Chen Hao notices that Xiaoyu has stopped talking. She describes two months of tiredness, and hesitates to see anyone.
Chen Hao
你最近是不是不太对？话比以前少了很多。
Nǐ zuìjìn shì bùshì bù tài duì ? Huà bǐ yǐqián shǎo le hěn duō.
You have not seemed yourself lately? You talk much less than you used to.
Xiaoyu
我也说不上来。就是早上醒了不想起床。
Wǒ yě shuō bù shànglái. Jiùshì zǎoshang xǐng le bù xiǎng qǐ chuáng.
I cannot put my finger on it. It is just that I wake in the morning and do not want to get up.
Chen Hao
这样多久了？一个星期，还是更长？
Zhèyàng duō jiǔ le ? Yī gè xīngqī, háishi gèng cháng ?
How long has it been like that? A week, or longer?
Xiaoyu
差不多两个月。我以为睡一觉就好了。
Chàbuduō liǎng gè yuè. Wǒ yǐwéi shuì yī jiào jiù hǎo le.
About two months. I thought a good night's sleep would put it right.
Auntie Wang
两个月可不短。要不要去医院看看？
Liǎng gè yuè kě bù duǎn. Yào bùyào qù yīyuàn kànkan ?
Two months is not short. Do you not want to go and see someone?
Xiaoyu
去医院？我又没发烧，也没哪儿疼。
Qù yīyuàn ? Wǒ yòu méi fāshāo, yě méi nǎr téng.
Go to the hospital? I have no fever, and nothing hurts.
Zhang laoshi
心情也是身体的一部分。感冒两个月不好，你会去的。
Xīnqíng yě shì shēntǐ de yī bùfen. Gǎnmào liǎng gè yuè bù hǎo, nǐ huì qù de.
Your state of mind is part of your body. A cold that did not clear in two months, you would go about that.
Xiaoyu
话是这么说，可是同事知道了怎么看我？
Huà shì zhème shuō, kěshì tóngshì zhīdào le zěnme kàn wǒ ?
That is easily said, but if my colleagues find out, how will they look at me?
Auntie Wang
我年轻的时候也这么想，结果硬扛了十年。
Wǒ niánqīng de shíhou yě zhème xiǎng, jiéguǒ yìng gāng le shí nián.
I thought the same when I was young, and I ended up gritting my teeth for ten years.
Chen Hao
现在很多医院有心理门诊，挂号和别的科一样。
Xiànzài hěn duō yīyuàn yǒu xīnlǐ ménzhěn, guàhào hé bié de kē yīyàng.
A lot of hospitals now have a psychology clinic, you book it like any other department.
Zhang laoshi
而且不是一去就吃药。先是聊，医生会判断。
Érqiě bùshì yī qù jiù chī yào. Xiān shì liáo, yīshēng huì pànduàn.
And you do not come away with medicine on the first visit. You talk first, and the doctor judges.
Xiaoyu
我怕说不清楚自己怎么了。
Wǒ pà shuō bù qīngchu zìjǐ zěnme le.
I am afraid I will not be able to explain what is wrong with me.
Zhang laoshi
说不清楚也没关系。把这两个月的睡眠和胃口写下来，比形容有用。
Shuō bù qīngchu yě méi guānxi. Bǎ zhè liǎng gè yuè de shuìmián hé wèikǒu xiě xiàlai, bǐ xíngróng yǒuyòng.
Not being able to explain it does not matter. Write down your sleep and your appetite over these two months, that will help more than trying to describe it.
Xiaoyu
好。那我明天上午先去挂个号。
Hǎo. Nà wǒ míngtiān shàngwǔ xiān qù guà gè hào.
All right. Tomorrow morning I will go and book an appointment.
Not to be able to put your finger on it. The potential complement 说不上来 says the speaker is searching for words because she does not know what she feels, not for lack of vocabulary. The positive form, 说得上来, is hardly used except in answer to a question. It is exactly the sentence spoken by someone who is unwell without being able to say why.
感冒两个月不好，你会去的: "if a cold lasted two months, you would go and see someone". Chinese writes neither 如果 nor 要是; simply setting the two clauses side by side is enough, the 会…的 of the second being sufficient to mark the hypothesis. English has to add "if", and to put the verb in the conditional.
硬扛了十年: to grit your teeth for ten years, with no help. Placed before a verb, 硬 says the action was carried out against the circumstances, often wrongly. You find it in 硬撑, 硬说, 硬要; it almost always carries a regret or a reproach.
