Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 874, Poor Road Conditions.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 874.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpodcom.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode that will give you a complete transcript of everything we say.
This episode is a dialogue between Alice and Sam about going out onto the street, onto the roads, in a city or a town and having problems with the road conditions.
Let's get started.
I'm really glad I let you talk me into going for a bike ride.
It's been years since I've been on a bicycle.
You get to really see the scenery and enjoy the fresh air.
Watch out!
You almost dropped into that huge pothole.
This asphalt is cracked and the road is all bumpy.
Thanks for the warning.
Yeah, this asphalt really needs to be repaired.
I'd ride on the gravel path instead, but it's full of ruts.
Oh, slow down.
There's a big dip ahead.
Whoa, I didn't see that coming.
I almost lost control on that slippery section of road.
Sorry, I nearly swerved into you.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
When I suggested this route, I was sure it would be an easy ride since it's paved all the way.
I didn't bargain for these lousy road conditions.
We'll just have to keep our eyes open and be thankful for these crash helmets.
Alice begins by saying to Sam, I'm really glad... I'm really happy...
I let you talk me into going for a bike ride.
To talk someone into something means to convince them, to persuade them, to get them to agree with your opinion of something.
Alice and Sam are on a bike ride.
Bike, B-I-K-E, is short for bicycle.
Alice says, it's been years since I've been on a bicycle.
It's been years since I have been on a bicycle.
A bicycle, of course, has two wheels and a seat and what we call a handlebar that helps you steer or move the bicycle in the correct direction.
Sam says, this is the only way to travel.
This is not to be taken literally.
Sam doesn't mean this is the only possible way in the world to travel.
That expression, this is the only way, is used to indicate this is the best way.
This is the way that is better than any other way or method of traveling.
Sam says, you get to really see the scenery and enjoy the fresh air.
Scenery S-C-E-N-E-R-Y is what you can see, usually outside of a building, often referring to trees lakes, things that are nice to look at, things that are beautiful.
Alice says, hey, watch out.
You almost dropped into that huge pothole.
A pothole, P-O-T-H-O-L-E is a hole in a street or a road or a freeway.
That usually created by a lot of traffic, often caused by the change in temperature.
That sometimes makes the surface of the street loose and then you get a hole in the street.
We call those holes in the street potholes.
Alice says Sam almost went into one of the big potholes in the street.
She says, this asphalt is cracked and the road is all bumpy.
Asphalt, A-S-P-H-A-L-T, is...
A very common surface that we use to cover our streets and our roads, usually made by mixing small rocks with a very hot oily substance.
It's usually black or a very deep kind of blue when you look at it.
That's asphalt.
Asphalt is used on most of the streets here in Los Angeles.
It's a cheap and effective way to cover the roads to make them smooth, but it's not perfect.
Asphalt can sometimes crack.
When we talk about cracked asphalt, we mean there are little lines on the asphalt going through the surface where the asphalt appears to be separating a crack, as anytime you have some surface that appears to be separating, causing a line to go through it, what looks like a line and, For example, if you have a glass and you hit the glass against the wall, the glass might break or it might just crack.
It might start to fall apart, even though it's still in one piece.
The asphalt is cracked, according to Alice, and the road is all bumpy.
Bumpy, B-U-M-P-Y, means that it is uneven.
Some areas are higher than others.
So as you drive down it, it's like you're going up and down.
Your car moves up and down because the road isn't even.
It isn't flat.
Sam says thanks for the warning.
Yeah, this asphalt really needs to be repaired.
It needs to be fixed.
I'd ride on the gravel path instead, but it's full of ruts.
A gravel path is is an area for bikes or for people who are walking that is not covered with asphalt.
Instead, it's covered with small little rocks.
Sam says he can't go on the gravel path because it's full of ruts.
A rut.
R-U-T is basically the hole in the ground that is made by wheels, many different wheels going over the same spot.
If you have a lot of bicycles or a lot of other wheels going over soft ground and going over it in the same place over and over again, eventually you will create holes.
A rut, which is a long line, a hole really in the ground that is caused by these wheels going over and over it.
Sam says, slow down, there's a big dip ahead.
