Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1066, Buying a Luxury Car.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1066.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
In business and daily English.
Are you on Facebook?
Hey, so are we.
Go to facebook.com slash ESL POD and like us.
We'll like you right back.
This episode of the ESL podcast is about buying a luxury or very expensive and nice automobile.
Let's get started.
I know.
It has every luxury option available.
You haven't seen anything yet.
It has a climate control system for every seat. and a voice-activated entertainment system.
It also has the best navigation system money can buy.
Let me turn this car on with the remote starter.
That's impressive.
How does it drive?
It drives like a dream.
It has the most responsive handling of any car I've driven and it has such a smooth ride you'd hardly know we're moving.
You're right.
It's like riding on a cloud.
And this car is safe, too.
It has seven airbags and an alert system for blind spots, which helps to avoid front and rear collisions.
Can you give me a ride home?
No, I have to get this car back to the car lot before my boss notices it's gone.
Couldn't you just tell him you were taking a potential customer out on a test drive?
Again?
Our dialogue begins with Naring saying to Daniel, This car is amazing.
This car is wonderful.
Daniel says, I know.
It has every luxury option available.
An option is one possibility among many.
The word luxury here is used to mean very nice and very expensive.
Nareen says, this sumptuous interior is so comfortable.
She's saying that the inside of the car, the interior of the car where the seats are, is so comfortable, is very comfortable.
The word sumptuous S-U-M-P-T-U-O-U-S is similar to The word luxurious.
They both mean expensive, looking very nice very, in this case, comfortable.
Daniel says, you haven't seen anything yet.
This expression you haven't seen anything yet means there's even something better about this particular item or thing.
Daniel says it, meaning the car, has a climate control system for every seat.
The word climate C-L-I-M-A-T-E usually describes the weather, the atmosphere, the way things are outside.
Is it rainy?
Is it snowy?
That is related to climate, how the general weather patterns are in a given area.
Here in Southern California we have a desert climate in part of the area, where it's very dry and warm.
Well, here we're talking about climate in a little different way.
We're talking more about the atmosphere or environment of a certain place.
Climate control systems in a car are ways of controlling the temperature of, in this case, the seats in the car.
So you could actually have one seat that was hotter than another.
Weird, I know, but that's what some cars allow you to do if they have a climate control system.
Another thing that Daniel points out about this car is that it has a voice-activated entertainment system.
The word activated comes from the verb to activate, A-C-T-I-V-A-T-E.
To activate means to start something or to get something functioning or working.
If something is voice activated, it turns on and off and does what you want it to do, just by talking to it.
Just by speaking to it.
A lot of modern cell phones, especially what are called smartphones, have voice activated features.
You can say something and the phone will do something.
There are other kinds of technology that use voice activation.
Daniel is talking about an entertainment system in a car, probably things like the CD or MP3 player.
Daniel says the car also has the best navigation system money can buy.
A navigation system is a part of the car that usually gives you a map and directions about how to get from where you are now to where you want to go.
More commonly, at least in the United States, this is called a GPS system for global positioning system.
In other countries, they might use different terms.
In Great Britain, sometimes they use the term sat-nav for satellite navigation.
The word navigation in general is used to mean how you get from one place to another.
Daniel concludes by saying, let me turn this car on with the remote starter.
A starter S-T-A-R-T-E-R in this case is something that starts the engine, that gets the motor or the engine running or working.
The word remote, R-E-M-O-T-E, in general means something that is from a distance to another thing.
If you have a television, you probably have what we would call a remote control, or simply a remote.
It's a way of controlling the television without having to get up, walk across the room and change the channel or the volume.
You know, kids, that's how we used to do it back when I was younger.
You actually had to get out of your chair in order to turn the channel on the television.
Crazy, right?
I know.
Well, now some cars, instead of using a key that you put into a part of the car to start the engine, have remote starters, things that you can use to start your car even if you're not in the car.
Why would you want to start your car if you're not in it?
I have no idea, but...
You can do it, and that's the important thing.
Narin says, that's impressive.
Something that is impressive is something that you think is great, is amazing.
She then asks Daniel, how does it drive?
Meaning, is it a comfortable drive when you ride in the car?
Do you feel comfortable driving?
Does it move fast when you want it to go fast and so forth?
Daniel says it drives like a dream.
A dream is normally something you have when you're sleeping.
It's something that is part of your imagination.
