Lesson 26
There Are Two SidesEverything
Text A
hadmost exasperatingfrustrating experience withhospital today: But Granny hadmuch worse. First she wasvictiman accidentthen she wassuffering patient.
She was out shopping early this morning,was hardlyfew scoresyards from our house when she was knocked down hybicycle. The rider wasreckiess young man who didn't even stop afteraccident, but raced away as though an army was after him. It wasneighbour who recognized hercamecall me (bothmy parents were out ).
Whenheardnews, my heart jumped upmy mouth.raced downstairs, two or three steps attimesprintedthe spot.never ran so fastmy iife. Theresawcrowdpeople.elbowed my way in,saw Granny sittingthe ground leaning againsttree, her face all swollenher mouth bleeding. She was holding her left arm with her right hand. It must befracture judging romwayhurt her.
Somethe crowd were concernedoffering helpadvice, but most were just curious onlookers.omeone managedstoppassing carus,the driver kindly drove usthe nearest hospital. Then our ordeal began.
Naturallytook herthe emergericy room firstexpected immediate attention. But we hadwaitat least ten minutes beforedoctor came overus. I-Ie just tookbrief look at hersaid simply: "Gothe dental department. " "But doctor, aren't you goinggive herthorough check?"asked "Don't worry, her lifenotdanger. " Beforecould say anything more , he was already outsight.
There was nothingusdo but lookthe dental department which took uslong time becausewasthe third floor. Theredentist told us that we must register first, sohadrush allway down againthe ground floor, there onlyfindlong queue.triedjumpqueue explainingwas an emergency case, "Gothe emergency room if it's an emergency case ! "
I didn't know whetherlaugh orcry. Anywaystood obediently atendthe lineat last when my turn camewas given many formsfill, somewhich were very detailedquite unnecessarythought. After filling themfoundhadqueue up once againhand them in! Bytime everything was finished andrushed upstairs,was happyfinddentist haddecency notwaitme before treating Granny. That wasfirst comforting thing after enteringhospital andreally felt gratefulthe dentist. After putting several stitcheslipsgum,dentist said "That's all. Now gopay your bill. "
"But doctor, her arm hurts. "
"You havegothe surgical departmentthat. It's just opposite. I'll take you there. "
really likeman. But allsamehadrun allway downthe ground floorregister againthe surgical department. Andall that much troubledoctor spent less than five minutes examining Grannysai: "She'll need an X-ray." He wrote outchitthat was that.
The X-ray department wasthe ground floor andhadhelp her allway down. The complicationsrigmarole involvedgettingX-ray done were too complicatedirritatingdescribe. The longshortit was, after we gotX-ray picture,hadtake Granny allway up againthe third floor. After takinglook at,doctor said :"No bones broken. I'll prescribe some pain-killerantibiotics. "
Sowas allway down again. The complicationspayingbillgettingmedicine were too sillywords.hadqueue from windowwindow-to~getmedicine pricedadded up ,paybill ;getmedicine. . . And if you didn't knowright ordersequence, whichdidn't,often meant standingthe wrong queue onlybe toldcome back again after queuing up at another window.
Bytime we got homewas almost one o'clock. We had spent almost four hours athospital, andmadecalculation: Five minutes withdoctorthe emergency room, half an hour withdentist, ten minutes withsurgeon-three
quartersan hour all told. The restthe time was spent waiting, queuing,rushing from placeplace. If Granny had haddo all that by herself, she wouldn't have lefthospital alive, I'm sure.
Taxt B
Dr Ding Ping,bone specialistNo. 2 People's HospitalAnqingAnhui Province, wonbronze medal at37th International Eureka FairBrussels iast yearhis invention,new bone-setting device. Not onlydoctor himself vvas happyhonoured .hospital , indeedwhole city felt honouredhappy too. But who would have thought thatinvention not only broughtdoctorbronze medal , but also plunged him intoheavy debt.
It all started986 whenthe whole ycar Dr Ding spentevery spare minutehis new invention. After another year's clinical trial use,device provedbe effective. SoJune last year Dr Ding was informed byScience CommissionAnhui Province that this invention had been selectedcompete
in37th Eureka International Fair.
