Task 2

Dictation.

Acupuncture.

There are many forms of alternative medicine which are used in the Western World today.

One of the most famous of these is acupuncture, which is a very old form of treatment from China.

It's still widely used in China today, where it is said to cure many illnesses, including tonsilitis, arthritis, bronchitis, rheumatism and flu.

The Chinese believe that there are special energy lines through the body and that the body's energy runs through these lines.

When a person is ill, the energy in his or her body does not run as well as normal, perhaps because it's weaker or it's blocked in some way.

The Chinese believe that if you put very fine needles into the energy line, this helps the energy to return to normal.

In this way, the body can help itself to get better.

The acupuncturist puts the needles into special places along the energy line and some of these places can be a long way from the place where the body is ill.

For example, it's possible to treat a bad headache by putting needles into certain places on the foot.

It may surprise you to know that it doesn't hurt when the acupuncturist puts the needles into your body.

People who have had acupuncture say that they felt nothing or hardly anything.

Western doctors at first did not believe that the acupuncture could work.

Now they see that it not only can work, but that it does work.

How and why does it work?

No one has been able to explain this.

It is one of nature's mysteries.