健康是雅思最常见的话题之一。Writing Task 2 会问：政府应该把钱花在治疗还是预防上，个人还是国家应对人们的体重和生活习惯负责，医疗服务是否应该向所有人免费提供。Speaking Part 3 会进一步追问：为什么人们比上一代活动得少了，未来又将怎样照顾健康？
这个话题最大的陷阱是 medicine。你想说本国医疗免费，于是写 In my country, medicine is free。但英语读者更容易理解为“药物免费”：medicine 可以指服用的药，也可以指医学这门学科。为人们提供治疗的服务体系是 healthcare：free healthcare、the healthcare system。类似的细节还有不少：英语中服药用 take，而不是 drink 或 eat；医生开的处方是 prescription，不是 recipe。下面介绍适用于作文和口语回答的 29 个搭配，解释逐字翻译容易造成的错误，并展示 LetsWords 如何反馈造句中的问题。
本页属于雅思话题词汇指南。饮食和运动分别见饮食话题和运动话题；这里聚焦生活方式、疾病、医疗体系与心理健康。
健康话题：词汇与搭配
生活方式与预防
| 表达 | 含义 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|
| lead a healthy lifestyle | 保持有益健康的生活方式 | People who lead a healthy lifestyle in their thirties are far less likely to need expensive treatment later. |
| a sedentary lifestyle | 缺乏身体活动、久坐的生活方式 | Office work has made a sedentary lifestyle the norm for millions of adults. |
| take regular exercise | 经常进行身体锻炼 | Doctors advise patients to take regular exercise, even if it is only a brisk walk. |
| maintain a healthy weight | 把体重保持在健康范围内 | Walking or cycling to work is one of the easiest ways to maintain a healthy weight. |
| cut down on | 减少某物的食用、饮用或使用量 | Many people would cut down on sugar if food labels were easier to read. |
| pose a risk to health | 对健康构成风险 | Long working hours without proper breaks pose a real risk to health. |
| a public health campaign | 旨在改善公众健康的宣传活动 | A public health campaign can warn teenagers about smoking long before they try it. |
| preventive healthcare | 在疾病发生前进行预防的医疗保健 | Investing in preventive healthcare is cheaper than treating diseases once they have developed. |
疾病与治疗
| 表达 | 含义 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|
| suffer from a chronic illness | 患有持续时间较长的疾病 | Older people are more likely to suffer from a chronic illness such as diabetes. |
| come down with | 患上感冒、流感等疾病 | Half of the team came down with flu in the same week. |
| recover from | 在患病或手术后恢复 | It took her several months to fully recover from the operation. |
| undergo treatment / surgery | 接受治疗／手术 | Patients who undergo surgery need time and support before they return to work. |
| prescribe medication | 正式为患者开药 | Doctors sometimes prescribe medication when a change of habits would be enough. |
| side effects | 药物产生的不良附带作用 | Like any drug, this medication can have unpleasant side effects. |
| life expectancy | 预期平均寿命 | Life expectancy has risen sharply over the past century thanks to vaccines and clean water. |
| infectious diseases | 能在人与人之间传播的疾病 | Mass vaccination has made many infectious diseases rare in developed countries. |
医疗体系
| 表达 | 含义 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|
| the healthcare system | 一个国家组织医疗服务的体系 | Most citizens rely on the public healthcare system rather than private clinics. |
| access to healthcare | 获得医疗服务的机会和条件 | People in remote villages often have limited access to healthcare. |
| free at the point of use | 患者接受服务时无需付费 | In the UK, most NHS treatment is free at the point of use and paid for through taxes. |
| put a strain on | 给……造成很大压力 | An ageing population puts a strain on hospitals and care homes. |
| waiting lists | 等待接受计划性治疗的患者名单 | Long waiting lists push some patients towards private clinics. |
| private health insurance | 支付私人医疗费用的保险 | Private health insurance gives faster access to specialists, but not everyone can afford it. |
| healthcare workers | 医生、护士及其他医护人员 | Healthcare workers deserve better pay for the pressure they work under. |
| see a doctor | 因健康问题去看医生 | If the pain lasts more than a few days, you should see a doctor. |
心理健康
| 表达 | 含义 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|
| mental health | 心理与情绪方面的健康 | Schools are paying more attention to students’ mental health than they used to. |
| be under a lot of stress | 承受很大的压力 | Students are under a lot of stress in the months before final exams. |
| suffer from burnout | 因长期压力而精疲力竭，通常与工作有关 | Nurses who regularly work double shifts often suffer from burnout. |
| seek professional help | 向专业人士求助 | Many people still feel embarrassed to seek professional help for anxiety. |
| cope with | 成功应对困难 | Regular exercise helps people cope with stress at work. |
常见错误
In my country, medicine is free for everyone.
正确：In my country, healthcare is free for everyone.
Medicine 是药物或医学，如 modern medicine。免费医疗服务是 free healthcare；如果强调患者接受治疗时无需付费，可以说 free at the point of use。
I drink these pills twice a day.
正确：I take these pills twice a day.
