节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-07-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:pioneer, disorder, readjust, exhaustion, hazard
Welcome back.
What is it like caring for a child with special needs?
Well, after the initial relief of knowing exactly what was wrong with their
daughter Matthea,
the Maurers have experienced more than their fair share of grief, sadness,
broken dreams and fatigue.
How do they manage?
Let's pick up the reading on line 25 and learn more.
(Music).
Caring for a Child With Special Needs.
So we had to readjust our schedules so that we were up when she was up.
Otherwise, she would tear the house apart and stick things in her mouth and so
on.
The biggest thing, though, was just the sheer exhaustion.
I was able to put that aside for ten hours when I went to work, but my wife was
at home with her all day.
How do you deal with that?
I wish I dealt with it better.
I could fall asleep right now.
I drink a lot of coffee.
I don't know.
You try to ask other people to help.
Sometimes that works out, but other times people are too busy.
(Music).
All right. So Studio Classroom asked a very important question.
How does having a child with special needs affect your family?
We know that it definitely does.
And like I've seen before, Kaylah, it does affect families a lot.
And so we are getting some examples here.
How did it affect their family?
Well, for one change, their plans about moving to rural China, and it caused a
lot of scheduling problems.
We saw that they have to always feed her through a tube.
She needed to be with them all the time so she would not choke.
That would cause a choking hazard.
And she didn't sleep very much.
So how did they deal with that?
Well, we see here that they had to readjust their schedules so that they were up
when Matthea was up.
OK. To "readjust" means to change something in order to fit another situation.
So if you are traveling and you travel through to a new place that is on a
different time,
you have to readjust your schedule so that you can be up in the daytime and
sleeping at their nighttime.
OK. You're using the word "up," meaning to be awake.
So they wanted to be awake at the same time when she was awake.
That's right.
So they had to readjust, change their schedules the way they were sleeping to
match Matthea's.
Right, because otherwise, which means if they did the opposite, then she would
tear the house apart and stick things in her mouth and so on.
OK. So she would tear the... house apart.
That does not mean she is going to the actual building and pulling it apart.
That means... when you tear the house apart, you make a huge mess.
You would go through and pull all the books off the shelves and throw paper and
trash everywhere, just making a really, really big mess.
Yeah.
And nobody wants to wake up to that.
So she needed their care for that as well as putting things in her mouth and so
on.
Yeah. Now the phrase here, "so on," means that there are many more similar
things that she could have done while they were not awake to watch her.
Another way of saying "so on" would be to say etc.
Right. We've seen that phrase before.
That means there are more examples that they're just not telling us.
That's right.
Now the biggest thing, though, the most important was just the sheer exhaustion.
That is how it affected their family.
OK. Now we're seeing here that they were exhausted, or the noun is "exhaustion."
And that means to be extremely tired, very, very tired.
Now "sheer" exhaustion means the very basic.
When you take everything else away, what you see left is just the amount of
exhaustion, how incredibly tired they were.
Yeah. You can say the absolute exhaustion.
They were absolutely or completely exhausted.
Now he continues saying:
I was able to put that aside for ten hours of work when... when he would go to
work, but his wife was at home all day with her.
So it's exhausting taking care of a child in general even just very healthy
children, especially a child with special needs.
Right. So Uwe was able to get away from it a little bit when he went to work
for, he says, about ten hours a day.
But his wife, unfortunately, had to stay home and had to deal with that all day.
So she would be very tired.
Now it's not that she does not want to care for Matthea.
She loves Matthea.
That is her daughter.
She wants to take care of her.
But it can be very exhausting.
And that can make you kind of slowly break apart, so she needed the support
of... of family around her.
Right. And that's an important thing to consider about families with children
with special needs is that you love them very much.
Just like you will find out later in this article - they love them very, very
much, but it can still be difficult.
That's right.
Now we ask: How do you deal with that?
That was Studio Classroom's next question.
How do you deal with that exhaustion?
How do you deal with these changes?
Now what's his answer?
This is probably an answer that most parents would say.
They said: I wish I had dealt with it better.
That means that you wish you had chosen better or made better decisions.
Now most of us do say that at some point in life.
I wish I had chosen something different.
I wish I had made a different choice.
Now to deal with something - I "dealt" would be the past tense of to deal with.
Now that means how they handled the situation.
OK. So here they say they could fall asleep right now.
So even when they had this interview, they were very exhausted.
They said: I drink a lot of coffee. And we don't know.
We try to ask other people to help.
That's right.
If we read this all one time, we see:
I wish I dealt with it better.
I could fall asleep right now.
I drink a lot of coffee.
I don't know.
Now that's his way of expressing: Oh. These are some ideas, but really, I don't
know how I deal with it.
I... I don't get much sleep, and I drink coffee to stay awake.
But it comes down to they need help.
Right. Something I think a lot of parents with special or... with kids with
disabilities try to do is just live every day day by day.
Not try to think too much in the future, but just try every day.
And it looks like that's what they're doing here.
They say sometimes that works, just keep going.
But other times, people are too busy to help.
That's right.
They need help.
They ask for help.
Sometimes people can help, but sometimes they can't.
But they do ask for it.
So maybe if you have friends, you can be the help that they need.
Exactly. Now join us tomorrow.
For right now, though, let's visit the Chat Room.
So do you have any plans for this evening?
Not really, Ken.
My wife and I are just going to stay home and watch the new TV series, Doctors
and Nurses.
Are you sure?
I read a review of it, and it was pretty negative.
Yes, I read it too.
The reviewer really tore it apart.
But another reviewer said he liked it.
Wait. The reviewer tore it apart?
I know tearing something apart can mean ripping it into pieces, but that can't
be what you mean.
No, that's not what I mean.
Tearing something apart can mean physically tearing it, or it can mean
criticizing it strongly.
So the reviewer who tore apart the TV show says some really nasty things about
it?
That's right.
People also sometimes use this in an exaggerated way to talk about making a
mess.
I've heard that.
My friend has a daughter who just learned to walk.
And he always complains about the kid tearing the house apart.
Right. She's not literally destroying the house.
But she is causing trouble and maybe damaging some things they own.
So why do you want to watch Doctors and Nurses if there is a negative review of
it?
Well, my wife and I just love dramas that take place in the hospital.
Also, a friend who watched the first episode last week said he couldn't tear
himself away from it.
So if you can't tear yourself away from something, does that mean you like it?
Oh, yes. You like it a lot.
Tearing someone away from something means forcing them to leave it.
So if you can't tear yourself away from something, it means you like it so much
that you don't want to stop using it.
So besides the TV, what else can you try to tear someone away from?
Well, an interesting book might be something I won't be able to tear myself away
from.
I see.
Well, I'm sorry to tear you away from your work for so long.
I hope you enjoy the TV show.
No problem, Ken.
(Chinese).
(Music).
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Michelle.
Friends, do you or does someone you know have a child with special needs?
Would you be willing to help a family with a special needs child?
Or do you know of any organizations that help families of children with special
needs?
Think carefully about these Talk About It questions because your answers could
do more, much more, than just improve your English.
They could very well make life brighter for a family with a special needs child.
Friends, I hope all of you have a great day.