2008年ESL之交通 09 Learning How to Drive（打印版）

2008年ESL之交通 09 Learning How to Drive（在线收听）

09 Learning How to Drive

GLOSSARY

brake – the part of the car that is near the driver’s feet that, when stepped on,

makes the car slow down or stop; the part of any moving machine used to stop

* Jeb stepped on the brakes very quickly when he saw that children were playingin the street.

gas pedal – the part of the car that is near the driver’s feet that, when steppedon, makes the car start moving or go faster.

* When Ingot’s foot slipped and hit the gas pedal, the car jumped forward very quickly.

to take 10 years off (one’s) life – a phrase used to show that one was veryscared by another person’s actions and, as a result, will die 10 years earlier

* Coming home and finding a thief in my house took 10 years off my life!

median – the space between two sides of a highway or another major road,usually covered with grass or made from cement

* The city decided to plant flowers in the median to make the roadways morebeautiful.

railing – a short piece of metal along the side of a road to keep cars fromaccidentally driving off the road

* When the driver fell asleep, he would have accidentally driven off the side of themountain if the railing hadn’t stopped his car.

to not know what (one) is getting into – to do something without knowing allthe details ahead of time; to do something without realizing the extent or dangerbefore doing it

* You don’t know what you’re getting into by studying to become a doctor! Itrequires years and years of hard work.

to get the hang of (something) – to begin to understand how to do somethingand be able to do it better

* It takes some people a long time to get the hang of skiing.

to shift gears – to change the speed and power of a vehicle by moving a stick inside the car

* When you go uphill, shift from fifth gear to fourth gear so that the car has morepower.

to parallel park – to park on the side of a street so that all the cars are in a line,with each car’s front next to another car’s back

* How many times did you have to back up to parallel park in that tiny space?

reverse – backwards; facing backward

* Driving in reverse is more difficult than driving forward because you can’t seewhere you’re going very easily.

steering wheel – the large circle in a car that a driver moves with his or herhands to make the car change directions

* Drivers who don’t wear seatbelts often get hurt in high-speed accidents whentheir body hits the steering wheel.

speedometer – the small, circular display in front of a driver that shows how fastthe car is moving

* The policeman said that I was driving 75 miles per hour, but the speedometershowed only 62 miles per hour.

rearview mirror – the small, rectangular mirror that hangs in the center of thefront of a car so that the driver can see behind the car

* That woman is using her rearview mirror to put on makeup while driving on thefreeway!

to work (oneself) into a tizzy – to become very anxious, worried, panicked, orstressed

* Yvonne always works herself into a tizzy before important tests.

sidewalk – the narrow, flat surface next to a road, usually made from cement,that people walk on

* Nancy sweeps the sidewalk in front of her home every morning.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Which of these things do drivers use to parallel park?

a) Gas pedal

b) Median

c) Speedometer

2. Who should use the sidewalk?

a) Walkers

b) Drivers

c) Cars

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WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

median

The word “median,” in this podcast, means the space between two sides of ahighway or another important road: “While we were driving north on the highway,we looked over the median and could see that the cars going south were movingvery slowly.” In mathematics, the word “median” describes a number that is inthe middle of an ordered list, with an equal number of items above and below it:

“In the set [2, 4, 5, 8, 9], 5 is the median.” Finally, in geometry, a “median” is aline drawn from one point of a triangle to the center of the opposite site: “Themedian of an equilateral triangle always divides the triangle into two identical,smaller triangles.”

reverse

In this podcast, the word “reverse” means backwards: “Even when you cross aone-way street, be sure to always look both ways, just in case a car is driving inreverse.” As a verb, “to reverse” means to make something change completely,so that it is the opposite of what it was before: “The teacher never used to assignhomework, but last year she reversed her practices and started giving a lot ofassignments.” The phrase “to reverse oneself on (something)” means to changeone’s opinion about something: “The presidential candidate reversed himself onthe issue of gun control.” Finally, the verb “to reverse” can mean to exchange:

“When Brock’s mom started dating, he felt like they had reversed roles, since hestarted to ask her questions about where she was going and when she would behome.”

CULTURE NOTE

Driving in the United States is much like driving in any other country, but thereare some common road rules that you may not be familiar with. Here are a fewof them.

In the United States, if you are following a “school bus” (a large, yellow bus thatis used to take children to and from their home and school), you must stop whenit stops. It is “illegal” (against the law) to “pass” (drive past) a school bus when itis stopped. This is because cars might hit children who get off the bus and cross the street without looking both ways. Most school buses have warningmessages written on the back, reminding drivers that it is illegal to pass astopped bus.

