PDF《Introduction》

Story C A Serious Case http://learnenglish.

britishcouncil.org/en/stories/serious-case ? The British Council,

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4 The United Kingdom's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity. Introduction This support pack accompanies the story: A Serious Case by Chris Rose To read or listen to the story online, go to: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/stori es/serious-case This support pack contains the following materials: a pre-reading vocabulary activity the story A comprehension activity Before you read Match the words and phrases in the table to the descriptions below. 1. beetle 2. faint 3. furry 4. hypnotise 5. mind 6. phobia 7. rid 8. scream 9. severe 10.shiver 11.subconscious 12.terrified Definitions: a.describes something that has a lot of hair, like a cat or a rabbit. b.means very, very serious. c. A is a kind of insect with a strong round shell. It often lives under rocks. d. A is when you are afraid of something, for no good reason. e. If you don?t something, then it isn?t important to you C you don?t particularly like or dislike it. f. Some people think that we think things that we don?t know about C this is called our g. When you somebody, you put them in a state when they don?t know what they are doing or saying, and can change what they think. h. When you you can?t stand up and fall down, losing consciousness. It happens when you are very tired, very weak or very ill. i. When you are very, very frightened, you are j. When you don?t want something, you can throw it away or get of it. k. When you feel cold, or afraid, you shake all over or l. When you shout very loudly, you often when you are afraid. Story C A Serious Case http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/stories/serious-case ? The British Council,

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4 The United Kingdom's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity. A Serious Case by Chris Rose I have a friend who is afraid of spiders. This isn?t very unusual;

a lot of people are afraid of spiders. I don?t really like spiders much myself. I don?t mind them if you see them outside, in the garden, as long as they?re not too big. But if one comes in the house, especially if it?s one of those really big spiders with furry legs and little red eyes, then I go "yuck" and I try to get rid of it. Usually I?ll use a brush to get rid of the spider, but if I feel brave then I?ll put a glass over the top of it, slide a piece of paper under the glass and then take it outside. This is quite normal, I think. But my friend isn?t afraid of spiders in any normal way. She isn?t just afraid of spiders, she is totally, completely, and utterly terrified of them. When my friend sees a spider she doesn?t just go "uurgghh!" or run away, or ask someone else to get rid of the horrible creepy crawly. No: she screams as loud as she possibly can. She screams so loud that her neighbours worry about her, and think about calling the police. When she sees a spider, she shivers all over, and sometimes she freezes completely C she can?t move at all because she is so terrified. Sometimes she even faints. But my friend had a surprise for me when we met for coffee last week. "Guess what?" she asked me. "What?" I said. "I?ve got a new pet!" "Great," I said. "What is it? A dog? A cat?" "No." "A budgie?" "No." "A rabbit?" "No." "What then?" "I?ve got a pet spider." "I don?t believe you!" "It?s true! I decided that it was time I did something about my phobia so I went to visit a doctor, a special doctor. A psychiatrist. This psychiatrist specialised in phobias C helping people who had irrational fears to get better, and live normally. He told me I suffered from ?arachnophobia?." "It?s an irrational fear of spiders," he said. "About one in fifty people suffer from a severe form of arachnophobia. It?s not very uncommon." "Thanks" said my friend. "But that doesn?t help me much..." "There are lots of different ways we can try to cure your phobia," said the psychiatrist. "First, there is traditional analysis." "What does that mean?" asked my friend. "This means lots of talking. We try to find out exactly why you have such a terrible fear of spiders. Perhaps it?s linked to something that happened to you when you were a child." "Oh dear," said my friend. "That sounds quite worrying." "It can take a long time," said the psychiatrist. "Years, sometimes, and you can never be certain that it will be successful." "Are there any other methods?" "Yes C some psychiatrists use hypnosis along with traditional analysis." My friend didn?t like the idea of being hypnotised. "I?m worried about what things will come out of my subconscious mind!" she said. "Are there any other methods?" asked my friend. "Well", said the psychiatrist, "There is what we call the ?behavioural? approach." "What?s the behavioural approach?" asked my friend. "Well," said the psychiatrist, "It?s like this..." The psychiatrist got out a small spider from his desk. It wasn?t a real spider. It was made of plastic. Even though it was only a plastic spider, my friend screamed when she saw it. "Don?t worry," said the psychiatrist. "It?s not a real spider." "I know," said my friend. "But I?m afraid of it just the same." Story C A Serious Case http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/stories/serious-case ? The British Council,