Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 545, Getting Around Without a Car.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 545.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com, but you probably already know that.
You probably know that you can go there to download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.
You might know that the learning guide contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
What you probably don't know is that this episode is a dialogue between Caitlin and Bruno talking about different ways that you can transport yourself from one place to another without having a car.
Let's get started.
How are you planning on getting to school and to your job without a car?
Your skateboard won't be any use on those dirt roads.
Your bike was stolen, along with your rollerblades, remember?
Oh, yeah.
Maybe I'll save up and buy a Segway.
Those things are really expensive.
What'll you do in the meantime?
Maybe I'll take the bus.
Worst case scenario, I give myself more time and I walk.
Why are you so interested in how I'm going to commute?
Fess up.
I care about your well-being.
That's all.
Oh yeah?
I don't buy it.
There's got to be an ulterior motive.
Well, I do have an old scooter.
That would be just what you need to get back and forth from school and work.
It uses very little gas and I'll let you have it for next to nothing.
I knew it.
You're trying to pawn off that old scooter on me.
Forget it.
I'm just looking out for your best interest.
That's all.
Isn't that what all con artists say?
Caitlin begins the dialogue by saying to Bruno...
Bruno says, I've got it covered.
When we say we have something covered or we have got it covered, we mean to say that we have the situation under control.
You know what you're going to do to handle or deal with this situation or this problem.
So Bruno says, I've got it covered.
I know what I'm going to do.
He says, I have my skateboard.
Skateboards are flat, rectangular boards, usually with rounded edges, and they have four small wheels on them and you can put your foot on the skateboard and use your other foot to push yourself, and you then use the wheels of the skateboard to go faster than you could by walking.
Skateboards are have been popular among teenagers for many years.
They weren't popular when I was a teenager.
But then again, they had not yet invented the wheel.
So Bruno says that he's going to take his skateboard.
Caitlin says your skateboard won't be any use on those dirt roads.
When we say it won't be any use, we mean that it will not be able to be used.
Dirt roads are also called unpaved roads.
A paved road is a road that has cement or asphalt, something hard that a car can easily drive on.
Unpaved would be a road that is just the ground, just the earth, with nothing on top of it.
Caitlin says that your skateboard won't be any use on those dirt roads.
And Bruno says, no big thing.
No big thing is an informal way of saying it's not important.
It's not something to be worried about.
We might also say it's no big deal.
It's no big thing.
It's no big deal.
I'll just take my bike, my bicycle, which of course is a vehicle with two wheels and a seat.
And you move the wheels around using something called pedals, which go on your feet.
Your feet push the pedals, move them up and down to make the wheels move.
Caitlin says your bike was stolen along with your rollerblades.
Remember?
Rollerblades are special shoes that have a single line of wheels on the bottom.
They're similar to roller skates.
Roller skates are shoes that have four wheels on them. just like a skateboard, one in each corner.
Rollerblades have just a single row of small wheels.
Rollerblading is still popular, especially here in California.
If you go over to Venice Beach or the Santa Monica Beach, you can see people rollerblading.
I tried rollerblading once or twice, but I was not very good at it.
Bruno says, oh yeah, maybe I'll save up, maybe I'll save my money and buy a Segway.
A Segway.
S-E-G-W-A-Y is an electric machine with two wheels and a small flat area that you stand on.
It sort of looks like the old Roman chariots, except there aren't any horses in front.
Chariots were vehicles that they used with horses to move around in.
They used to have chariot races in the Roman Empire, the ancient Roman Empire.
Well, segues are sort of like chariots.
They're Two wheels and a flat space to stand, and then you have something that comes up vertically that you can hold onto and steer the Segway.
You can think of it as a little car with just two wheels in some ways, but it's only used for moving along the sidewalk.
It's not fast enough to go on the street.
It's not like a motorcycle, for example.
Caitlin says those things, meaning segues, are really or very expensive.
What'll you do in the meantime?
What will you do in the meantime?
In the meantime means while you're waiting for something else to happen, or until something else happens.
I'm sitting at a cafe waiting for my friend.
It's 2.30 in the afternoon.