有些语言会用“喝”或“吃”来表达服药。英语通常用 take：take medicine、take pills。Drink 留给实际喝下的东西，例如水。
The doctor gave me a recipe for antibiotics.
正确：The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics.
Recipe 是教人如何做菜的食谱。医生开的处方是 prescription，相应的动词是 prescribe。
Smoking can damage the health. She has a good health.
正确：Smoking can damage your health. She is in good health.
Health 不可数，通常不加冠词。描述某人的健康状况，可以说 be in good health；表达损害健康，可以说 damage your health 或 be bad for your health。
LetsWords 如何解释这些错误
这类错误对写作者来说往往不明显。如果母语中正好这样表达，drink pills 或 a recipe from the doctor 就可能听起来很自然。因此，LetsWords 会在你用所学表达造句时指出问题。下面是一道练习的过程。
假设你正在复习 put a strain on。LetsWords 用母语提示给出“给……造成压力”的含义，你回想英文表达，再写一句关于医疗的话：
An ageing population makes a big strain for hospitals.
反馈会解释两个错误：
- makes → puts：泛指“造成”的 make 在这里不与 strain 搭配。固定搭配是 put a strain on hospitals；
- for hospitals → on hospitals：压力施加在某物上，用 on；for 可以表示“为了、有利于”，会改变原本要表达的关系。
An ageing population puts a big strain on hospitals.
LetsWords 会用母语逐项解释修改，让你明白原来的写法为什么不行，而不只是该换成什么。几天后，这个表达会再次出现在复习中，你需要换一个情境使用它，例如在 Speaking 中回答有关工作压力的问题。这样，词表中的搭配才会逐渐变成能凭记忆想起、并准确写出的表达。
注册时选择 IELTS 目标和水平，LetsWords 就会为你安排相应练习。付费前可以先体验反馈。
在 Writing Task 2 中使用这些搭配
一道考试风格的题目：
In many countries, most of the health budget is spent on treating diseases rather than preventing them. Some people think governments should move this money towards prevention. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
一个主体段：
Shifting funds towards prevention would, in my view, make the whole system more sustainable. Many of the conditions that fill hospital wards today, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, are closely linked to a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. If governments ran public health campaigns about these risks and made it easier for people to take regular exercise, fewer citizens would suffer from a chronic illness in middle age. This, in turn, would shorten waiting lists and ease the strain on the healthcare system, freeing doctors to focus on patients who genuinely need complex treatment. Prevention, therefore, is not an alternative to treatment but the most realistic way to keep treatment affordable.
这个段落为什么有效？ 它围绕一个中心展开：预防能减轻医疗体系的压力。每一句都在推进因果链，从缺乏活动的生活方式，到慢性疾病，再到候诊名单和工作负担过重的医生。In turn 与 therefore 让逻辑关系清晰可见。搭配取代了原本可能需要很长篇幅解释的概念，并不是为追求高分而硬加进去的。雅思 Writing 评分标准对 Lexical Resource 的 7 分描述中写道：An awareness of style and collocation is evident。准确使用搭配正是考官会注意的表现。也可以留意，这个段落并没有为了显得厉害而堆砌生僻词。
在 Speaking 中使用
一道 Part 3 问题：Should individuals or governments be mainly responsible for people’s health?
I’d say it’s a shared responsibility, but individuals carry most of it. Nobody can force you to take regular exercise or cut down on sugar. That said, the state sets the conditions: if healthy food costs twice as much as junk food, or you can’t see a doctor without waiting three weeks, willpower only goes so far. So governments should make the healthy choice the easy one.
口语化的表达适合 Speaking，例如 I’d say、That said、only goes so far；话题搭配 take regular exercise、cut down on、see a doctor 则来自同一组可以用于作文的词表。
免费练习
- take medicine：服药用 take，不用 drink；
- recipe：菜肴的制作方法，不是医生处方；
- ill vs sick：怎样表达身体不适，以及常见误用；
- pain, ache or hurt：谈论疼痛的三种方式；
- cut down on：减少食用、饮用或使用量；
- raise awareness：帮助人们了解某个问题；
- physician：医生，不是物理学家。
其他考试话题见雅思话题词汇指南。
从词表走向实际运用
读懂免费医疗是 free healthcare 很容易。考试时能够写出它，而不是下意识写 medicine，则需要练习。可以通过 LetsWords 把词表变成实际运用：选择适合水平的 IELTS 词集，再把本页的搭配加入词集，例如 lead a healthy lifestyle 或 access to healthcare。你根据提示回想表达，用它写一个句子；LetsWords 指出错误，用母语解释修改方法，并建议更准确的说法，间隔重复则安排表达再次出现，让用法逐渐熟练。之后再把词汇放进完整文章中检验：IELTS Writing 专区提供健康话题的 Task 2 题目，涉及缺乏运动、不健康饮食、健康应用，以及谁应对人们的健康负责；完整回答会得到围绕四项评分标准、结合原文的详细反馈。注册时回答几个关于目标和水平的问题，LetsWords 就会安排相应练习。付费前可以体验反馈。