As a boy，Tim was much influenced by books about the sea, but in fact by the age of fifteen he had decided to become a doctor 小题1: a sailor. His father was a dentist and as a result Tim had the opportunity of meeting many doctors either at home or elsewhere. When he was fourteen he was already hanging around the clinic of a local doctor 小题2: he was supposed to be helping to wrap up medicine bottles, but was actually trying 小题3: (listen) to the conversations 小题4: (take place) between the doctor and his patients in the next room.
During the war Tim served in the Navy as a surgeon（外科医生）.“That was the happiest time of my life. I was dealing with very real suffering and 小题5: the whole making a success of it .”In California he taught the country people simple facts about medicine. He saw himself as a life-saver. He 小题6: (prove) his skills to himself and his ability to take decisions. Thus, while he was able to tell them what to do, he could feel he was serving them. After the war, he got married and chose to be a doctor in the countryside, working under an old doctor who was popular in the area, 小题7: who hated the sight of blood and believed that the secret of medicine was faith. This gave the younger man many opportunities to go on 小题8: (work) working as a life –saver.