My friend is arriving at 3 o'clock.
So in the meantime, I'm going to read the newspaper.
Bruno says, maybe I'll take the bus.
Worst case scenario, I give myself more time and I walk.
Worst case scenario means in the worst possible situation, the worst situation that could happen.
A scenario is a likely event. a certain situation that will take place in the future.
Worst case means the worst possible situation.
Bruno says, why are you so interested in how I'm going to commute?
To commute is to travel between your home and where you work, unless you work at home, of course.
Bruno says, fess up.
ConfessUp is short for confess.
To confess means to tell the truth or tell something that perhaps you did wrong, that you want to keep a secret.
If the police arrest you after you robbed a bank, after you stole money from a bank, they may ask you to confess, meaning tell them what happened.
Of course, if you do, you're going to go to jail.
If you don't, you'll probably go to jail too.
So it depends on the situation.
The last time I robbed a bank, oh, probably 10 years ago, I decided not to fess up.
And for my punishment, they made me teach at the university.
So you have to be careful about these things.
Where were we?
To fess up means, again, to confess.
So Bruno knows that Caitlin is asking these questions for some reason.
He's trying to find out why.
Caitlin says, I care about your well-being.
That's all.
Your well-being is your physical, mental, and emotional health.
All of those things combined.
Bruno says, oh yeah, I don't buy it, meaning I don't believe it.
There's got to be an ulterior motive.
An ulterior motive is a secret reason for wanting to do something.
You're pretending like you're doing it for one reason, but you're really doing it for another reason.
So you see a beautiful woman at the cafe and you're unmarried.
And you walk over there and you ask her what book she's reading.
Well, you really don't care what book she's reading.
You're just looking for an excuse to talk to her.
You have an ulterior motive for asking the question.
Caitlin says well, I do have an old scooter.
That would be just what you need to get back and forth from school and work.
A scooter is sort of like a very small motorcycle.
It can also be a flat rectangular board, kind of like a skateboard board, but it has either an engine on it, a very small motorcycle-like engine, or some scooters are basically just like skateboards, except they have a stick that comes up vertically that you can hold onto to steer the scooter.
So Caitlin has a scooter she wants to sell to Bruno that he can use to go back and forth to school and work.
This scooter has a motor on it because Caitlin says it uses very little gas and I'll let you have it for next to nothing, meaning I'll sell it to you at a low price next to nothing.
Bruno says, I knew it.
To pawn P-A-W-N off.
Something is a phrasal verb meaning to get rid of something by selling it, especially if it isn't worth very much money.
You just are trying to get rid of it and you try to get the best price you can.
The word pawn has a couple of other meanings in English as well, very different meanings.
Find those in the learning guide for this episode.
Caitlin says, I'm just looking out for your best interest, that's all.
To look out for someone's best interest means that you are trying to do what is best for the other person.
You're trying to help the other person.
Bruno says, isn't that what all con artists say?
A con C-O-N artist is a person who makes money by tricking other people, by fooling other people, making them think they are doing something to help them, when actually they are basically stealing their money.
A con is when someone tricks you out of your money.
It stands for confidence.
You get the person's confidence, you get them to trust you, and then you steal their money.
That's basically what a con artist does.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How are you planning on getting to school and to your job without a car?
I've got it covered.
I have my skateboard.
Your skateboard won't be any use on those dirt roads.
No big thing.
I'll just take my bike.
Your bike was stolen, along with your rollerblades, remember?
Oh yeah.
Maybe I'll save up and buy a Segway.
Those things are really expensive.
What'll you do in the meantime?
Maybe I'll take the bus.
Worst case scenario, I give myself more time and I walk.
Why are you so interested in how I'm going to commute?
Fess up.
I care about your well-being.
That's all.
Oh, yeah?
I don't buy it.
There's got to be an ulterior motive.
Well, I do have an old scooter.
That would be just what you need to get back and forth from school and work.
It uses very little gas, and I'll let you have it for next to nothing.
I knew it.
You're trying to pawn off that old scooter on me.
Forget it.
I'm just looking out for your best interest.
That's all.
Isn't that what all con artists say?
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
