Free IELTS Lesson about MEDICINE Flashcards
Some useful Links
Find more great vocabulary to talk about COVID
https://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/health/vocabulary/viralillnesses.html
Know your bugs, viruses, bacteria and parasites
https://theconversation.com/know-your-bugs-a-closer-look-at-virusesbacteria-and-parasites-49695
Kinds of alternative medicines
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/ types-of-complementary-and-alternative-medicine
Essential Vocabulary
For very technical topics, like medicine, science or technology, you don’t need to know all the technical language or ideas, but you do need to know the basics.
A useful phrase to use with the examiner is the following. It shows off good English and sounds very natural.
I’m not an expert, but I think….
I’m by no means an expert, but I think….
When you have a health problem inside your body, we use the following words:
Sickness / illness / ailment / disease
A disease tends to be long term
A chronic disease = there is no cure for it
Examples of illnesses are:
A cold (you have a runny nose, you’re sniffing and coughing)
The flu (you have a fever, you have a high temperature, you are sweating)
a bug (a bacteria)
a virus (it is highly contagious)
an infection (n.)
it is infectious (adj.)
I’ve got a / an _______
I’ve caught a ________
I’ve caught a cold and now I have a high temperature. I might have a fever.
When you have a health problem outside your body, we use the following:
Injury
a broken bone
a cut
a burn
a sprained ankle / twisted ankle
Medicine (n.)
1) Something you take to cure an illness
2) a field of study
Medication (n.)
Something you take to cure an illness (same as medication)
We buy medicine in a ….
Chemist (GB) / Pharmacy (US) / Drug store (US)
Different types of medicine
• Pills
• Syrups
• Creams
• Antibiotics (to tackle infections)
• Vaccines (to treat viruses)
Vaccines give us immunity (n.)
Vaccines build our immunity (n.)
A strong / weak immune (adj.) system
The doctor looked at my symptoms, diagnosed me, and then prescribed some medicine
She put me on a course of antibiotics
I need to take some medicine
COVID Vocabulary
I hate wearing a face mask.
This vaccine can boost your immunity
Social distancing is really important
I don’t like taking pills, especially capsules
Lockdown or confinement have meant we have had to spend a lot of time at home, without going out to socialise.
Quarantine is needed for anyone coming into the country with a fever.
Some older people choose self-isolation to keep themselves safe.
The Covid pandemic has changed our lives significantly
How has Covid changed the way you live?
- I cannot socialise as much as I used to.
- I have to stay isolated at home and I have become a couch potato (=lazy)
- Many people have started working from home
- A lot of people have been laid off or made redundant, and so lost their main sources of income
- I have started studying more online
- My whole schooling has **moved online **
- Before I could travel anywhere quite freely, now there are lots of restrictions on travel, especially international travel
- It has completely transformed my daily routine, now I feel I am in a bit of a rut (=stuck in the same boring routine)
- It has turned my life upside down. Now I cannot visit my family due to lockdown and so I feel quite lonely.
- It has forced me to wear a face mask all the time.
- I am really a lot more cautious and careful about general hygiene now
- It’s not only affected me personally, but the whole economy, so we are heading for a recession now (=bad economic situation)
- COVID has killed off the livelihood of many people, learning them feeling hopeless and even depressed.
In a rut:
همیشه کار مشابه انجام دادن، یکنواخت و تکراری
بهداشت، حفظ الصحه، علم بهداشت
What is your opinion about alternative medicines?
The following are some of the more common and well known alternative medicines.
Most of them take a holistic approach to treating the body and also tend to focus on preventing disease rather than treating it after it happens.
Herbal medicine - using plants
Acupuncture - using needles to touch pressure points
Ayurveda - ancient herbal-based medicine
Homeopathy - lets the body cure/heal itself using tiny amounts of natural medicine (plants and minerals)
Chiropractic medicine - aligning bones, muscles through manipulation
** Chinese medicine** - use of natural plants and herbs to prevent illness
holistic approach: رویکرد کل نگر
Acupuncture: طب سوزنی
Ayurveda: [یوگا] سیستم ودایی تشخیص و درمان بیماریها.
Homeopathy: ( طب ) معالجه امراض بوسیله تجویزدارویى که دراشخاص
سالم علائم ان مرض را بوجوداورد
Chiropractic:
طبابت مَفصلی= فن درمانِ بیماری از راه دستکاری مفصلها و ستون فقرات
IN FAVOUR
I actually trust these alternative approaches more than modern medicine, I mean they have been around a long time and are tried and tested.
I think they are great, as they take a holistic look at your body, so they make sense to me.
I suppose some of them are good, for example, I have done acupuncture and it worked for me. Maybe they are a good complement to modern medicine.
I think they tend to be more popular with the older generation, but younger people tend to favour more modern approaches to medicine
AGAINST (Alternative Medicine)
- To be honest, I am a bit sceptical, they don’t seem to be sciencebased to me, so I don’t know if they really work.
- I think they are mumbo jumbo (=nonsense), I mean there is no scientific evidence that they work.
- I am in two minds about it, some people swear by homeopathy, but I wonder if it just works like a placebo (=a fake medicine that works because you believe it is a real medicine)
- The only evidence that they work is anecdotal, I don’t think they are
very scientific
Mumbo jumbo:
ورد، طلسم، خرافات، سخنان نامفهوم
Be into two minds about something:
دودل بودن
Placebo:
دوای مریض راضی کن، مایه تسکین، داروی دل خوش کنک و بی اثر
Anecdotal:
شایعات وشنیده های غیر رسمی واقعه نگاری
Idioms - Health and Medicine
The following expressions are used to talk about not feeling well, or
feeling a little sick.
I feel under the weather
I feel off
I feel off colour
I have a splitting headache = a terrible headache
You look as pale as ghost = you don’t look wel
Feel under the weather:
ناخوش احوال-مریض
Feel off color:
مریض بودن
As pale as a ghost:
یک اصطلاح رایج برای نشان دادن اینکه شدیدا رنگ پریده به نظر میرسید به خاطر ترس
The following expressions are used to talk about recovering and feeling
healthy again.
The doctor gave me a clean bill of health
I feel as fit as a fiddle = to be healthy
I feel fighting fit = to be healthy
To be on the mend = to be recovering
to be back on my feet = = to have recovered from a sickness
He is the picture of health = he looks very healthy
The following expressions are used to talk about recovering and feeling
healthy again.
The doctor gave me a clean bill of health
I feel as fit as a fiddle = to be healthy
I feel fighting fit = to be healthy
To be on the mend = to be recovering
to be back on my feet = to have recovered from a sickness
He is the picture of health = he looks very healthy
Clean bill of health:
تاییدیه سلامت پروانه بهداشت
as fit as a fiddle:
کاملا خوب سالم و قوی
On the mend:
(به ویژه در مورد زخم و بیماری) روبه بهبود، در حال خوب شدن
Be back on one’s feet:
دوباره روی پا ایستادن، احیا شدن
Keith, do you think health is important? Why?
Absolutely, to be honest, I think health is probably one of the most important things in our life.
I mean sure, things like family, friends, and money, and wealth, job security are all pretty important, but if you don’t have your health, then you can’t make the most of any of those other things.
So, I think it’s essential that we look after our health and that we try to
stay fighting fit.
You know, that if ever we do feel under the weather that to take some kind of medicine to try and sort yourself out, so that you will be as fit as a fiddle and then enjoy life a lot more.
Make the most of those things:
حداکثر استفاده را بردن از، از فرصت استفاده ی کامل بردن
