Auntie Wang finally sees the specialist after three weeks' wait. She has six minutes to say everything.
Doctor Zhang
您好，请坐。哪里不舒服？
Nínhǎo, qǐng zuò. Nǎlǐ bù shūfu ?
Hello, do sit down. What is the trouble?
Auntie Wang
张大夫，这半年我一上楼就觉得很累。
Zhāng dàifu, zhè bàn nián wǒ yī shàng lóu jiù juéde hěn lèi.
Doctor Zhang, for the last six months I feel very tired the moment I climb a flight of stairs.
Doctor Zhang
除了累以外，晚上睡得好吗？
Chúle lèi yǐwài, wǎnshang shuì de hǎo ma ?
Apart from the tiredness, do you sleep well at night?
Auntie Wang
睡不好。常常半夜醒过来，再也睡不着。
Shuì bù hǎo. Chángcháng bànyè xǐng guòlai, zài yě shuì bù zhe.
I do not. I often wake in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
Doctor Zhang
社区医院给您做过检查吗？
Shèqū yīyuàn gěi nín zuò guò jiǎnchá ma ?
Has the community clinic done any tests for you?
Auntie Wang
做过。他们说看不出来，让我来挂专家门诊。
Zuò guò. Tāmen shuō kàn bù chūlái, ràng wǒ lái guà zhuānjiā mén zhěn.
They have. They found nothing and told me to book a specialist appointment.
Doctor Zhang
报告带了吗？请把它给我。
Bàogào dài le ma ? Qǐng bǎ tā gěi wǒ.
Have you brought the reports? Let me have them.
Auntie Wang
都在这儿。这个号我等了三个星期。
Dōu zài zhèr. Zhè gè hào wǒ děng le sān gè xīngqī.
They are all here. I waited three weeks for this appointment.
Doctor Zhang
我看一下。血压有点儿高，别的都正常。
Wǒ kàn yīxià. Xuèyā yǒudiǎnr gāo, biéde dōu zhèngcháng.
Let me look. Your blood pressure is a little high, everything else is normal.
Auntie Wang
那我这个情况严重吗？
Nà wǒ zhè gè qíngkuàng yánzhòng ma ?
Is my condition serious, then?
Doctor Zhang
不严重，不过不能不管。先吃两个星期的药。
Bù yánzhòng, bùguò bùnéng bù guǎn. Xiān chī liǎng gè xīngqī de yào.
Not serious, but it cannot be left alone. Take this medicine for two weeks to start with.
Auntie Wang
吃完了还要来吗？
Chī wán le hái yào lái ma ?
Do I need to come back when I have finished it?
Doctor Zhang
要。两个星期以后来复查，挂普通门诊就可以了。
Yào. Liǎng gè xīngqī yǐhòu lái fù chá, guà pǔtōng mén zhěn jiù kěyǐ le.
You do. Come back for a check in two weeks; an ordinary appointment will do.
一上楼就觉得很累: no sooner does she climb a flight than she is tired. Used of a symptom, the mould says the thing happens every time and without delay, which is exactly what a doctor wants to know. It is the form in which a complaint is told: 一吃东西就疼, 一走路就喘.
再也睡不着 breaks into two pieces. 再也…不 means "never again", and 睡不着 is a negated complement of result: to sleep without succeeding. Chinese distinguishes 不睡 (not to sleep, by choice) from 睡不着 (not to manage to sleep), and confusing the two is one of the commonest learner mistakes.
挂号 literally means "to hang a number": at a hospital you buy the right to a consultation, either ordinary (普通门诊) or with a specialist (专家门诊), and you wait your turn. Specialist numbers at big hospitals go in seconds when booking opens, hence Auntie Wang's three weeks. The community clinic (社区医院), by contrast, is walk-in, and that is where the path begins.
