Note to Para. 26
19. Going back to the front desk, I was thinking feverishly. I couldn’t afford not to work for such a
long time. 回到前台我焦躁不安地思考着。我可承受不了这么长时间不工作。 Meaning: I couldn’t manage without working for three months.
Note that for many patients it is both a financial and a time problem to be off work for an operation for three months, which can mean losing the job, plus the salaries.
Note to Para. 27
20. “It will be two hundred for the first visit, one hundred and eighty for the X-rays so it makes three
hundred and eighty all together,” said the receptionist. “初诊费二百元，X光片一百八十元，总共三百八十元。”接待员说道。 make: vt. 等于，相等
e.g. Twelve inches make one foot.
Note to Para. 29
21. “The first visit costs so much,” explained the receptionist, “but the next will cost you less,” she
consoled me seeing a painful grimace on my face. “Here’s your prescription. Have a nice day!”“初诊费是不便宜，”接待员解释说，看到我痛苦的表情又补充道，“但复诊费就会减少点。这是你的处方，祝你愉快！” console: vt. 安慰，慰藉
e.g. We tried to console our cousin who was almost mad with grief after her son’s death. prescription: n. [C] 处方
e.g. These pills are available by prescription only.
Notes to Para. 30
22. If I had known how much the doctor would spoil my day, I wouldn’t have gone to see him at all. 早
知道会被医生破坏心情，我根本就不会去就诊。 spoil: vt. 破坏
e.g. Our holidays were spoiled by bad weather.
23. The pain was the pain and I had to get rid of it somehow. 疼痛就是疼痛，我总得止痛吧。
Meaning: The pain made you suffer and it would last unless you find a way to ease it.
Note the emphatic structure of the expression, The pain was the pain: a noun + be + the same noun. cf. Business is business; A child is a child; A friend is a friend.
24. The nearest drug store sold me the medicine for forty dollars so I spent four hundred and twenty
dollars all together just to know that if I like I can have a surgery. 在最近的一家药店花了四十元买了药，这样一共花了四百二十元，最终结果只是让我知道了，如果我愿意的话就能做手术。 just to: also, only to, an expression used to indicate an unexpected or unwanted result.
e.g. We worked hard for thirty years just/only to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the suburbs of
Shanghai.
Note to Para. 31
25. It just so happened that two months later I saw my friend from Poland who was an orthopedic doctor.
One word led to another and I told him about my problem and about the visit to a local doctor. 两个月后，我碰巧遇到了我的波兰朋友，他是名外科整形医生。在你一言我一语的交谈中，我顺便跟他提到了我的疾病以及在当地就诊的经历。 One word leads to another: 你一言我一语
e.g. One word leads to another and before you know, you’re in a quarrel with the rude man in a
busy street, drawing a crowd of onlookers. cf. one thing leads to another: 一发而不可收
e.g. He only stole a pen from his teacher’s office at first, but one thing led to another and he ended
up in prison.
Note to Para. 32
26. “All you need is a support.” “你只需要一个支架。”
support: n. a structure that holds up or provides a foundation 支架，支撑
What a different treatment! Just a simple support will do rather than an expensive operation. A doctor is a doctor and a quack is a quack.
Note to Para. 35
27. “Wow! You are saving my life!” I exclaimed. “哇！你可真是我的救星！”我叫道。
Meaning: You are saving me a big trouble.
Note that the expression “You are saving my life” seems to sound exaggerating for such a small trouble as his problem foot, but it is commonly used in such a situation to show one’s pleasant surprise and gratitude.
Note to Para. 37
28. Waiting for the promised support, I used up all my pills and went back to the doctor to get a new
prescription. 在等待我的支架从波兰寄来期间，我的止痛药用完了，于是便又去找那位医生想重新开个处方。
Note that here “a new prescription” refers to another prescription for the same pill（新处方抓老药）, not a prescription for a new drug.
Note to Para. 38
29. “The doctor can’t give you a new prescription without seeing you,” the receptionist surprised me.
“大夫没给你看病就不能重新开处方。”接待员的话让我很意外。
From a different standpoint, the nurse and the doctor were expecting to benefit from the patient’s one-after-another visit while the patient wanted to save money by simply taking a prescription like the previous one without being “seen” by the doctor. No wonder the author was surprised.
