Upward Bound: First year. Воробьева М.Г - 40 стр.

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— 40 —
HEALTH
TEXT
Ex. 1. Read and translate the text.
A Thousand Diseases
I remember going to the British Museum one day to read up
the treatment for some slight disease. I got down the book and read
all I had come to read. Then without realizing what I was doing I
turned the leaves and began to study diseases generally. I do not
remember which was the first disease I read about but before I
looked through the list of the symptoms I felt that I had it. I kept on
reading, feeling rather nervous, and realized that I was suffering
from every disease imaginable. The only thing I had not got so far
was housemaid’s knee. To say that I was worried and upset and that
I felt miserable would be to say nothing. I nearly fainted. In fact I felt
more dead than alive. I tried to examine myself. I felt my pulse. I
discovered that I had no pulse. I tried to feel my heart. I could not
feel my heart. It had stopped beating. I tried to look at my tongue. I
stuck it out as far as it would go. I shut one eye, and tried to examine
it with the other. I could only see the tip but I no longer doubted
that in addition to everything I had scarlet fever.
It became clear to me that I would never recover and would
never get rid of the thousand diseases I had. I gave up all hope.
Medicine could not help me.
I had walked into the reading-room a happy healthy man, I
walked out an invalid.
Though I doubted if anyone would be able to cure me of my
diseases, I decided to consult my physician. I always turn to him for
advice and help. He is a good fellow and an old friend of mine. He has
been treating me for many years. I never make an appointment with
him, he’s always ready to see me. He looks at my tongue, feels my
pulse, talks about the weather, and all for nothing, when I imagine
that I am ill. He never remains indifferent to what I say and always
does his best to encourage me when I start complaining of my diseases.
I thought that he would be grateful if I went to him. «What a doctor
wants,» I said to myself, «is practice. He will have me. He will get

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