A: Cover your right eye and look at the eye chart in front of you, then tell me which way the letter “E” I point to is facing.
B: Up. That one is facing left. Erm… right.
A: And how about this in the row below?
Photo courtesy of Dr. Hung Chi-ting, Fooying University Hospital 照片:輔英科技大學附設醫院洪啟庭醫師提供
B: It’s too small. I can’t make it out.
A: Hmmm, then you are short-sighted. For now, I’m going to prescribe you some eye drops to help your eyes relax. Use them twice, five minutes apart, before you go to bed.
B: OK, thank you, doctor.
A: 你把右眼遮住,看前面這張視力檢查表,然後告訴我指的字母E開口朝哪邊。
B: 朝上。這個朝左。嗯……右邊。
A: 那下面這排這個呢?
B: 太小了,我看不清楚。
A: 嗯,那你有近視喔。我先開眼藥水給你,幫助眼球放鬆。睡前點兩次,間隔五分鐘。
B: 好的,謝謝醫師。
(Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times/台北時報林俐凱)
Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
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