1. to communicate by conventional signs - to exchange
ideas and feelings by means more or less comprehensible to
everybody. 2. an irreparable mistake - a mistake that can’t be
repaired. 3. a total stranger - a totally unknown person/a perfect
stranger. 4. without letting go of his hat - continuing to
hold his hat; 5. to be in the medical - to be a doctor; 6. to stick
smth. - to stand smth/to bear smth. 7. to give smb. a cursory
glance - to glance at smb. briefly. 8. a means of livelihood - a
source of income, a means of earning one’s living. 9. to give up a
good safe job for an uncertainty - to give up a well-paid job one
is unlikely to lose for something you know nothing about. 10. to
keep body and soul together - to scrape a living, to make both
ends meet. 11. to have a trifling indisposition - to have a slight
ailment. 12. a squeamish patient - a patient who is particular
about the condition his doctor’s surgery is in.