about how people are getting the flu, or there’s an epidemiccoming, or…
Sara: I know, and everyone’s always freaking out about trying to get flu vaccines. And then I wonder if I should get one because maybe I’m tempting fate in some way or pressing my luck by not getting a vaccine, but then I don’t want to get a vaccine if I don’t need to. It’s this whole… It’s like this cycle.
Lily: Yeah, exactly, and it happens every single year around this time, right? Do they have any medication besides the shot? Like, can you get stuff over the counter?
Sara: Maybe you can take regular cold medicine. I don’t know if it helps. I’ve definitely been around people who’ve had the flu and they seem really miserable. They’re achy, right? Sometimes they’re nauseated and they’re throwing up.
Lily: Fever.
Sara: Fever. Yeah, it seems like a pretty terrible disease. Let’s just try to never get it, okay?
Lily: I think that sounds like a plan.
Discussion
Sara and Lily have never gotten the flu. This is surprising because the flu is a common disease.

Sara is not sure if she should get a vaccine or not. Sara and Lily are not sure if there is other medicine that can help, but they are sure that the flu is a disease that they don’t want to get.

Have you ever had the flu? Has there ever been a fluepidemic where you live? Do you think that not getting the flu vaccine is tempting fate, or do you think that it isn’t good to get the flu vaccine if you are not sure if you need it?
Grammar Point
Present Perfect Tense

Sara says, “I‘ve never had the flu.” Sara also says, “I‘ve been around people who have had the flu.” These sentences all use the present perfect tense.

The present perfect is formed with have/has + a past participle. There are several situations in which we use this tense:

To talk about something that was true in the past, and is still true in the present, as in, “I have been married for five years.”

To refer to something that happened at an unspecified time in the past, as in, “Becky has visited China several times already.”

To talk about something that happened during a period of time that has not yet ended, as in, “I have gone to three parties so far this month.”

When used with “just,” to refer to something that happened very recently, as in, “My mother has just arrived.”

When you see words like for, since, ever, already, and so far in a sentence, it often means that you need to use the present perfect tense.

Use the present perfect to talk about an illness that you have had sometime in the indefinite past.
Quiz

  1. What sentence best describes this conversation?
  2. Why do you think that Sara says, “We must be really lucky people.”
  3. What are some symptoms of the flu mentioned in the dialog?
  4. Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb “live.” I __ in Beijing since 2012.

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