Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 886, Driving Through a Speed Trap.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 886.
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.
Become a member of ESL Podcast by going to the website.
This episode is a dialogue between Angel and Georgina about driving too fast in your car and what happens when you do.
Let's get started.
Why are you driving at a snail's pace?
This is an infamous speed trap.
I don't want to get a ticket again.
I don't see any squad cars along the road.
Are you sure this is the right stretch of road?
I'm sure those cops are crafty.
They hide out behind big rocks or a bend in the road and as soon as you let your guard down and go over the speed limit, they nab you.
But you're not exceeding the speed limit.
In fact, you're driving way under the speed limit.
You can't be too careful.
You never know if those speed guns are accurate, and I don't want there to be any doubt that I'm being a law-abiding citizen.
But at this pace, we could get home faster if we walked.
Don't exaggerate.
You might be able to run home faster, but not walk.
Our dialogue begins with Angel saying to Georgina, Why are you driving at a snail's pace?
This is an expression at a snail's pace.
It means very slowly.
A snail, S-N-A-I-L, is a small little animal that moves very slowly when it moves across the ground.
Pace, P-A-C-E, here means speed.
So, at a snail's pace means as fast as a snail, which means very, very slowly.
Angel is asking Georgina why she's driving so slowly.
Georgina says, this is an infamous speed trap.
Infamous speed.
I-N-F-A-M-O-U-S is an adjective meaning very famous for being bad or evil.
Infamous is always a negative thing.
If someone says he's infamous, they mean that he's well-known.
Everyone knows about him, but for the bad things that he's done.
A speed trap is an area where the police typically look for cars that are driving too fast, so that they can stop the driver and give him what's called a ticket.
A ticket... is not like a ticket to the movies or an airline ticket.
It's a piece of paper saying that you broke the law and that you have to pay money to the government because you broke the law.
So a speed trap is an area on a road or a highway or anywhere that you drive, that where the police know that people are often going to drive fast in that one area.
For example, here in Los Angeles, there's a speed trap right as you drive into the city of Beverly Hills, where all the rich people live.
There's an area on Santa Monica Boulevard that is a speed trap.
I know because I've seen people there who have been stopped by the police.
So everyone drives very slowly through that section because they know the police are waiting for them.
The best way to find a speed trap if you are new to an area or a city is to drive really fast on all of the major or large streets of And wait until you get stopped by the police, and then you will know where the speed trap is.
You're welcome.
Georgina is talking about an infamous, a well-known speed trap.
She says, I don't want to get a ticket again.
Angel says, I don't see any squad cars along the road.
A squad S-Q-U-A-D car is another word for a police car, a car that police officers drive usually around a neighborhood or part of the city in order to make sure there aren't any problems.
You also have policemen and policewomen who drive motorcycles, but a squad car is a regular four-door car.
Angel says, are you sure that this is the right stretch of road?
Stretch, S-T-R-E-T-C-H.
Here means length of road or section of road, the part of a road between this point and that point, between this place and that place.
Stretch has a couple of other meanings as well.
You can see those in our learning guide.
Georgina says, I'm sure, I'm sure this is the right or correct stretch of road.
She says, those cops are crafty.
A cop.
C-O-P is a slang or informal word for a police officer, a man or woman who works for the police.
Crafty C-R-A-F-T-Y here means clever or sneaky, someone who may use some dishonest ways of cheating you or trying to catch you.
Georgina thinks the police are crafty.
She says they hide out behind big rocks or a bend in the road.
And as soon as you let your guard down and go over the speed limit, they nab you.
There are a Hide H-I-D-E.
Out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to go somewhere where no one can see you.
It's a verb, to hide out, but it's also a noun, a hideout.
A hideout is a place where you go so that no one will find you.
Sometimes we use that noun to describe a place where criminals people who have broken the law go so that the police don't find them.
But it can also be used, for example, for a place where someone is hiding.
Someone is waiting for someone and they don't want to be seen.
That's really the meaning here.
Georgina using the verb to hide out is talking about the police who don't want you to see them.
They hide behind big rocks.
Or a bend in the road.
A bend, B-E-N-D, is a curve where the road turns a little either to the left or to the right.
It doesn't continue going straight.
That's a bend, B-E-N-D, in the road.
We would also describe it, as I said, as a curve, C-U-R-V-E.
To let your guard G-U-A-R-D down means to relax, to not be worried, to not be cautious, to not worry about what happens or how other people are reacting to you.
That's to let your guard down.
We might say that, for example, about a man or a woman on a date.
They're nervous about what the other person thinks of them, so they don't want to let their guard down.
They don't want to be normal, if you will.
They don't want to relax.
Georgina is saying that The police hide behind rocks or a bend in the road.
And as soon as you let your guard down, as soon as you relax and go over the speed limit, meaning go too fast, go faster than you're supposed to they, the police, nab you.
To nab, N-A-B, someone is to catch someone.
Often it means to arrest someone.
When the police come and take someone away, they nab them.
But it could also be used, for example, if someone is kidnapping another person, taking that person away and asking the family to give them money in order to get the person back.
We might use nab in that respect as well.
But it's probably more commonly used in talking about the police.
Angel says, but you're not exceeding the speed limit.
To exceed E-X-C-E-E-D means to go beyond some limit.
In this case, we're talking about the speed limit, the maximum speed that you can drive on a road.
Angel says, in fact, you're driving way under the speed limit.
The use of the word way here is as an adverb.
It means very much or extremely.
It's somewhat informal.
But it's very common in conversational English.
People say, for example, oh, this is way too difficult.
This is much too difficult.
This is very difficult.
Georgina says you can't be too careful, meaning it's not possible to worry too much because you have to protect yourself.
Georgina says you never know if those speed guns are accurate.
A speed gun is not a regular gun that you would kill someone with.
A speed gun is also called a radar gun.
It's a device that determines how fast a car is driving down the street.
Georgina says, I don't want there to be any doubt that I'm being a law abiding citizen.
A law-abiding A-B-I-D-I-N-G citizen is a responsible person who follows the laws, who obeys the rules.
Angel says, but at this pace, at this speed, we could get home faster if we walked.
It would be faster to walk than to drive in this car.
That's what Angel is saying.
Georgina says, don't exaggerate.
To exaggerate E-X-A-G-G-E-R-A-T-E means to describe something as being bigger than it really is or more serious than it really is.
To try to make a situation more serious or more dramatic, perhaps, than it really has to be.
So if you say, for example, it's so hot outside.
It's a million degrees out there.
Well, of course, it's not actually a million degrees.
You're exaggerating.
You're using language that makes something seem bigger than it really is.
Georgina says don't exaggerate.
You might be able to run home faster, but not walk.
So Georgina is sort of agreeing with Angel.
Yes, she's driving very slowly, but it would not be faster to walk home, although it might be faster to run home.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why are you driving at a snail's pace?
This is an infamous speed trap.
I don't want to get a ticket.
Again.
I don't see any squad cars along the road.
Are you sure this is the right stretch of road?
I'm sure.
Those cops are crafty.
They hide out behind big rocks or bend in the road.
And as soon as you let your guard down and go over the speed limit, they nab you.
But you're not exceeding the speed limit.
In fact, you're driving way under the speed limit.
You can't be too careful.
You never know if those speed guns are accurate.
And I don't want there to be any doubt that I'm being a law-abiding citizen.
But at this pace, we could get home faster if we walked.
Don't exaggerate.
You might be able to run home faster but not walk.
Our scripts are way better than any other scripts here on the Internet in the world of podcasting.
That's because they're written by the wonderful, the only, 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.
