Xiaoyu has had a fever for two days. Doctor Zhang examines her and explains how to take the medicine.
Doctor Zhang
哪里不舒服？
Nǎlǐ bù shūfu ?
What seems to be the trouble?
Xiaoyu
我发烧两天了，头疼，什么都不想吃。
Wǒ fāshāo liǎng tiān le, tóu téng, shénme dōu bù xiǎng chī.
I have had a fever for two days, my head aches and I have no appetite at all.
Doctor Zhang
咳嗽吗？量过体温吗？
Késou ma ? Liáng guò tǐwēn ma ?
Any cough? Have you taken your temperature?
Xiaoyu
量过，三十八度五。晚上咳得比较厉害。
Liáng guò, sānshí bā dù wǔ. Wǎnshang hāi de bǐjiào lìhai.
I have, 38.5. The cough is worse at night.
Doctor Zhang
来，我给你检查一下。
Lái, wǒ gěi nǐ jiǎnchá yīxià.
Come here, let me examine you.
Xiaoyu
需要打针吗？
Xūyào dǎzhēn ma ?
Do I need an injection?
Doctor Zhang
不用。你是感冒，吃三天药就好了。
Bù yòng. Nǐ shì gǎnmào, chī sān tiān yào jiù hǎo le.
No need. It is a cold, three days of medicine and it will pass.
Xiaoyu
这个药怎么吃？
Zhè gè yào zěnme chī ?
How do I take this medicine?
Doctor Zhang
一天三次，饭后吃。多喝水，早点儿休息。
Yī tiān sān cì, fàn hòu chī. Duō hē shuǐ, zǎo diǎnr xiūxi.
Three times a day, after meals. Drink plenty and get to bed early.
Xiaoyu
我明天还得上班，可以吗？
Wǒ míngtiān hái de shàngbān, kěyǐ ma ?
I have to go to work tomorrow, is that all right?
Doctor Zhang
最好在家休息一天。要是后天还发烧，就再来。
Zuìhǎo zài jiā xiūxi yī tiān. Yàoshi hòutiān hái fāshāo, jiù zài lái.
Better to stay at home for a day. If you still have a fever the day after tomorrow, come back.
我发烧两天了 does not say the fever lasted two days and stopped, but that it has been going on for two days and is still there. It is the final 了 that gives this value; without it, 我发烧两天 tells a closed episode. The same construction serves everywhere: 我等你一个小时了, I have been waiting an hour for you.
To qualify the manner or degree of an action, Chinese puts 得 after the verb and the judgement behind it: 咳得厉害, to cough badly; 睡得好, to sleep well. The English adverb goes before or after freely; the Chinese one follows. 比较 softens it: "fairly", "rather", and it is the word you hear at the doctor's, where nobody exaggerates.
我还得上班: I still have to go to work. This 得 is read děi and has nothing to do with the 得 of 咳得厉害, which is read de: same strokes, two words. 得 (děi) expresses an obligation you are under, unlike 应该, which judges, and 要, which wants. Its negative is not 不得 but 不用, "no need".