Drivers also need to “yield” (slow down or stop to let another person or vehiclemove) to “pedestrians” (people who are walking). If a person is crossing the roadin front of a car, the driver should slow down or stop to let that person continuemoving. Most American drivers do that, but “nevertheless” (even though this is true) pedestrians should walk with “caution” (care for one’s safety) and never“assume” (believe that something is true) that a car will stop.

At an “intersection” (the place where two streets meet), cars that want to turn lefthave to wait for cars coming from the other direction to leave the intersectionfirst. A “Boston left,” the practice of making a left turn quickly before cars fromthe opposite direction, is illegal. Drivers need to wait until all of the cars comingin the other direction have crossed the intersection before turning. In somecities, the traffic lights include a green “arrow” (!), which comes before the greenlight for the cars in the opposite direction. In this case, it is permitted to turn leftbefore the opposing cars.

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Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – a; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 386: Learning Howto Drive.

This is ESL Podcast number 386. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming toyou from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles,California.

Our website is eslpod.com. You can download an 8 to 10 page Learning Guidefor this episode that will help you improve your English even faster. You can alsotake a look at our ESL Podcast Store, which has some additional courses in daily and business English.

This episode is called “Learning How to Drive.” It’s a dialogue between Xavierand Brandy, and it includes a lot of vocabulary you would use in talking aboutdriving a car. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Xavier: Look out! Put your foot on the brake!

Brandy: I am braking.

Xavier: No, your foot is on the gas pedal!

Brandy: Oh. There’s the brake.

Xavier: You just took 10 years off my life. I was sure you were going to hit themedian or the railing. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I agreed toteach you how to drive.

Brandy: Relax. I’m really getting the hang of this. Shifting gears isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, it’s cool to parallel park, and driving in reverse is fun!

Xavier: Would you please keep your hands on the steering wheel, instead ofplaying with the radio? Keep your eyes on the speedometer and stop using therearview mirror to look at yourself.

Brandy: And you stop working yourself into a tizzy. I’m a fine driver.

Xavier: I don’t think those people you’re about to hit would agree with you.

Brandy: If they don’t like the way I drive, they should get off the sidewalk!

[end of dialogue]

Our dialogue begins with Xavier saying to Brandy, “Look out (meaning becareful)! Put your foot on the brake!” The “brakes” slow and stop the car; they slow and stop the wheels from turning. When we say “the brake,” we meanreally the brake pedal, which is a little a little piece of metal that you press downwith your foot in order to make the brakes work. So, Xavier is saying, “Put yourfoot on the brake,” meaning press the brake pedal down. Brandy says, “I ambraking.” Notice “to brake” can be a verb as well: to slow something down. Xavier says, “No, your foot is on the gas pedal!” The “gas pedal” is the opposite,in some ways, of the brake pedal; it makes the car go faster. Of course, thatwould be a big mistake to make! Brandy says, “Oh,” realizing her error, “There’s the brake,” meaning “Now I have found the brake.”

Xavier is teaching Brandy how to drive. In the United States you can get yourdriver’s license beginning at the age of 16. But if you get a license at 16 or 17,you have to take formal classes; someone has to teach you how to drive, andyou have to pass a test. If you are 18 years or over, in most states, you don’thave to take classes; you can if you want to, but you can teach yourself or, betteryet, have someone else teach you how to drive. You can’t drive withoutsomeone in the car with you to help you until you get your license. Getting adriver’s license in the U.S. requires two tests: a written test and a road test, orwhat sometimes is called a “behind the wheel” test, where you are actually in acar and someone is testing your driving. But in our dialogue, Brandy is stilllearning to drive, from Xavier.

Xavier says to Brandy, “You just took 10 years off my life.” To “take 10 years” or“five years off someone’s life” is a phrase we use to say that you were very scared by what another person did. The idea is that because you became soscared – so frightened – your health got worse and you will die 10 years earlierthan you would have otherwise. So, it’s obviously not a compliment; it’s something of a criticism. When you say something like that, you’re saying thatthe person did something very dangerous or very scary.

Xavier says, “I was sure you were going to hit the median or the railing.” The“median” (median), here, means the space between the two sides of a highway or another large or important street. Usually, the median has either grass orcement that separates the two sides, so the eastbound and the westbound. Thecars going in one direction and the cars going in the other direction are separated by a median. “Median” has a couple different meanings in English; take a look atthat Learning Guide for some additional explanations.

