Doctor, Dentist and Chemist
If you have toothache, you should go to your dentist. He'll examine your teeth, and if the aching tooth is not too far gone, he'll stop it. If it is too bad, he'll take it out.
If you don't feel well, you should consult a doctor. If you feel too ill to go to the doctor's, you'll have to send for him. He'll ask you to describe to him the symptoms of your illness. Then he'll feel your pulse, look at your tongue and examine you thoroughly. Finally he'll prescribe the treatment and write out a prescription.
Doctors' prescriptions are made up by a chemist. At chemists' shops in the USA you can also get patent medicines of all kinds, lotions, tonics, cough-mixtures, baby-foods, aspirin, pills, ointment, bandages, adhesive plaster and so on. You can buy razors and razor-blades, vacuum-flasks, hot water bottles, sponges, tooth-brushes and tooth-pastes, powder-puffs, lipsticks, shaving-soap and shaving-brushes and a hundred and one other things.
If you are interested in photography, you can also get cameras and films at most chemists'. They'll develop and print your films for you, too. Some chemists are also qualified opticians, and if your eyesight's faulty they'll test your eyes and prescribe glasses for you.
This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear intonation and reproduce it in different speech situations.
a) Listen to the joke "One day Mrs. Jones went shopping...", sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the joke for test reading.
b)Listen to the narration of the joke. Observe the peculiarities in intonation-group division, pitch, stress and tempo. Note the use of temporizers. Reproduce the model narration yon have listened to.
This exercise is meant to test your ability to analyse and reproduce material for reading and retelling.
A) Read the jokes silently to make sure you understand each sentence. Find the sentence expressing the essence of the joke. Split up each phrase into intonation-groups if necessary. Locate the communicative centre of each sentence. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise reading the jokes.
b) Tell the jokes in your own words:
The Doctor's Advice
Once an old gentleman went to see a doctor. The doctor examined him and said: "Medicine won't help you. You must have a complete rest. Go to a quiet country place for a month, go to bed early, drink milk, walk a lot, and smoke just one cigar a day."
"Thank you very much," said the gentleman, "I shall do everything you say."
"Oh, doctor," said the gentleman a month later, "I feel quite well now. I had a good rest. I went to bed early, I drank a lot of milk, I walked a lot. Your advice certainly helped me. But you told me to smoke one cigar a day, and that one cigar a day almost killed me at first. It's no joke to start smoking at my age."
Doctor's Orders
Servant: Sir, wake up, wake up!
Master: What is the matter?
Servant: It's time to take your sleeping tablets.
Mrs. Brown: Don't you think, doctor, you've rather overcharged for attending Jimmy when he had the measles?
Doctor: You must remember, Mrs. Brown, that includes twenty-two visits.
Mrs. Brown: Yes, but you forget he infected the whole school!
SECTION THREE. Intonation Pattern X
(LOW PRE-HEAD+) RISING HEAD + HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)
Model: I wonder when Alice's train is due. | |
— ä Look it 'up in the `time-,table. |
The syllables of the Rising Head preceding the High Fall gradually carry the pitch up.
Stress-and-tone mark in the text:
The first stressed syllable: │ä│
This intonation pattern is used:
1. In statements, conveying personal concern, involvement, disgruntled protest.
е.g. Haven't you brought the carp? — You ädidn't ask me ,to.
2. In questions:
a) In special questions sounding unpleasantly surprised or displeased, protesting.
е.g. Send them at once. — äWhere to?
b) In general questions, protesting, sometimes impatient.
е.g. Thursday's a hopeless day for me. — äCan't we 'make it a `Friday, ,then?
3. In imperatives, lively, with a note of critical surprise.
е.g. What shall I do? — äTry it a`gain.
4. In exclamations, conveying affronted surprise, protesting.
е.g. John's coming. — What an exätraordinary `thing.
EXERCISES
1. Listen carefully to the following conversational situations. Concentrate your attention on the intonation of the replies:
Verbal Context | Drill |
Statements (conveying personal concern or involvement, disgruntled protest) | |
I must see Mr. Roberts. | I'm afraid you can't. He's just gone out. |
What did you think of the house? | I was rather taken with it. It seems quite nice. |
He says he knows nothing about it. | I just can't understand it. I distinctly remember telling him. |
Haven't you finished that book yet? | I've only just begun it. |
I'm afraid I failed my exam. | I'm not at all surprised. You must try working a bit harder. |
You ought to have informed me at once. | I didn't realize, it was so important. |
Special questions (sounding displeased, unpleasantly surprised, protesting) | |
What's that you say? | Why don't you listen? |
I can't find the file anywhere. | What have you done with it? |
You can't easily mend it. | What do you mean, easily? |
I gave it to her personally. | But when did you see her? |
Which one shall I have? | Which would you prefer? |
I shall write to him again. | Whatever do you hope to gain by that? |
I was too late. They'd sold out. | Whyever didn't you buy it when you had the chance? |
General questions (protesting, impatient) | |
I'm terribly hard up! | Aren't we all? |
It's always possible. | But do you think it's likely? |
I'm quite booked up next week. | Will the week after suit you better? |
In my view he's a culprit. | Could you be mistaken? |
I can't meet you this Tuesday, | Shall we leave it till next week? |
1 can't say I do like this coat. | Would you have preferred the plum coloured one? |
Imperatives (lively, with a note of critical surprise) | |
What on earth shall I do? | Try it again. You've no alternative. |
What should I tell him? | Tell him exactly what you think. |
How many sandwiches shall I make? | Make as many as you think we'll eat. |
I don't want to go alone. | Come along with us, then. |
I've lost my invitation. | Well write and ask them to send you another one. |
Exclamations (conveying affronted surprise, protesting) | |
I told him what I thought of him. | Good for you! |
She says she's twenty-nine. | Absolute nonsense! |
But I can't take you out tonight. I'm working late. | What a pity you didn't say so sooner. |
Look. It works. | So it does. How very odd! |
You're a bit grumpy today. | Not in the least! |
Listen to the replies and repeat them in the intervals. Pronounce the first stressed syllable as low as possible; the following stressed syllables of the head gradually rise to the high level. Start the fall on the nucleus high enough.