Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1055.
Riding scooters and motorcycles.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1055.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue... about riding motorcycles and scooters.
Let's get started.
When you offered to give me a ride to work, I didn't know you rode a motorcycle.
I'm not sure about this.
Come on, put on this helmet and get on.
You'll get to work much faster.
We can zip around cars and go between lanes.
That's what I'm afraid of.
I'm an experienced driver.
I rode a moped when I was a teenager, had a scooter in college, and got my first bike when I was 22.
I ride with my motorcycle club every weekend, so you don't have to worry about safety.
I'm sure you're a good driver, but one wrong move and I'm roadkill.
Get on and I promise to behave.
I won't pop any wheelies, spin out, or do any other tricks.
If that was intended to put my mind at ease, it didn't work.
All right, last call.
You want a ride to work or not?
Okay, I'm putting my life in your hands.
If I die, it'll be on your conscience.
No worries.
If we wipe out, it'll take us both out, so I won't be conscious to worry about my conscience.
Hold on.
Bernadette says to Pavel When you offered to give me a ride to work, I didn't know you rode a motorcycle.
I'm not sure about this.
Bernadette is saying that Pavel had offered to give her a ride to work, to transport her to work.
Now normally, if someone offers to give you a ride...
The person has a car, but Pavel doesn't have a car.
He has a motorcycle.
A motorcycle is, you probably know, like a car, except it only has two wheels, like a bicycle.
Bernadette says I'm not sure about this, meaning she doesn't know if she really wants to ride with Pavel on his motorcycle.
Pavel says, come on, put on this helmet and get on.
He's saying to Bernadette, come and get on the bicycle.
Now, in the U.S., in many states, you have to wear a helmet if you ride a motorcycle.
A helmet, H-E-L-M-E-T, is basically a thick, heavy hat that you wear over your head to protect it.
Pavel says you'll get to work much faster, meaning you will get to work faster if you come on my motorcycle than if you say take a bus.
To zip, Z-I-P, means to move very quickly, especially to drive very quickly.
Pavel also says that...
He can go between lanes, L-A-N-E-S.
A lane is a space between two lines on the road.
You could have a road that has two lanes, one going in one direction, one going in the other direction.
Or you could have a freeway that has six, seven, or eight lanes.
Some of the freeways here in Los Angeles are that big.
In California and perhaps a few other states, I'm not sure it's legal for motorcycles to actually drive between two cars that are next to each other.
It's absolutely crazy in my opinion, but nobody asked me for my opinion.
That's the law.
Motorcycles can go in between cars.
In some states, probably in most states, this is illegal, but not here in California.
Bernadette says, that's what I'm afraid of.
She's scared about going in between cars, going between lanes and zipping around cars.
Pavel says, I'm an experienced driver, meaning I've been doing this a long time.
I rode a moped when I was a teenager.
A moped, M-O-P-E-D, is basically a motorized bicycle.
It's sort of like a motorcycle, but it's smaller and it's not as fast as a motorcycle.
We also learned that Pavel had a scooter in college.
A scooter, S-C-O-O-T-E-R, is a kind of motorcycle.
The scooters usually have a what's called platform where the driver's feet can go.
It's sort of in between a moped and a motorcycle in terms of how heavy or powerful it is, how fast it goes.
Pavel says, I got my first bike when I was 22.
Here the word bike refers not to a bicycle that you ride, Use your legs to power, but rather to mopeds, scooters and motorcycles.
Pavel says, I ride with my motorcycle club every weekend.
So you don't have to worry about safety.
A motorcycle is the most powerful kind of two-wheeled vehicle, at least that's commonly used.
We've talked about a moped and a scooter.
The motorcycle would be sort of like the largest of those three bikes.
A club is an organization, a group of people who are typically interested in the same thing.
Some people are members of motorcycle clubs.
Pavel says you don't have to worry about safety, about me hurting you or hurting myself, because he practices, if you will, a lot with his motorcycle club.
Bernadette is not completely convinced.
She says, I'm sure you're a good driver.
But one wrong move and I'm roadkill.
Road R-O-A-D.
Kill refers to an animal that has been hit by a car or a truck, usually on a freeway or a street where cars and trucks are moving very fast.
Roadkill happens, unfortunately.
Sometimes animals come out into the lanes of traffic onto the road and sometimes they get hit and killed.
Bernadette is saying that if Pavel's motorcycle has an accident, she would be just like roadkill.
She would die and her body would be there on the road.
Pavel says, get on and I promise to behave.
Get on means get on to the motorcycle.
Pavel says he promises to behave, B-E-H-A-V-E.
To behave is to act nicely, not to do anything crazy or dangerous.
