Number one killer

我的导师Margaret家中的女佣患癌症去世，这使我想起我的哥哥、爸爸和一些亲友都是因癌症去世的。在STS中，我跟学生谈了自己对死亡和健康的看法。

　　TEACHER'S

　　Dear students，

　　This Monday I did not go to Chinese University right after school because my teacher， Margaret， called me up that morning. She told me that she wanted to cancel the class in the afternoon because she was not feeling well. She told me that her amah （the housemaid who had taken care of her house and her children for a very long time ） died of cancer the night before. She went to hospital and saw her before she died. She was very sad and she cried these few days whenever she thought of her amah （her friend， to be accurate）。 My teacher， Margaret， treats me as her friend and very often she talks to me straight about her feelings. Perhaps I should ask her to come and meet you someday because she has been giving me lots of advice on English teaching.

　　Too many people die of cancer—it is probably the number one killer. My father died of cancer； my elder brother died of cancer； some of my friends died of cancer. Sometimes I feel that maybe one day I will also die of cancer. But my determination（will power）to live is strong because I have two kids to bring up and I have my wife to love. Sometimes I tell myself that I won't die because I don't want to， especially when I suffer from throat disease（I am suffering from a throat disease right now ） or sharp pains in my tummy. My father died of liver cancer while my brother had tongue and throat cancer.

　　Right after the deaths of my brother and the former principal of this school， I hadmy own life insured. I am not afraid of death but I have to make sure that my family won't have great financial problems in case I pass away. Too many sad things！ I had better stop now. Bye！

　　Dennis

　　P.S. But honestly， I really think that the weather and air quality of Hong Kong are not very good for our health （of course many other places are even

　　worse than Hong Kong in these two

　　aspects）。 For instance， I took my two kids to see a doctor before we flew to America last summer holidays. When I told my mother about this on the phone， she said， “Don't worry！ When they come here， they will be fine.”My mother was right—my kids stopped taking the medicine the second day after we got there， and they absolutely had no problem for the rest of the summer holidays over there in America.

　　right after =immediately after

　　called me up跟telephoned me、phoned me及rang me的意思相同。

　　cancel的另一种说法是call off.

　　whenever可用when代替，但前者的意思是every time when，强调事情的严重性。

　　straight在这里是副词，意思是“直截了当地”。

　　meet在这里不仅解作“相遇”，还解作“相识”。

　　advice是不可数名词，因此不能写作advices.

　　此处的one day相等于someday，意思是“将来有一天”。

　　will power解作“意志力”。

　　bring up可用 raise代替。

　　sharp pains的意思是“剧痛”；身体的疼痛是可数名词。

　　tummy以stomach来代替也可，虽然不一定是胃部不适。tummy跟belly和abdomen意思相近。

　　这种写法比起…while my brotherdied of tongue and throat cancer更简单。

　　留意正确用法：

　　●I had my life insured.√

　　●I had joined for life insurance.√

　　●I bought（buy） a life insurance.×

　　make sure可用ensure来代替，意思是“确保”。

　　…in case…解作“万一”。

　　此处用pass away比用die婉转。

　　很多学生把worse误拼为worst.留意：…worse than…=“……比……差”，而…the worst =“……最差”。

　　For instance =For example是没有复数的。

　　fly的过去式是flew，很多学生误写为flied.

　　较长的假期可加s.

　　留意不同解释：

　　●…stopped taking medicine =停止吃药

　　●…stopped to take medicine =停下来吃药

　　这里若写成the remaining part则太生硬。

　　LANGUAGE SKILL

　　Brackets

　　在现代英语中，“括号”（brackets）可作为非常有用的传意工具。当我们担心读者或许不明白某个词语时，我们可用括号将解释放在该词语旁边。请看本单元的例子。

　　EXAMPLE

　　1.She told me that her amah （the housemaid who had taken care of her house and her children for a very long time） died of cancer…

　　2.But my determination（will power） to live is strong…

　　假如我们担心读者可能误解自己的原意或有其他的想法时，我们也可以用括号补充一些内容。请看本单元的例子。

　　EXAMPLE

　　1.…whenever she thought of her amah （her friend， to be accurate）…

　　2.…the weather and air quality of Hong Kong are not very good for our health （of course many other places are even worse than Hong Kong in these two aspects）。

　　此外，当我们想起一些相关的有趣内容，而这内容本身又跟文章的主要内容并无直接关系时，我们可以用括号把它们括出来。请再看看本单元的例子。

　　EXAMPLE

　　…especially when I suffer from throat disease（I am suffering from a throat disease right now） or sharp pains…

　　每当学生们看见我愁眉不展时，他们会在STSs中给我一些鼓励的话。以下的STSs中有些部分应该用括号括起来，使它们不影响主要内容的陈述。试把它们找出来并加上括号。

　　Test Your Understanding

　　1. I think you should not worry that you will also die of cancer later because cancer is not infectious. I heard people say so. Besides， you are young and you are strong. You will have no problems， I believe.

　　2. Yesterday， in English lessons I saw that you were very unhappy. What happened yesterday morning？ Did Dick make you angry he is basically a good boy because he had taken away other students' newspapers？ Hope that you will be fine soon.

　　3. Do you love your son and daughter？ I know every parent does. My parents are the same of course. But they did something which made me feel they are troublesome. I know I did something wrong before， like smoking. It is a secret. But I do not smoke now. Why don't they believe me？

　　4. I know that you are so unhappy these few days. But forget it！ The students did not concentrate on the lessons in class. It was not your problem. I mean it. It was the problem of all the students. I don't know what I can say to comfort you but I hope that you can get over it soon. You are a wonderful， nice and responsible teacher. You will change the study atmosphere of our class for sure.