Unit 24: Becoming a Healer

Word List

n. A bowl is a dish with a round deep shape.

I put the fruit in the fruit bowl.
n. Cooking food involves making it ready to eat.

I really enjoy cooking, especially Italian food.
adj. If something is dense, it has a lot of things close together.

I easily became lost in the dense forest.
n. Dignity is the ability to be calm and worthy of respect.

When his company went out of business, he faced it with dignity.
v. To dominate someone or something is to control them.

The loud man dominated the conversation.
adj. If something is earthen, it is made of clay.

The house's roof was made of earthen tiles.
adj. If someone is hostile, they are angry and unfriendly.

We were happy to move away from our hostile neighbor.
adj. If something is incorrect, it is wrong.

Your answer is incorrect. You need to correct it.
n. Your intake of food is the amount of food you take into your body.

The doctor said I needed to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables.
adv. If someone does something likewise, they do the same thing as someone else.

If Joe is not going to school so he can go swimming, I want to do likewise.
n. A machine is made by people and does work for us.

The machine was broken.
n. Medication is medicine or drugs given to people who are sick.

The doctor gave me medication to treat my illness.
adj. If something is obscure, it is not well known.

The old man travels the world in search of obscure books.
v. To oppress someone means to rule over them in a cruel and unfair way.

Free speech had been oppressed in his country.
v. To peel fruits and vegetables is to remove their skin.

He peeled the apple before eating it.
n. A prescription is permission from a doctor to get medicine.

The doctor gave me a prescription for my medication.
n. When you make progress, you get better at what you are doing.

There are clear signs of progress.
adj. Sandy means covered with sand.

I love walking on a sandy beach.
n. Shortage comes from short and means not having enough.

During the dry season, there was a shortage of water.
adj. If someone is skillful at something, they are very good at doing it.

The carpenter is very skillful at building houses.

Exercise

A ‣ Circle the answer that best fits the question.

If you need medication, you are probably _____.
- a. sick
- b. hungry
- c. bored
- d. skinny
If you have an incorrect idea about something, _____.
- a. you are clear
- b. you are complicated
- c. you are wrong
- d. you are correct
Which of the following is true of an earthen bowl?
- a. It is metal.
- b. It is clay.
- c. It is wooden.
- d. It is plastic.
If you are skillful at painting, you can _____.
- a. paint badly
- b. paint like a child
- c. paint well
- d. only use certain colors
When you peel a piece of fruit, you _____.
- a. remove the skin
- b. cut it into pieces
- c. eat the skin
- d. take a knife and chop it up

B ‣ Write the word from the word bank that best fits each sentence.

WORD BANK

bowl
intake
cooking
medication
dominate
peel
hostile
prescription
incorrect
shortage

My boss is a difficult person to deal with because he can become so ¹_____.

He gets incredibly angry when he can't ²_____ an employee or a customer.

There is a(n) ³_____ idea that cooking well is difficult.

Actually, most people can cook with basic ⁴_____ techniques.

My ⁵_____ is about to run out, but I still need more.

Tomorrow, I will ask the doctor for a new ⁶_____.

I washed the ⁷_____ after the meal.

That is why you have to ⁸_____ it before you eat it.

In some parts of the world, a(n) ⁹_____ of food is a major problem.

One of the causes is inadequate ¹⁰_____ of necessary vitamins and minerals.

C ‣ Circle the one that is similar in meaning to the given word.

oppress
- a. cure
- b. print
- c. rule
- d. break
sandy
- a. ugly
- b. mountainous
- c. close
- d. covered with sand
progress
- a. attacking
- b. struggling
- c. moving forward
- d. losing
dominate
- a. control
- b. trick
- c. encourage
- d. entertain
cooking
- a. growing
- b. creating
- c. preparing food
- d. drinking

D ‣ Write the word that best fits each blank.

machine / shortage
The police were worried about the man with the _____ gun. Luckily, the gunman has a _____ of ammo.
obscured / dominated
The front of the house was completely _____ from the road. This was thanks to a large tree that _____ the front lawn.
bowl / skillful
Charlie is _____ at pottery and painting. His latest project was a beautiful blue _____.
dense / peel
The pineapple is a surprisingly _____ fruit. This makes it hard to _____.
likewise / incorrect
All of the answers on your test paper were _____. _____, all of the problems you solved today were wrong as well.
prescription / oppressed
The young woman refused to fill her _____. When the doctor asked why, she said she was being _____ by taking it.
dignity / cooking
The man is a legend in the _____ world. Being a man of _____, he refused to use any store-bought ingredients.

Becoming a Healer

Years ago, I worked at a small health clinic in a remote country. I had gone there to treat an obscure syndrome. It attacked people's lungs, causing them to need a machine to breathe. I was trying out a new medication to treat these people instead of using the machine. If I was successful, I would become famous.

Everything was going fine until war broke out in a nearby country. Many people from that country fled the hostile invading army. The army wanted to dominate the people, but the people didn't want to be oppressed. So they walked hundreds of miles across the dry sandy land to get away.

Some of these people came to our clinic for treatment. I talked with them and learned of their difficulties. They did not beg or complain. I was impressed by their dignity.

There was one woman I will never forget. Her son suffered from a shortage of food and stomach pain, and she didn't know what to do. Neither did I. I was not skillful at treating lack of food. Nonetheless, when I saw her sadness, I knew I had to help her son.

The woman had been feeding her son bread and water. She had an incorrect belief that it would be enough for him. However, I knew that he needed to eat vegetables, too. So I took her outside and showed her a dense patch of plants you could eat. I taught her how to dig up the roots, peel them, and cook them for her son. I explained that she should increase her son's intake of these vegetables. Likewise, she should try to get him some meat once a week to help him regain his strength.

I sent her off with a prescription for some pain medicine, but she also left my office with some new cooking skills. This was progress. A few weeks later, she returned to tell me her son was healthy again. As thanks, she gave me a beautiful earthen bowl.

I never became famous, but I kept that bowl to remind me what it truly means to heal someone.

Reading Comprehension

Part A: Mark each statement T for true or F for false. Rewrite the false statements to make them true.

_____ The machine helped people with the obscure syndrome, and the doctor hoped the medication would do likewise.
__________
_____ The hostile doctor wanted to dominate and oppress the people.
__________
_____ The doctor was not skillful at treating a shortage of food before meeting the mother and her son.
__________
_____ The doctor showed the woman a dense patch of dry sandy land.
__________
_____ The doctor did not prescribe any medicine for the boy.
__________
_____ The woman gave the doctor an earthen bowl to show off her pottery skills.
__________

Part B: Answer the questions.

What is the passage about?
- a. Helping people in need
- b. Making pottery
- c. Escaping a government
- d. Becoming famous
What does the reading state about the people coming to the clinic?
_____
Why did the doctor want to help the woman's son?
_____

Answer Key

Name

Comments

Comments