This was indeed happy news, but Dr Ding's happiness was marred byfact that he hadpay 5, 000 yuanenteringitemthe fair. Whereearth was heraise suchhuge sum? He appliedaid fromMunicipal Science Commission but got turned down because firstlyCommission thoughtirivention wasprivate one ,workan individualtherefore could not be funded bypublic,secondlyCommission was hard up anywaycould not affordpay out suchlarge sum.
So what wasbe done? Atlast momenthospital camethe rescue : They agreedlend Dr Ding 5, 000 yuan, but starting from January this year, they would deduct 50 yuan frommonthly salary untildebt was fully repaid.
Dr Ding was grateful and' jumped atchance. But he was under no illusion aboutpredicamentz2 he was plunging himself into. His salary was only 97 yuanmonth. His wife,school teacher, only brought home 82 yuanmonth. With two daughters at school their life was not easy aswas. To have 50 yuan deducted monthly from their meagre incomethe next eight years would meanfinancial burden that would surely breakcamel's back
Discarding all face problems, Dr Ding startedbegalms from all quarters. Mostly he met with rebuffs, but he could not affordgive up. Afterfew monthsbegging from doordoor, he managedcollect ,400 yuan. Quitesubstantial
sum, but he was still 3,600 yuan short.
The news thatinvention had wonbronze medal not only brought some spiritual comfort , but also some material gains. His hospital decidedaward him 500 yuan astokenrecognitionhis brilliant work. Butfact remains that he still haddebtpay, now reduced3,00 yuan. Again he appliedhelp from various municipal departments, but so far without success.
Is Dr Ding andfamily goingspendnext five years
in povertymisery just because he has invented something usefulwon international recognition?
Additiosal Information
It'shospital scene. People are lining upregistration. After seeingdoetor they come backline up againtgeir medicine, Of course it'svery time-consuming process, because they havegetprescriptions priced at one windowpay at. another. Then atlast window they get their medicine. That means altogether they haveline up at three different windows justget their medicine.
To avoid all this trouble,smart woman works outmost convenient
waygetting her medicine. She herself stands atendthe first lineputs her pram with her babyit,toy duckher own bag atendthe other three lines. She has them all strung'together withwool yarn with which she's knitting. She believes this will save hertrouble
of lining up three times.
There Are Two SidesEverything
Text A
hadmost exasperatingfrustrating experience withhospital today: But Granny hadmuch worse. First she wasvictiman accidentthen she wassuffering patient.
She was out shopping early this morning,was hardlyfew scoresyards from our house when she was knocked down hybicycle. The rider wasreckiess young man who didn't even stop afteraccident, but raced away as though an army was after him. It wasneighbour who recognized hercamecall me (bothmy parents were out ).
Whenheardnews, my heart jumped upmy mouth.raced downstairs, two or three steps attimesprintedthe spot.never ran so fastmy iife. Theresawcrowdpeople.elbowed my way in,saw Granny sittingthe ground leaning againsttree, her face all swollenher mouth bleeding. She was holding her left arm with her right hand. It must befracture judging romwayhurt her.
Somethe crowd were concernedoffering helpadvice, but most were just curious onlookers.omeone managedstoppassing carus,the driver kindly drove usthe nearest hospital. Then our ordeal began.
Naturallytook herthe emergericy room firstexpected immediate attention. But we hadwaitat least ten minutes beforedoctor came overus. I-Ie just tookbrief look at hersaid simply: "Gothe dental department. " "But doctor, aren't you goinggive herthorough check?"asked "Don't worry, her lifenotdanger. " Beforecould say anything more , he was already outsight.
There was nothingusdo but lookthe dental department which took uslong time becausewasthe third floor. Theredentist told us that we must register first, sohadrush allway down againthe ground floor, there onlyfindlong queue.triedjumpqueue explainingwas an emergency case, "Gothe emergency room if it's an emergency case ! "
I didn't know whetherlaugh orcry. Anywaystood obediently atendthe lineat last when my turn camewas given many formsfill, somewhich were very detailedquite unnecessarythought. After filling themfoundhadqueue up once againhand them in! Bytime everything was finished andrushed upstairs,was happyfinddentist haddecency notwaitme before treating Granny. That wasfirst comforting thing after enteringhospital andreally felt gratefulthe dentist. After putting several stitcheslipsgum,dentist said "That's all. Now gopay your bill. "
"But doctor, her arm hurts. "
"You havegothe surgical departmentthat. It's just opposite. I'll take you there. "
really likeman. But allsamehadrun allway downthe ground floorregister againthe surgical department. Andall that much troubledoctor spent less than five minutes examining Grannysai: "She'll need an X-ray." He wrote outchitthat was that.
