STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CARE FOR OUR HEALTH

THE DENTIST
I. Why Ruth Was Afraid

“Oh, dear!” sobbed¹ Ruth. “O—h, dear!” She was sitting in her little rocking-chair in the living-room².

“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Wallace, coming in to look for his books. “Are you hurt?”

“No;” Ruth shook her head.

[188]

“Well, then, what is it?”

“Oh, Wallace, I am so afraid I’m going to be hurt. Mother says there is a dark spot on one of my teeth. She is getting ready to take me to Doctor Harrison’s. I have never had a tooth filled.”

“Well, of all the silly things I ever heard of,” exclaimed³ Wallace, “that’s the silliest! What makes you think the dentist will hurt you?”

Ruth looked up in surprise.

“Haven’t you ever heard the boys and girls talk of how they were hurt when they had teeth filled?” she asked.

“Oh, I have heard some boys talk,” Wallace admitted; “but they were boys who never cleaned their teeth—”

“And who did not see a dentist until they had a toothache,” added Mrs. Duwell, overhearing⁴ Wallace’s remark as she entered the room.

“What, crying?” she asked, noticing Ruth’s swollen⁵ eye-lids. “Why, my dear little girl, the dentist is one of your best friends.”

“I guess some of the girls and boys would like him better if he didn’t hurt them so much, mother,” said Ruth.

“That isn’t the dentist’s fault, children,” said Mrs. Duwell. “If boys and girls had their teeth[189] examined once or twice a year, the dentist would catch the trouble in time and save them much pain.”

“I don’t suppose dentists ever want to hurt anyone,” Ruth said.

“No, indeed. I think they are very kind to be willing to do so in order to save teeth. It is dreadful⁶ to have bad teeth. Nothing tastes just right; and worse than that, bad teeth mean bad health. Good teeth are a grist mill⁷ to grind⁸ our food. Without good teeth we cannot have good health.”

“That is so,” said Wallace. “Even horses aren’t worth much after their teeth are gone.”

“Why can’t they wear false ones?” asked Ruth with such seriousness that Wallace burst out laughing.

“I wish they could, poor things,” said her mother; “but come, dear, we must start.”
Ruth in Dentist's chair; dentist beside her

[190]
II. At the Dentist’s

“Ah, here is a little girl whose mouth looks as though she brushed her teeth regularly,” said Doctor Harrison, as he raised the big comfortable arm chair in which Ruth was sitting.

“She certainly is good about that, doctor,” said Mrs. Duwell.

“Even so,” said the doctor, “I think I shall give her one of my little picture cards.”

Ruth looked so pleased that he handed her two.

“One is for Wallace,” Ruth said.

“That picture is to remind forgetful children,” said the doctor. “Now let us look at the twenty-odd pearls⁹ in your mouth, little girl.”
THE ROAD TO HEALTH

“Oh, Wallace, Doctor Harrison didn’t hurt me a bit,” cried Ruth, running into the living-room after they had reached home. “He said that he didn’t often hurt people who came to him in time. Here is a card, he gave me for you.”

“Thank you,” said Wallace, looking at the card. “Oh, it’s to remind me to brush my teeth. I wonder if he thought I needed it.”

“No, Doctor Harrison didn’t say that, Wallace; but he did say that we wouldn’t want to[191] eat anything with dirty hands, and that really dirty teeth are worse than dirty hands.”
QUESTIONS

Do you have your teeth examined once or twice a year?

The dentist is one of your best friends. Why?

Do you think that the people in the United States would be as well as they are, if there were no dentists? Why not?

Suppose you had a toothache and there was no dentist to whom you could go. What would happen?

Aren’t you glad that there are men who have studied, so that they can help you take care of your teeth?
Suppose we children had to live
Without the help of others—
I mean, suppose we had to grow
Without the help of mothers;
Suppose there were no groceryman,
No milkman, doctor, baker¹⁰,
No tailor who could make our coats,
And there were no dressmaker;
Suppose no people ever did
The things that they could do
To help each other in this world—
I wouldn’t want to live, would you?

1 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

2 living-room   

n.起居室，客厅

参考例句：

• He keeps a parrot in a birdcage in his living-room.他在客厅的鸟笼里养了一只鹦鹉。
• The living-room connects with the toilet.客厅与卫生间相连。

3 exclaimed   

vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊，惊叫，大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 overhearing   

串音

参考例句：

• He might be overhearing her inconsistent remarks. 也许他正在偷听她这些牛头不对马嘴的话呢。
• 'sorry, I cannot help overhearing; do you mention something about the accident? " 对不起，我是无意中听到的，你刚才好像提到了那次事故，是吗？ 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

5 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

6 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。

7 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

8 grind   

n.（常贬义）用功的学生，书呆子；vt.磨，磨碎

参考例句：

• Would you please grind a pound of coffee for me? 请给我磨一磅咖啡好吗？
• Do you find learning English a grind?你觉得学英语是一件苦差事吗？

9 pearls   

n.珍珠( pearl的名词复数 )；珍品；人造珍珠；珠状物

参考例句：

• a necklace of rubies intertwined with pearls 缠着珍珠的红宝石项链
• a string of pearls 一挂珍珠

10 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。