Note to Para. 45
30. “Can I get anything that has a similar efficacy to this medicine?” I showed the pharmacist an empty
container. “能买到类似这种药效的药吗？”我把一只空药盒拿给药剂师看。 Meaning: Can I get some medicine that has the same effect as this medicine? efficacy: n. [U] 功效
e.g. Aspirin has efficacy in relieving headaches. pharmacist: n. 药剂师
e.g. Don’t mix alcohol and medicine unless your doctor or pharmacist says it’s ok.
Note the difference between pharmacist, pharmacy, chemist, chemist’s and drugstore. A pharmacist is someone who prepares and sells medicines. This is American English, but in British English pharmacist is slightly technical and it is more usual to use the word chemist. The place where a pharmacist works is a pharmacy. This can be a shop, part of a shop, or part of a hospital. Pharmacy is the usual word in American English. In British English, you usually refer to the part of a hospital that prepares and gives out medicines as a pharmacy, but the usual word for a shop where medicines are prepared and sold is a chemist or a chemist’s. In Britain chemists usually also sell other things, such as beauty and baby products. A shop like this is called a drugstore or pharmacy in North America.
Notes to Para. 49
31. I had been sinking in something that was hard to believe in — the sea of question marks. 我已经陷
入难以置信的境地——满脑子都是问号。
Meaning: I had so many questions about what had been going on that it seemed as if I had been submerged in water and there was no way to get out of it.
Note that in this sentence the author uses two metaphors: 1) sink in something, meaning “get into the trouble as if drowning in the flood”; 2) the sea of question marks, meaning “plenty of question marks like an endless sea”. sink in: 陷入
e.g. They lost all their money and sank into desperate poverty.
32. Why did I have to have surgery if I didn’t need it? Why did I have to spend eight thousand dollars if
I could solve the problem with ten dollars? Why did I have to use medicine for forty dollars if I could swallow pills for five bucks? Why did I have to pay for the first visit if I wasn’t sure that I would come to see the same doctor again? Why? Why? Why? 为什么我非得做手术呢，如果我并不需要的话？为什么我非得花费八千元呢，如果十元就能解决问题？为什么我一定要用四十元的药呢，如果我能用五元的药？为什么我非得付初诊费呢，如果我不能确定会去复诊的话？为什么？为什么？为什么呢？
Note that the seven why-questions strongly convey the patient’s painful experience of this painful visit —disbelief, questioning, indignity, complaint and protest. swallow: vt./ vi. 吞咽
e.g. Most snakes swallow their prey whole. buck: n. [C] 钱；（一）元
e.g. Using celebrities in advertising is guaranteed to make big bucks.
Note to Para. 50
33. But here, in America, I am scared to death. I am scared to death not because I have a health problem
to solve but because the visit makes me even more sick. 但在美国，我却怕得要命。这么害怕不是因为担心我需要解决的健康问题，而是因为看病反倒加重我的病情。
The sarcastic criticism is well expressed by the last part of this sentence: “the visit makes me even more sick. Here “even more sick” indicates that the hospital has made him worse than before, not only physically, but also mentally.
3. Questions on the text
1. How does the doctor diagnose the patient at the beginning?
He diagnoses his patient by striking him quick, unexpected and powerful blows.
2. What advice does the doctor give to the patient even if he has no idea what is wrong with the patient? What is the doctor's motive for giving this advice?
He advises the patient to go to bed and stay there and keep quiet. This may result in either a quiet recovery or a quiet death. In either case, the patient won't come to him and complain about his treatment.
3. What does the doctor hope to achieve when he calls every morning and thumps and beats his patient?
He hopes that in this way he can keep the patient submissive and perhaps force him to confess what is wrong with him.
4. How does the doctor reply to the patient's questions on diet?
The answer to this question varies very much. He is likely to advise the patient to eat plenty when it is late in the morning and he is extremely hungry. But he'll advise his patient not to eat anything if he has just had lunch and is very full.
5. What prevents so many people from seeing through the modern quacks?
It is the work of the analytical laboratory. Otherwise the modern quacks' treatment would be so transparent that people would easily recognize the real nature of those quacks.
6. Why does the writer claim that the work of laboratory analysis makes the patient feel that the treatment is worth paying for?
This is because the patient is filled up with a sense of personal importance when he sees his \and pieces and extracts\
7. What does the writer really mean when he says an ambulance is more soothing than a hack? The writer is ridiculing modern quacks. As is known to us all, the ambulance cannot cure the patient, but it won't at least torture him. When the patient is treated by a quack, however, he will be beaten, given bad advice. Worst of all, his \