The X-ray department wasthe ground floor andhadhelp her allway down. The complicationsrigmarole involvedgettingX-ray done were too complicatedirritatingdescribe. The longshortit was, after we gotX-ray picture,hadtake Granny allway up againthe third floor. After takinglook at,doctor said :"No bones broken. I'll prescribe some pain-killerantibiotics. "
Sowas allway down again. The complicationspayingbillgettingmedicine were too sillywords.hadqueue from windowwindow-to~getmedicine pricedadded up ,paybill ;getmedicine. . . And if you didn't knowright ordersequence, whichdidn't,often meant standingthe wrong queue onlybe toldcome back again after queuing up at another window.
Bytime we got homewas almost one o'clock. We had spent almost four hours athospital, andmadecalculation: Five minutes withdoctorthe emergency room, half an hour withdentist, ten minutes withsurgeon-three
quartersan hour all told. The restthe time was spent waiting, queuing,rushing from placeplace. If Granny had haddo all that by herself, she wouldn't have lefthospital alive, I'm sure.
Taxt B
Dr Ding Ping,bone specialistNo. 2 People's HospitalAnqingAnhui Province, wonbronze medal at37th International Eureka FairBrussels iast yearhis invention,new bone-setting device. Not onlydoctor himself vvas happyhonoured .hospital , indeedwhole city felt honouredhappy too. But who would have thought thatinvention not only broughtdoctorbronze medal , but also plunged him intoheavy debt.
It all started986 whenthe whole ycar Dr Ding spentevery spare minutehis new invention. After another year's clinical trial use,device provedbe effective. SoJune last year Dr Ding was informed byScience CommissionAnhui Province that this invention had been selectedcompete
in37th Eureka International Fair.
This was indeed happy news, but Dr Ding's happiness was marred byfact that he hadpay 5, 000 yuanenteringitemthe fair. Whereearth was heraise suchhuge sum? He appliedaid fromMunicipal Science Commission but got turned down because firstlyCommission thoughtirivention wasprivate one ,workan individualtherefore could not be funded bypublic,secondlyCommission was hard up anywaycould not affordpay out suchlarge sum.
So what wasbe done? Atlast momenthospital camethe rescue : They agreedlend Dr Ding 5, 000 yuan, but starting from January this year, they would deduct 50 yuan frommonthly salary untildebt was fully repaid.
Dr Ding was grateful and' jumped atchance. But he was under no illusion aboutpredicamentz2 he was plunging himself into. His salary was only 97 yuanmonth. His wife,school teacher, only brought home 82 yuanmonth. With two daughters at school their life was not easy aswas. To have 50 yuan deducted monthly from their meagre incomethe next eight years would meanfinancial burden that would surely breakcamel's back
Discarding all face problems, Dr Ding startedbegalms from all quarters. Mostly he met with rebuffs, but he could not affordgive up. Afterfew monthsbegging from doordoor, he managedcollect ,400 yuan. Quitesubstantial
sum, but he was still 3,600 yuan short.
The news thatinvention had wonbronze medal not only brought some spiritual comfort , but also some material gains. His hospital decidedaward him 500 yuan astokenrecognitionhis brilliant work. Butfact remains that he still haddebtpay, now reduced3,00 yuan. Again he appliedhelp from various municipal departments, but so far without success.
Is Dr Ding andfamily goingspendnext five years
in povertymisery just because he has invented something usefulwon international recognition?
Additiosal Information
It'shospital scene. People are lining upregistration. After seeingdoetor they come backline up againtgeir medicine, Of course it'svery time-consuming process, because they havegetprescriptions priced at one windowpay at. another. Then atlast window they get their medicine. That means altogether they haveline up at three different windows justget their medicine.
To avoid all this trouble,smart woman works outmost convenient
waygetting her medicine. She herself stands atendthe first lineputs her pram with her babyit,toy duckher own bag atendthe other three lines. She has them all strung'together withwool yarn with which she's knitting. She believes this will save hertrouble
of lining up three times.