I’m going to have a physical

预防胜于治疗，要有效预防疾病，医生常建议我们定期做身体检查，英文可以说：I’m going to have a physical (我去做身体检查)，体检也可叫做：A physical check-up/ a medical或body check。

对话

Husband: Honey, it’s Saturday night and you know what that means.

Wife: Sorry, I’ve got to go out.

Husband: Where are you going at this hour?

Wife: To the all- night doctor’s clinic. I’m going to have a physical .

Something’s wrong.

Husband: I’ll say. I was hoping to get a little physical myself. HURRY!

丈夫: 甜心，现在是星期六晚上，你知道是什么意思吗？

妻子: 对不起，我要出去了。

丈夫: 这个时候你要去哪里?

妻子: 我要去通宵看诊的诊所做身体检查，身体有点不对劲。

丈夫: 我同意，我还想跟你亲热一下，赶快去吧！

丈夫晚上问妻子：Where are you going at this hour?（这个时候你要去哪里？）妻子说：I’m going to have a physical（我要去检查身体。）丈夫有些失望说：I was hoping to get a little physical myself（我还想和你亲热一下呢！）

Physical是‘身体的’或‘肉体的’，所以‘体育’叫physical education。身体检查美式英文叫physical examination，英式则叫medical examination，俗语简称为physical或medical。此外，还有health/medical checkup、health/medical check等说法，例如：(1) You have to pass a physical before getting the employment contract（你要身体检查合格，才可获得聘用合约）。(2) If you are having intense abdominal pains, you had better go to your doctor for a checkup（假如你腹痛剧烈，最好找医生检查一下身体）。

又由于physical有‘肉体’的意思，俚语常以get physical来说‘肉体接触’，包括性爱、爱抚等，例如：The very first time he dated Mary, he tried to get physical（他第一次和玛丽约会，就想动手动脚）。上文那丈夫说I was hoping to get a little physical，当然是语带双关，把‘身体检查’变做‘亲热一下’。

留意at this hour的说法。这三字一般带‘这么早/晚，怎么还……’的惊讶或不高兴含义，例如：(1) Why are you still working at this hour of night?（这么晚了，你怎么还在工作？）(2) Who can be knocking at the door at this early/late hour?（这么早/晚，谁在敲门呢？）