Using English at Work：04 Arriving at Work(4)（在线收听）

Sometimes it is very difficult to find a parking spot in the city and people have to drive for a long time until you find one.

But I don't have that problem, so I pull in, or drive into the parking spot.

I make sure that my parking permit is showing in the windshield.

A "parking permit" is a piece of paper or plastic that gives a person permission to park his or her car in a specific area.

A "permit" allows you to do something; the verb is "to permit."

Notice when we use it as a noun, the accent is on the first syllable: "permit," when we use it as a verb, the accent is on the second syllable: "permit."

So, this is a parking permit that permits me to park in a certain area.

Many universities have one color of parking permit for professors and another color for students.

This way, the universities can let the professors park closer to the buildings and the students have to park farther away.

I hated this when I was a student, but of course I loved it when I worked as a professor.

I said that my parking permit is showing in the windshield, this means you can see it in or through the windshield.

A "windshield" is a large glass window in the front of a car that a driver looks though to see where he or she is going.

My parking permit has to be seen through the windshield so that if a guard walks by, he or she will know that I have permission to park my car there.

If I don't have permission, my car may be towed (towed).

If your car is "towed," the company brings a truck and they take it away, and then you have to pay extra money to get it back, so you don't want to do that.

Next I take my briefcase out of the back seat, the second row of seats in the car is called the "back seat."

A "briefcase" is a small container or bag that people use to carry their work papers in.

Then I lock up the car.