Reading
1. Read the article and decide if fhese sentences are true (T) or false {f,'). I The more responsibility you have, the higher your grade.
2 Nursing officers are the same as auxiliary nurses.
3 Students are paid less than auxiliary nurses.
4 A charge nurse is a man.
5 There are not many opportunities for British mrses to specialize. 6 Many nurses say that the job is rewarding, but the pay is low.
I I I I =l N U I i{l*l I N tcn Z i{olr I +Tr tor N I I
One-hundred and fifty years ago, nurses were unpaid, untrained, and unpopular,
biit then Florence Nightingale made nursing into a profession. The methods she
inffoduced in the 1850s were copied all over the world, and now nursing is a career
with a three- or four-year fraining, qualifications, grades, unions, and pensions.
In Britaiq every nurse is on a grade. The grade depends on experience and skills, and each grade has different responsibilities and pay. On the bottom gtade are
unqualified auxiliary nurses who do the routine work on hospital wards. On the top
grades are nursing officers, who are usually administrators. Auxiliary nurses are on the bottom grades, but student muses get the lowest pay. However, students don't stay at the bottom of the pay scale forever. When they qualifu, they start working on a middle grade. As ihey get experience, they can gel promotion and raw up the ranks to become staff nurse, then sister (charge nurse if a
man), and perhaps eventually nursing officer.
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Many nurses work shifts, and often they work overtime to eam more money.
After basic training, many nurses choose to do fi.rther study and become specialists.
Nurses ran specialae in many different fields-there are triage nurses working in Casualty, and psychiatric nurses who treat the mentally ill. There are health visitors who visit patients in their own homes, practice nurses working in GPs' surgeries, and
midwives who deliver babies.
Many of them say they do not get enough pay and respect for the work they do. They say that the work is physically and mentally har4 that they work long hours and get very tired. But they also say that **rere are manjr great rewards which have no'Jring
to do with money. 2. Number these jobs from the highest grade (1) to the lowest (4) Two of them
are equal.
a charge nurse
nursing officer
auxiliary nurse
sister
staffnurse
3. Find words in the article with these meanings. l. exams and courses that you have taken
2. money that you will receive when you are old p 3. similar work that you have done before e 4. special abilities
S 5. levels ofpay p 6. exfra hours you can work to earn more mone]/ o 7. study and practice to learn how to do a job bt 8. more advanced learning fs
The temperature was over 90C degrees in the shade.
She felt as if every pair of eyes in the room was on her.
I just need to make a couple of calls.
In the morning, with a clear head, she had solved the problem.
Before hiring Sam as a chauffeur they made sure he had a clean driving licence.
Everybody stood in admiration watching the pod of whales on the horizon.
The excursion to the valley full of swarms of butterflies costs a lot.
If the bear growls, it is the sound of warning.
The crowd roared in delight.