Page 247 - Complete Advanced SB- www.english0905.com

www.english0905.com Answer key: Unit 13

13 Health and lifestyle recognise that severe allergies can be a cause of great
anxiety for some individuals.

Starting off Presenter: OK, thank you. Our first caller today is Tim
from Edinburgh. Tim, what’s your question?
1 Suggested answers Tim: Hi, right, well, I’m a hay fever sufferer – I’m very
1 Advantages: keeps you physically fit, helps keep allergic to pollen from grass and certain trees,
heart and lungs healthy, helps prevent obesity especially in the spring. What I don’t understand is that
Disadvantages: can cause injury and pain – my allergy didn’t begin until I was in my mid-thirties.
bruises, muscle strain, fractures, etc. I’d really like to know why it appeared so late, and am I
2 Advantages: prevents childhood diseases, reduces stuck with it now?
the spread of infectious diseases Presenter: Dr Bawadi?
Disadvantages: some vaccinations may cause Dr Bawadi: Hello, Tim. Your story’s a very common one.
illness in a minority, some people have a fear of The fact is that allergies don’t discriminate – they’re
needles no more likely to affect children than old people. I’m
3 Advantages: clean air and environment, less afraid they can develop at any time of life from birth
stressful life, less traffic to sixty and beyond. This is because an allergy is a
Disadvantages: allergic reactions to plants, mistaken response of our immune system to a harmless
venomous spiders and snakes, fewer medical substance. As to whether you’re stuck with your allergy,
services, smaller hospitals that’s a less straightforward question. The best way
4 Advantages: more medical services, larger to treat any allergy is to avoid contact with whatever
hospitals causes the allergic reaction. Someone who was allergic
Disadvantages: pollution, risk of catching to eggs would find it fairly easy to avoid eating anything
contagious diseases, heavy traffic causing containing eggs, whereas you would find it impossible
pollution and accidents to avoid all contact with pollen unless you lived in a
desert or a coastal area. And I’d add, Tim, that there’s
www.english0905.com
now research evidence from around the world that the
Listening | Part 3 most common age to develop an allergy is in your late
teens, so you’ve not done too badly.
1 1 conversation 2 four 3 six 4 four 5 express
the same ideas 6 before 7 after the speaker has Presenter: Our next caller is Arabella from Amsterdam in
finished talking the Netherlands. What’s your question, Arabella?
Arabella: Hello. I’m allergic to peanuts – so of course I
3 1 Yes. (Every year more people visit their doctor have to be really careful about foods which contain
with asthma and various food allergies.) even the smallest traces of peanuts, but what I’d like to
2 20%–30% of the population of Britain and the USA know is whether I’m likely to pass this allergy on to any
3 air conditioning and central heating children I may have in the future.
Presenter: Thank you. Dr Bawadi?
CD 2 Track 21
Dr Bawadi: Hello, Arabella. This is an interesting
Presenter: These days we’re all too familiar with the word
question. In developed countries all children have a
allergy and phrases like ‘I’m allergic to pollen or eggs
twelve percent risk of developing an allergy. In the
or cats’, and it’s generally accepted that allergies are
case of your child, this would rise to twenty percent.
more widespread in the population than in the past. Is
However, if the child’s father also had an allergy of
this because the subject is getting increased exposure
some kind, this risk would increase to forty percent.
in the media, or are we really becoming less able to
Arabella: So, what about if the father and the mother
protect ourselves against those substances which cause
have the same allergy?
allergies? These are just some of the questions we’ll be
tackling in today’s phone-in programme. In the studio Dr Bawadi: Then I’m afraid there’s a seventy percent
today is allergy specialist Dr Mohamed Bawadi to chance that the child will develop that allergy.
answer your questions. Welcome, Dr Bawadi. Presenter: Thank you, Arabella. I hope that answers your
Dr Bawadi: Thank you. I should start by saying that the question. Just before we move on to the next caller, can
medical profession takes allergies very seriously and we I ask you whether we are in fact seeing a higher

243