General Listening Quiz

Listen to the recording on hospital care and read along with the conversation. Review the key vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Man: Hey. What happened? Where’s Sarah?

Woman: She just came out of surgery.

Man: What happened? I mean, how . . . how serious is it?

Woman: Well, one of the witnesses said a car hit her broadside when it ran a red light [ A red light? ]. A red light, and then her car burst into flames within minutes of the accident, but the good thing was that some bystanders pulled her out of the car just in time. She does have injuries though. She has . . .

Man: So, like what? I mean . . .

Woman: She has a broken leg, a broken arm, a broken nose, some broken ribs, and some third-degree burns to her face and her arms.

Man: Ah! So, was the other driver on drugs or something? Where is he?

Woman: Uh, hold on, hold on.

Man: Uh. Wha . . . What do you mean?

Woman: Just settle down. Okay, you . . . you need to calm down.

Man: I mean, settle down? We’re talking about my wife here.

Woman: I know. I know, but I can see you’re really upset, and you’ve got to calm down for a minute because this is gonna [going to] be a while. Okay, now look. It looks like the woman that was driving the vehicle got distracted by something, or maybe she fell asleep . . . .

Man: Probably using a cell phone or something.

Woman: We don’t know. The police don’t know yet. They’re trying to piece it all together, so . . .

Man: I mean, was the woman drunk or something? I mean [ I don’t know. ]. This is . . .

Woman: We . . . we can’t jump to conclusions right now. We don’t know, and we just . . . right now, just, we just got to focus on Sarah, so . . . I don’t know.

Man: Okay. So, so, what’s going on now?

Woman: Okay, right before you walked in, the doctor talked to me. She had just come out of surgery. It looks like she’s going to be okay. [ Okay, so I . . . ] She will recover.

Man: Can I see her now?

Woman: Not yet. She will recover, but she’s gonna [going to] be in the hospital for at least a month. It depends on her burns and how fast they begin to heal. [ Oh, man. ] But she is going to recover. You need to realize that.

Man: I mean, why . . . [ It’s gonna be rough. ] Ah. Why did this have to happen?

Woman: I don’t know. I don’t know why. Sometimes . . . I don’t know, but listen, John. I want you to just calm down for a minute, and I want you to think about something. See that man over there?

Man: Yeah, that guy?

Woman: Yeah. It was his wife that hit your wife, and [ Oh, wow. ] she’s in a lot worse shape. She probably isn’t going to make it. They don’t [Wow] know if she’ll make it through the night.

Man: Oh, wow. That’s hard.

Woman: She didn’t mean to do what happened. She didn’t mean to. Something happened, but your wife will recover.

Man: Oh, that’s rough. That’s really rough. [ Yeah. ] Uh.

Woman: So, you know, just, think about it for a minute.

Man: Yeah, I need to do that, but right now, I’m gonna [going to] talk to the man. He probably just needs a friend.

• broadside (adverb): directly from the side 
  – A truck hit us broadside at a stoplight, but fortunately, no one was injured seriously.
• burst (verb): begin or break open suddenly 
  – The water balloon burst when I put too much water in it.
• bystander (noun): a person who is nearby 
  – Several bystanders saw the accident and pulled the injured man from the car.
• injury (noun): harm or damage to part of your body 
  – Several people were involved in several accidents this morning, but their injuries were minor.
• third-degree (adjective): very serious 
  – My son suffered third-degree burns in the house fire, but he eventually recovered.
• settle down (verb): become calm and relaxed 
  – Did your wife settle down once you got to the hospital?
• get distracted (by something) (verb): unable to concentrate and pay attention 
  – Why didn’t you finish your homework? Did you get distracted while you were watching the soccer game?
• jump to conclusions (verb): make a judgement or decision too quickly before you review all of the facts 
  – Hey. Don’t jump to conclusions! We don’t know why the accident happened, and you shouldn’t say that Ryan was drinking when the accident happened.
• recover (verb): get better or become healthy after an illness or injury 
  – How long do you think it will take for Amber to recover from her illness?
• rough (adjective): somewhat difficult to deal with 
  – Being sick during your vacation can be rough. It isn’t a fun way to spend your time off.
• make it (verb): survive or live 
  – Unfortunately, her father didn’t make it through the difficult operation.