I'm going to have a physical

預防勝于治療，要有效預防疾病，醫生常建議我們定期做身體檢查，英文可以說：I'm going to have a physical (我去做身體檢查)，體檢也可叫做：A physical check-up/ a medical或body check。

對話

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，現在是星期六晚上，你知道是什么意思嗎？

妻子: 對不起，我要出去了。

丈夫: 這個時候你要去哪里?

妻子: 我要去通宵看診的診所做身體檢查，身體有點不對勁。

丈夫: 我同意，我還想跟你親熱一下，趕快去吧！

丈夫晚上問妻子：Where are you going at this hour?（這個時候你要去哪里？）妻子說：I'm going to have a physical（我要去檢查身體。）丈夫有些失望說：I was hoping to get a little physical myself（我還想和你親熱一下呢?。?/p>

Physical是‘身體的'或‘肉體的'，所以‘體育'叫physical education。身體檢查美式英文叫physical examination，英式則叫medical examination，俗語簡稱為physical或medical。此外，還有health/medical checkup、health/medical check等說法，

例如：(1) You have to pass a physical before getting the employment contract（你要身體檢查合格，才可獲得聘用合約）。

(2) If you are having intense abdominal pains, you had better go to your doctor for a checkup（假如你腹痛劇烈，最好找醫生檢查一下身體）。

又由于physical有‘肉體'的意思，俚語常以get physical來說‘肉體接觸'，包括性愛、愛撫等，例如：The very first time he dated Mary, he tried to get physical（他第一次和瑪麗約會，就想動手動腳）。上文那丈夫說I was hoping to get a little physical，當然是語帶雙關，把‘身體檢查'變做‘親熱一下'。

留意at this hour的說法。這三字一般帶‘這么早/晚，怎么還……'的驚訝或不高興含義，例如：(1) Why are you still working at this hour of night?（這么晚了，你怎么還在工作？）(2) Who can be knocking at the door at this early/late hour?（這么早/晚，誰在敲門呢？）