ESL Podcast 210 – A Family Road Trip

Our family decided¹ to take a road trip across the country this year. The kids were really excited and my oldest son wanted to help navigate². Before the trip, we looked at the road maps and decided on our route and the points of interest we would try to see. Since we wouldn’t be taking a camper, we needed to make hotel reservations³ along the way. After a little planning, we were ready to go.

The kids were behaving themselves the first day. My daughter was a little car sick in the morning, but we made it to our first stop without any major problems. On the second day, though, the kids were really acting⁴ up. They kept asking, “Are we there yet?” and they wanted to stop at every rest stop. My youngest son, who is only four, kept calling out the mile markers as we passed them, and I thought my head would explode if he didn’t stop. On top of that, my wife wanted to stop every few miles for a photo op and I thought we’d never get to the next town.

By the third day, I was really questioning the wisdom of taking three young children on the road for 10 days. I suspect that after this vacation, I’ll need another one to recover from it.


Script⁵ by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

3 reservations   

n.[法律]（权益等的）保留( reservation的名词复数 )；预订；保留地；保留意见

参考例句：

• Most of these workers are American Indians living on reservations. 这些工人中的大多数是住在居留地的美洲印第安人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have you made the reservations for our holiday yet? 你为我们度假做好预订安排了吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。