如何用英语向医生描述自己的病情

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【小编按】

出国在外，难免一不小心就得个什么小病需要看医生，但是到了医院我们又该如何用英语向医生描述自己的病情呢？

也许大家都学过一些常见疾病的名称表达，但具体如何描述病情，估计知道的人还是不多的。Liz Walter在剑桥英语在线词典的博客里给我们提供了一些常用的表达，今天小编就把Liz的文章进行梳理总结，供大家不时之需所用。

【Talking about illness】

1. General words for describing medical problems

对各种病症的笼统描述

1）ill与sick

Firstly, a note about a UK/US difference: the word ill is used more frequently in British English, while sick is more common in US English. If a British person says they were sick, they usually mean that they vomited.

英美语在这两个词的使用上有所差别：ill偏英式英语的用法，而sick则偏美式英语的用法；如果英国人用了sick，往往要表达“恶心；呕吐”的含义。

2）病症描述

（1）We often use the verbs feel and have to describe our symptoms:

常用来描述病症感受的是动词feel和have，如：

I feel tired all the time. （我一直觉得很累。）I have a headache. （我头疼。）

（2）Useful adjectives to go with ‘feel’ are dizzy (as though the room is turning round), faint (as though you might fall over), sick (UK) or queasy / nauseous (as though you might vomit).

常跟在feel后面用来描述病症的形容词有dizzy（晕头转向的）、faint（快要昏厥的）、sick、queasy、nauseous（三个词都表示“恶心的；想吐的”）。

（3）We also often use the slightly informal phrase I"m having trouble, followed by an –ing verb or with:

病症描述还可以用I"m having trouble，后面紧跟doing或者with，如：

I"m having trouble sleeping. （我睡不着觉。）I"m having trouble with my knees. （我膝盖不舒服。）

（4）It can sometimes be necessary to describe pain to a doctor. The most common ways to do this are:

最为常见的描述疼痛（pain）的表达有：

My leg/finger, etc. hurts.I have a pain in my foot/ear, etc.

A dull pain or ache is unpleasant but not severe, and is usually continuous (doesn"t stop). A sharp or stabbing pain is usually more painful and may be intermittent (starting and stopping).

轻微但持久的疼痛一般用a dull pain/ache来表达，严重但间歇性的疼痛一般用a sharp/stabbing pain来表达。

（5）Other symptoms（其它症状）

A part of the body that hurts when you touch it is sore or tender, while if you can"t feel it at all, it is numb. 如果用手去触碰会痛，一般用sore或tender（疼痛的）来描述；如果毫无知觉，则用numb（没有感觉的）。If part of your body is bigger than normal, it is swollen. 身体某个部位比平常要大了，就用swollen（肿大的）。Small, red marks on the skin are called a rash, and if you feel you want to scratch them, they are itchy. 皮肤上长了小红点，就用rash（疹子）；如果想用手去抓，就用itchy（痒的）。If blood is coming from part of your body, you say that it is bleeding. 如果流血了，就用bleeding（出血的）。If you fell over because you were dizzy, you fainted and if you remained in a condition where you could not see or think, you were unconscious. 如果因为dizzy而摔倒，就用faint（晕倒）；如果你看不见东西，也不会思考了，就用unconscious（失去知觉的）。To talk about how an illness started, you could say that it came on gradually or came on suddenly. 如果病情来得慢，用come on gradually；如果来得急，就用come on suddenly。You may also want to explain what makes your symptoms worse or better. 如果要解释自己的病情恶化或好转，可以用如下表达：It"s not as bad when I lie down. （我躺下时会好一点。）Standing for long periods makes it worse. （站久了更糟糕。）Painkillers help it a bit. （止疼药有点帮助。）

2. More specific words and phrases

更加详细的描述用语

1）呼吸问题

We talk about people having breathing difficulties or being short of breath. 呼吸问题：呼吸困难；呼吸短促。Sometimes they feel tight across the chest. 胸部感到紧张。If you have to breathe fast after making only a small physical effort, you can say that you get out of breath very easily. 容易喘不过气来。Someone who breathes in a noisy, uncomfortable way is wheezing. 大口喘气。If they are taking quick, frightened breaths, we say they are gasping for breath. 上气不接下气。

2）心脏问题

If we feel that our heartbeat (the rhythm of our heart) is irregular, we say we are having palpitations. 心悸：心跳不规则。The speed at which our heart beats is called our pulse. If our pulse is very fast, we often say our heart is racing. 脉搏（pulse）过快，叫racing。Chest pains can be another sign of heart problems, and may even mean that someone is having a heart attack. 胸口疼可能意味着患上了心脏病发作（heart attack）。

3）癌症

Cancer is one of the illnesses we dread the most. Most people see a doctor if they find a lump somewhere on their body.

如果身体某个部位有瘤肿（lump），可能就要看医生确认是否得了癌症了。

4）体重下降和盗汗

Other symptoms may include sudden weight loss or night sweats. A typical way for a patient to express these symptoms would be. 常见的体重下降和盗汗的表达有：

I"ve lost a lot of weight recently. （我最近体重下降得比较厉害。）I wake up in the night drenched in sweat. (我一觉睡醒，满身都湿透了。)

5）疲倦

A very common symptom, which can have many causes, is tiredness. A more formal word is fatigue. Common ways of talking about this are. 常用来表达疲倦（tiredness）的词语是fatigue。其他常用表达有：

I feel tired all the time. （我一直感觉很疲倦。）I have no energy. （我没精神。）I feel very lethargic. （我感到四肢乏力。）

6）肠胃问题

Problems with digestion (the way food goes through our body) are also common.

An uncomfortable feeling in your stomach after eating is called indigestion, and a more severe pain caused by acid rising upwards is called heart burn. 吃完东西胃不舒服，叫做indigestion（消化不良）；胃酸上涌导致的严重胃疼，叫做heart burn（胃灼热）。Bloating is when your stomach becomes swollen after eating, while short, severe pains in the stomach are known as cramps. 吃完东西觉得胃膨胀，叫做bloating（胃胀气）；短暂但严重的胃部疼痛，叫做cramps（胃痉挛）。If you are constipated, it is difficult to pass solid waste from your body when you go to the toilet. The opposite problem, when the waste is like liquid, is called diarrhoea (UK)/diarrhea (US). 排便困难，叫做constipated（便秘）；肚子拉稀，叫做diarrhoea/diarrhea（腹泻）。

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