He says I won't pop any wheelies spin out.
Pavel mentions a couple of dangerous things that you could do on a motorcycle.
One of them is to pop, P-O-P, a wheelie, W-H-E-E-L-I-E.
To pop a wheelie is to perform a trick where you are only riding on the back tire.
The front tire, the front wheel, is up in the air.
So you're basically on only one wheel.
That's to pop a wheelie.
We used to do that with our bicycles when we were kids.
We would try to pop a wheelie.
Of course, you often end up falling off your bike and hurting yourself.
Which is why Pavel is saying he will not do that, because that would be dangerous.
He also promises not to spin S-P-I-N out.
To spin out is a phrasal verb that is used to describe what happens if your car or motorcycle suddenly starts to move in an uncontrollable way, often in circles.
If you are, for example, driving down a street that has a lot of ice on it and then you try to stop your car, suddenly your car could spin out.
It could spin in a circle on top of the ice.
This is quite frequent.
I remember growing up in Minnesota and when I learned to drive, having this happen to me once or twice.
So it can...
Be a common occurrence, but it is a very dangerous thing because, of course, you could hit someone else as well as hurt yourself.
Bernadette says, if that was intended to put my mind at ease, it didn't work.
Bernadette is saying that Pavel's promise doesn't really help convince her.
It doesn't put her mind at ease.
To put someone's mind at ease.
EASE means to calm someone, to make someone feel relaxed and not worried.
Bernadette says that Pavel's promises not to pop a wheelie and spin out do not put her mind at ease.
She's not relaxed.
Pavel says, all right, last call.
Last call is sort of your last opportunity to do something.
If you go to a bar at the end of the night just before the bar is going to close usually 10 or 15 minutes before the bar will close the bartender the person serving the drinks at the bar will say last call, meaning this is your last opportunity to get, in that case, a drink.
This is Pavel's last opportunity to convince Bernadette to get on his motorcycle.
He says, you want a ride to work or not?
He's saying to Bernadette if you want me to give you a ride to work, then you have to get on now, otherwise I'm going to leave.
Bernadette says, okay, I'm putting my life in your hands.
To put your life in someone's hands means to do something so that another person is in charge of or in control of your safety and security.
If you go on an airplane, you put your lives in the hands of the pilots and the airline company.
Bernadette says, if I die, it'll be on your conscience.
The expression to be on someone's conscience, C-O-N-S-C-I-E-N-C-E, means that...
You will feel guilty in the future if something bad happens.
Your conscience is your sense of right and wrong, your beliefs about what is right to do and what is wrong to do.
If something is on your conscience, it's bothering you.
It's something that you feel bad about, something you feel guilty about, perhaps.
Pavel says no worries, meaning don't worry.
If we wipe out, it'll take us both out, so I won't be conscious to worry about my conscience.
Pavel makes an odd little joke here at the end.
He tells Bernadette, if we wipe out, it'll take us both out.
To wipe out means to crash, especially now.
If you are riding a bicycle, a motorcycle or a skateboard.
To wipe out means to fall down and often to hurt yourself.
Pavel says that if he and Bernadette wipe out. that action will take us both out.
To take someone out means to kill someone, to end someone's life.
Pavel says if they have an accident, both of them will die.
And in that case, Pavel won't be conscious, C-O-N-S-C-I-O-U-S, to worry about his conscience.
To be conscious means to be aware of something, especially aware of your surroundings, the things and people around you.
If you're not conscious, you don't have to worry about your conscience, since you are sort of like asleep.
You aren't aware of your surroundings and so you're not thinking about anything.
The guilt you might feel in this case for killing your friend or your workmate.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
When you offered to give me a ride to work, I didn't know you rode a motorcycle.
I'm not sure about this.
Come on, put on this helmet and get on.
You'll get to work much faster.
We can zip around cars and go between lanes.
That's what I'm afraid of.
I'm an experienced driver.
I rode a moped when I was a teenager, had a scooter in college, and got my first bike when I was 22.
I ride with my motorcycle club every weekend, so you don't have to worry about safety.
I'm sure you're a good driver, but one wrong move and I'm roadkill.
Get on and I promise to behave.
I won't pop any wheelies, spin out, or do any other tricks.
If that was intended to put my mind at ease, it didn't work.
All right, last call.
You want a ride to work or not?
Okay, I'm putting my life in your hands.
If I die, it'll be on your conscience.
No worries.
If we wipe out, it'll take us both out, so I won't be conscious to worry about my conscience.
Hold on.
You don't put your life in our hands, but in a way you put your English in the hands of our scriptwriter.
Fortunately, she's a very good one, Dr. Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
