Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 771, Commuting by Train.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 771.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Coming to you from beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Lisa and Omar talking about traveling on a train.
Let's get started.
Yes, it is.
Is this your first time taking the train?
No, you just look a little lost.
I'm starting a new job and I have to commute to work for the first time.
Oh, I see.
Did you buy a ticket at the ticket machine?
Yes, I did when I entered the station.
I hope I bought the right one.
Let me see.
Yes, that's the right one.
The good news is that I haven't heard any announcements about the train being delayed, like it has been a couple of times this week, so it should be on time.
I'm relieved to hear that.
I can't afford to be late to work on my first day.
Will I need to show this ticket to get on the train?
Oh, I see.
Thanks.
That sounds simple.
It is simple if you can actually find a seat.
It can be pretty crowded on these commuter trains.
Sometimes it's standing room only.
Let's hope for the best.
Stick with me.
I'll elbow a few people out of the way to get you a seat.
Thanks, I think.
Lisa begins by asking Omar, can you tell me if this is the right platform for the train to Arlington?
A platform P-L-A-T-F-O-R-M is a large flat area where people stand waiting for a train or a subway train.
A train, you probably know, has several small sections called cars, but they're not cars like you drive down the street.
They are cars that are connected to each other and all move in one direction, down something called a track T-R-A-C-K.
Well, Lisa wants to know if this is the right platform, the right place to get the train to Arlington.
Omar says, yes it is.
Is this your first time taking the train?
Lisa says, is it that obvious?
Something that is obvious is something that is easily seen.
You have no difficulty understanding it.
What she's saying here is do I really seem like that much of a beginner.
Obviously it is the first time that she has taken the train.
Omar says no you just look a little lost a little confused like you don't know where to go.
Lisa says, I'm starting a new job and I have to commute to work for the first time.
To commute, C-O-M-M-U-T-E, means to travel usually from your home to where you work and back again.
Some people commute by car.
Some people commute by subway.
Some people commute, if it's a very long distance, by train.
Omar says, Did you buy a ticket at the ticket machine?
The ticket machine is the machine that gives you usually a little piece of paper called a ticket that allows you to be on the train.
Lisa says, yes, I did when I entered the station.
The station is the area where the trains all come and stop.
And that's where you get on and off the train at the train station.
You can also have a bus station there.
Lisa says, I hope I bought the right one, meaning I hope I purchased the correct ticket.
Omar says, let me see.
Yes, that's the right one.
The good news is that I haven't heard any announcements about the train being delayed.
An announcement is information.
In this case, that would be said over the large speakers in the train station on the platform.
If a train is going to be late, they sometimes tell everyone, they announce it.
And the noun is an announcement.
To be delayed means that it isn't going to arrive or leave when it's supposed to.
It's late.
Sometimes trains are delayed.
They don't arrive or leave when they are supposed to.
Omar says that the train has been delayed a couple of times this week.
But because there were no announcements, it should be on time.
When we say something is on time, we mean it should leave at the correct or scheduled time or arrive at the correct or scheduled time.
Lisa says, I'm relieved to hear that.
I'm happy to hear that.
I can't afford to be late to work on my first day.
I can't afford means that it's not possible for me, otherwise it will be very bad for me.
Omar says, After the train is underway, the conductor will walk down the aisle to collect it.
After the train is underway means after the train has already started to move, has left the station.
Then the conductor, the person who works for the train company, whose job it is to collect the tickets.
He will walk, or she will walk down the aisle.
The aisle is the narrow area between the seats for walking where you can move up and down the train.
The conductor will then collect the tickets and He will take them from you.
Sometimes he will put a mark on them and then give them back to you, depending on the train.
Lisa says, Oh, I see.
Thanks.
That sounds simple.
Omar says, It is simple if you can actually find a seat.
It can be pretty or very crowded on these commuter trains, these trains that take people back and forth from work.
To be crowded means you don't have a lot of room to move.
Omar says sometimes it's standing room only.
Standing room only means that all of the seats are filled.
There's no place to sit down.
You have to stand.
This, of course, is very common in a subway system in a large city, but sometimes it can happen on trains as well.
Lisa says, let's hope for the best, meaning let's be optimistic.
Let's hope that we get a seat in this case.
Omar says, stick with me.
To stick with someone means to stay very close to that person or to listen to everything they say, especially when you are traveling somewhere or going somewhere.
Omar says, jokingly, we think, I'll elbow a few people out of the way to get you a seat.
To elbow, E-L-B-O-W, as a verb, means to push someone out of the way with your elbow.
Your elbow is the point in your arm that connects the forearm, that has your hand on the end of it and I guess we'd call the upper part of your arm.
That's the elbow.
But as a verb, to elbow would mean to use that part of your body to push people away.
Omar is saying he's going to elbow a few people out of the way so that Lisa can have a seat.
We suspect here that Omar maybe is interested in Lisa trying to be friendly with her.
Lisa laughs and says, thanks, I think.
When someone says, I think, at the end, that means they're not really sure.
They're not sure if they should thank this person for what they just said.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Yes, it is.
Is this your first time taking the train?
No, you just look a little lost.
Oh, I see.
Did you buy a ticket at the ticket machine?
Let me see.
Yes, that's the right one.
The good news is that I haven't heard any announcements about the train being delayed, like it has been a couple of times this week, so it should be on time.
I'm relieved to hear that.
I can't afford to be late to work on my first day.
Will I need to show this ticket to get on the train?
Not when you get on.
After the train is underway, the conductor will walk down the aisle to collect it.
Oh, I see.
Thanks.
That sounds simple.
It is simple if you can actually find a seat.
It can be pretty crowded on these commuter trains.
Sometimes it's standing room only.
Let's hope for the best.
Stick with me.
I'll elbow a few people out of the way to get you a seat.
Thanks, I think.
I think it's obvious we have the best script writer on the Internet.
That's because we have the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