Xavier also talks about the railing. The “railing” is a short piece of metal that is along the side of the road to prevent cars from accidentally going off the road andinto the area next to the road. Usually you will find these on freeways andhighways; railings will prevent cars from damaging the parts of the property thatare next to the highway. It will also prevent the car from, perhaps, going downinto an area where they could get killed more easily. Of course, if you hit therailing at a very high speed, you can get killed as well.

Xavier says, “I didn’t know what I was getting into when I agreed to teach youhow to drive.” The expression “to not know what you are getting into” means todo something without knowing all of the details ahead of time; to do somethingwithout realizing, perhaps, how much work it was or how dangerous it was. People often say this about marriage!

Brandy then says, “Relax. I’m really getting the hang of this.” Once again, wehave an idiomatic expression; to “get the hang of” something means to begin tounderstand how to do something and be able to do it better. If you just start anew type of activity – driving or flying a plane, or anything that requires a lot oflearning – you may use this expression as you start to get better at it. Or, ifyou’re learning to play a musical instrument and you start to sound better, youcould say, “I’m getting the hang of this.”

Brandy says, “Shifting gears isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.” To “shiftgears” means to change the speed and power of the car, usually by moving asmall stick. In the U.S., as in most countries, there are two kinds of cars. Thekind of car where you have to move this stick, what we call a “stick shift,” back and forth between the different positions – the different gears – this is called a“stick shift,” or simply a “stick.” Someone says, “I’m driving a stick,” they don’tmean a real stick, which is a long pole, they mean a stick shift car. The oppositewould be an automatic transmission, and there you don’t have to use a stick tomove things, usually, back and forth between the gears. You do need to move itfrom park – from the stop position – to the drive position. But it’s not the same as a stick shift, where you have to move it as you go faster and slower.

Brandy also says that it’s cool to parallel park. To “park your car” means to putyour car on the side of the road and stop it and leave it there. To “parallel park”

means that you park your car in between two other cars, and usually this means that you have to pull up in front of the second car and then go in reverse, wewould say “back up” into this empty space. It’s often considered one of the more difficult things to learn how to do when you first learn to drive. Brandy says,“driving in reverse is fun!” “Reverse” means going backwards.

Xavier says to Brandy, “Would you please keep your hands on the steeringwheel, instead of playing with the radio?” The “steering wheel” is the large circle– a large wheel that the driver holds onto to move the car left or right; you turnthe wheel. That’s called a “steering wheel”; the verb “to steer” means to takesomething and put it in a certain direction, in this case the car.

Xavier is telling Brandy to keep her hands on the steering wheel, instead ofplaying with the radio. People, of course, often do other things while they aredriving, and this can be very dangerous. Xavier says, “Keep your eyes on thespeedometer and stop using the rearview mirror to look at yourself.” “Keep youreyes on the speedometer” means look at the speedometer. The “speedometer”

(which looks like it’s spelled “speed-o-meter,” but we say “speedometer”) is asmall display in the front of the car that you can look at that tells you how fast youare going – what your speed is. The “rearview mirror” is the mirror that hangs inthe center front of the car that allows you to look behind you to see what is behind you. Xavier is telling Brandy to stop using the mirrors to fix her hair or tolook at herself. Sometimes women do that when they drive – men do it, too, Iguess. Not me; I don’t wear makeup – normally!

Brandy says to Xavier, “And you stop working yourself into a tizzy.” This is anexpression, “to work yourself into a tizzy” (tizzy), that means to become veryworried or very anxious, to have a lot of stress. It’s a sort of old-fashion word, butyou’ll still hear people use this expression: “to work yourself into a tizzy.”

Brandy says, “I’m a fine driver.” Xavier responds, “I don’t think those peopleyou’re about to hit would agree with you.” So he’s making a joke, saying thatBrandy is about to hit some people who are walking, and they probably don’tthink she is a good driver if she does that. Brandy says, “If they don’t like theway I drive, they should get off the sidewalk!” The “sidewalk” is a narrow partnext to the road that people walk on. So if you go down a street, on both sides ofthe street, normally in an American city, you will have sidewalks, places wherepeople can walk. Of course, Brandy is sort of making a joke here – we hope! Cars should never, ever be on the sidewalk; that would be very dangerous topeople who are walking on the sidewalk. She says, “Well, if they don’t like my driving, they shouldn’t be on the sidewalk,” suggesting that it’s okay for her todrive on the sidewalk. Again, we hope she’s joking!

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.