But here it's used to mean it's wonderful, it's excellent.
He says that the car...
The word responsive, R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-V-E... is related to the verb to respond, R-E-S-P-O-N-D.
To respond means to react when someone else says something or does something.
If someone asks you a question, you answer the question by responding.
The person says something to you, you say something back to the person.
Responsive then has to do with how well something reacts.
The word handling, H-A-N-D-L-I-N-G, refers in general to how easy it is to control the car.
You know, sometimes you have cars where when you turn the steering wheel, the round wheel that you turn inside the car in order to make it go to the left or to the right.
The car turns right away.
You have other cars where you have to turn the wheel a lot in order to get the car to turn one direction or the other.
I used to own, many years ago, an old station wagon.
It was a big, long car.
And it was sort of like riding in a boat or a ship.
You'd turn the wheel and it would take a long time for the car to move left or right.
Well, that's what we're talking about when we refer to responsive handling of a car.
Daniel says the car has a smooth ride.
A ride, R-I-D-E, here refers simply to how comfortable the car is.
Smooth, S-M-O-O-T-H, is an adjective meaning that it's very comfortable.
There aren't a lot of up and downs, a lot of bumps that you feel when you are riding in the car.
Nareem, who's I guess now in the car riding in it, says, "'You're right.
It's like riding on a cloud'.
Cloud is that white material that you see up in the sky, from which we get rain and snow and other forms of water.
Nadine compares driving in the car or riding in the car to riding on a cloud, where you seem to go by very smoothly like a cloud might in the sky.
Daniel says, and this car is safe too.
It has seven airbags and an alert system for blind spots, which helps to avoid front and rear collisions.
Airbags are these bags that blow up or inflate if your car is in an accident.
The airbags prevent you from hurting yourself.
At least that's what they're supposed to do.
An alert system for blind spots refers to usually a computer in the car that will tell you if there is someone in your blind spot.
Your blind B-L-I-N-D spot is the area next to your car that is difficult to see in the mirrors of the car.
That's why, whenever you, for example, change from one lane to another, from one part of the street or highway to another, you should always look behind you and to your side to make sure there isn't another car there.
Sometimes you don't see the car there in your mirrors, So some cars, I guess, have these alert systems for blind spots.
I have in my car usually an alert system.
I call it my wife.
She will yell and scream if I'm about to hit another car.
It works very well.
And it's a lot cheaper than most of these new cars.
Well, a little cheaper.
Anyway, Daniel is talking about an alert system for blind spots and he says that this alert system helps avoid front and rear collisions.
A collision, C-O-L-L-I-S-I-O-N, is when one car hits another.
It's an accident or a crash, we might call it.
Narim says, can you give me a ride home?
Daniel says, no, I have to get this car back to the car lot before my boss notices it's gone.
So now we understand the story.
Daniel doesn't own this car.
He works at a place that sells cars.
We would call it a car lot, L-O-T.
And he's borrowed this car and is probably trying to impress this girl by the name of Nadine.
Nadine says couldn't you just tell him, meaning your boss, you were taking a potential customer out on a test drive?
A test drive is when you go to a car lot to buy a car and drive in the car before you buy it.
You want to see if you like the car or not.
So you take it on a test drive.
Nareem is suggesting then, that Daniel just tell his boss that he was out with the car with a potential customer.
A customer is someone who buys something.
A potential customer is someone who might buy something.
Daniel responds to Narim's suggestion by saying, again?
The idea is that he has already used this excuse before, when he has we are guessing taken cars out of the car lot to drive.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This car is amazing.
I know.
It has every luxury option available.
This sumptuous interior is so comfortable.
You haven't seen anything yet.
It has a climate control system for every seat and a voice-activated entertainment system.
It also has the best navigation system money can buy.
Let me turn this car on with the remote starter.
That's impressive.
How does it drive?
It drives like a dream.
It has the most responsive handling of any car I've driven.
And it has such a smooth ride, you'd hardly know we're moving.
You're right.
It's like riding on a cloud.
And this car is safe, too.
It has seven airbags and an alert system for blind spots, which helps to avoid front and rear collisions.
Can you give me a ride home?
No, I have to get this car back to the car lot before my boss notices it's gone.
Couldn't you just tell him you were taking a potential customer out on a test drive?
Again?
We give you luxurious scripts here at ESL Podcast Rich in English.
Thanks to our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
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