A dip, D-I-P, is sort of like a hole.
It's an area that's lower than the surrounding area around it.
Alice says, whoa, I didn't see that coming.
I didn't anticipate that.
I almost lost control on that slippery section of the road.
To lose control means you no longer have power to change the direction that you are moving or to change what is happening.
Some people say, may drink too much alcohol and lose control of themselves.
They don't have a way of controlling themselves because they drank too many beers.
So don't drink too many beers, especially if you're bicycling.
Alice probably wasn't drinking.
We don't know.
It's possible Alice was drinking before we started this dialogue, but she doesn't appear to be drinking.
The problem appears to be the road itself.
She says she lost control on that slippery section of road, something that is slippery, S-L-I-P-P-E-R-Y, is often covered with water or ice and is difficult to drive on because things keep sliding off of it or sliding around on it.
Something that is slippery is something that could be very dangerous, because as you walk over it or drive over it, You could suddenly move and then have a problem, possibly even an accident.
If you walk on a street that is slippery, you could fall, for example.
Alice is on a slippery section of the road.
She says, sorry, I nearly swerved into you.
To swerve S-W-E-R-V-E means to suddenly change direction in an unexpected way, often to avoid hitting something else.
So you have two cars traveling down the street and one of the cars sees a little cat that comes out onto the road.
Well, some cars would continue driving, but most cars would swerve to miss the cat.
They would move the car over to the left or to the right suddenly in order not to hit the cat.
Sam says, I'm fine.
Alice didn't hit him.
He says when I suggested this route, this path, this way of getting from one place to another, I was sure it would be an easy ride, since it's paved all the way.
To be paved.
P-A-V-E-D means to put asphalt, cement or something else on top of the ground, on top of the dirt, in order to make it easier to ride on.
Sam says, I didn't bargain for these lousy road conditions.
The expression to bargain for means here to plan for, to expect something to be in a certain way.
Sam says he did not plan for or bargain for these lousy or bad road conditions.
The condition of something is the situation that it is in.
It is the state that it is in.
In this case, Sam is referring to bad road conditions, roads and streets that are not very easy to drive on.
Alice says we'll just have to keep our eyes open.
We'll have to be alert sometimes.
And be thankful for these crash helmets.
A helmet.
H-E-L-M-E-T is a protective hat that goes over your head, on the top and on the sides, to protect it.
A crash helmet is something that someone riding a bicycle or a motorcycle might have on their head to protect it in case they fell off of the bicycle or the motorcycle and hit the ground.
The crash helmet would protect their head.
Sam then says to Alice, you won't blame me if you go flying, will you?
To go flying in this case would mean to hit something while you're riding the bike and to be thrown from the bike.
You would fly in the air off the bike and onto the ground.
Sam says, you won't blame me.
You won't think I'm guilty if that happens to you.
Will you, Alice?
Alice says, not if you break my fall.
To break B-R-E-A-K.
Someone's fall means to prevent them from getting hurt by either catching them or by doing something that would prevent them from hurting themselves by falling on the ground or some hard object.
That's Alice's little joke, of course.
If Sam broke her fall, he would get hurt as well.
Especially if Alice is a big woman, which I don't know if she is or not.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm really glad I let you talk me into going for a bike ride.
It's been years since I've been on a bicycle.
This is the only way to travel.
You get to really see the scenery and enjoy the fresh air.
Hey, watch out.
You almost dropped into that huge pothole.
This asphalt is cracked and the road is all bumpy.
Thanks for the warning.
Yeah, this asphalt really needs to be repaired.
I'd ride on the gravel path instead, but it's full of ruts.
Oh, slow down.
There's a big dip ahead.
Whoa, I didn't see that coming.
I almost lost control in that slippery section of road.
Sorry, I nearly swerved into you.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
When I suggested this route, I was sure it would be an easy ride since it's paved all the way.
I didn't bargain for these lousy road conditions.
We'll just have to keep our eyes open and be thankful for these crash helmets.
You won't blame me if you go flying, will you?
Not if you break my fall.
She never loses control when she's writing her wonderful scripts.
I speak, of course, of our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
