Übung 1

Let's play doctors and nurses! Match the correct illness with its description!

Atchoo! I can't stop sneezing! My nose is red and blocked with mucus. I have .

Ow! My muscles hurt! I can't get comfortable and I feel hot and cold at the same time. I've got .

Ahem! My throat hurts and I'm annoying my colleagues with this reflex to get microbes out of my lungs! I have .

Let's play doctors and nurses! Match the correct illness with its description!

Atchoo! I can't stop sneezing! My nose is red and blocked with mucus. I have a common cold 1.

Ow! My muscles hurt! I can't get comfortable and I feel hot and cold at the same time. I've got the flu 2.

Ahem! My throat hurts and I'm annoying my colleagues with this reflex to get microbes out of my lungs! I have a cough 3.

1 a common cold: This is the best choice here - this patient has all the symptoms of the common cold, technically known as "acute viral rhinopharyngitis" or "acute coryza". Many people catch colds in winter, and they sneeze ("atchoo!") and have lots of mucus in their nose.

1 the flu: This is not the right diagnosis. "The flu" is a short name for "influenza", a virus whose symptoms include chills, fever, muscle pains, and general weakness. The flu is a horrible thing to suffer from!

1 a cough: This is not the right diagnosis. When we have a "cough", we "cough" frequently: we expel air or something else from our lungs and throat with a sudden and loud reflex. Non-smokers sometimes cough when they enter a smoke-filled room.

2 the flu: "The flu" is the right answer here. "The flu" is a short name for "influenza", a virus whose symptoms include chills, fever, muscle pains, and general weakness. If you have the flu, you should rest in bed and drink plenty of water!

2 a common cold: This isn't the right answer. The symptoms of the common cold include sneezing and a blocked nose.

2 a cough: This isn't the right answer. When we have a "cough", we "cough" frequently: we expel air or something else from our lungs and throat with a sudden and loud reflex. Non-smokers sometimes cough when they enter a smoke-filled room.

3 a cough: "A cough" is the best explanation for these symptoms. When we have a "cough", we "cough" frequently: we expel air or something else from our lungs and throat with a sudden and loud reflex. Non-smokers sometimes cough when they enter a smoke-filled room. Note that "cough" rhymes with "off"!

3 a common cold: This isn't the right answer. The symptoms of the common cold include sneezing and a blocked nose.

3 the flu: This is not the right diagnosis. "The flu" is a short name for "influenza", a virus whose symptoms include chills, fever, muscle pains, and general weakness. The flu is a horrible thing to suffer from!

Übung 2

The journalist uses 191 words in his article... Let's summarise the main message of the article in just one line!

Scientists may have developed a way of protecting birds from the avian influenza virus.

Scientists have finally found a cure for the common cold.

Despite recent research, avian influenza is now a global pandemic.

Ich weiß es nicht

The journalist uses 191 words in his article... Let's summarise the main message of the article in just one line!

Scientists may have developed a way of protecting birds from the avian influenza virus.

This is the line which provides the best synopsis of the article! We read that "A team of French scientists is claiming a major breakthrough in the fight against the avian influenza virus (or "bird flu")". Later, the journalist writes that the development is a scarf which "would protect the birds by preventing them from breathing in infected air particles".

Scientists have finally found a cure for the common cold.

This is not the best choice to summarise the article. The common cold is technically "acute viral rhinopharyngitis" or "acute coryza", and there is still no cure for it! If you have a common cold, you sneeze and cough a lot! In the article, we read that the French protect themselves from this annoying virus by wearing scarves in winter.

Despite recent research, avian influenza is now a global pandemic.

This is not the best choice to summarise the article. We read that there is a "threat of a global flu pandemic", which is why the French researchers have developed the "anti bird flu scarf". A "threat" is something bad which may happen in the future: it has not yet happened.

Übung 3