Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 171, Buying a Used Car.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 171.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's podcast is about buying a used or an older car.
Let's get started.
Hello?
Hey, Samantha, it's Terry.
Oh, hi, Terry.
How's it going?
Not bad.
Hey, the reason I'm calling is that I heard from Veronica that you're looking for a used car.
Yeah, I'm hoping to find something reliable but cheap.
Well, I have just the thing for you.
My brother has a 2001 Ford he's trying to sell.
It has low miles, it's in good condition, and he's in a hurry to sell it.
Your brother, huh?
That's not the same brother who tried to sell me a stereo system that fell off the back of a truck, is it?
No, no, no.
That's a different brother.
Listen, this is a really nice car.
It has a leather interior, power windows and doors, gets great gas mileage and the tires are practically new.
And it's a steal at $7,000.
How do I know it's not a lemon?
I don't want to end up with a piece of junk.
Come on.
Would I steer you wrong?
Well, it won't hurt to go see it and to give it a test drive.
Trust me, you won't be sorry.
We'll see about that.
We listened to a dialogue between Samantha and Terry about buying a used car.
Used is the opposite of new.
And here a used car would be a car someone else bought first and is now selling again.
Samantha says hello and Terry says, Hey, Samantha, it's Terry. identifies himself.
Samantha says, oh, hi, Terry.
How's it going?
How are you doing?
Terry says, not bad.
Hey, the reason I'm calling is that I heard from Veronica that you're looking for a used car.
He begins by saying the reason I'm calling is so, of course, to tell Samantha why he is calling at that time.
He had heard from Veronica, a friend, that Samantha is looking for a used car.
And Samantha says, yeah, I'm hoping to find something reliable, but cheap.
To be reliable, R-E-L-I-A-B-L-E, means that you can rely on it, that you can depend on it.
Reliable and dependable mean the same, basically.
It means it's something that you don't have to worry about.
It's not going to break down on you.
She's also looking for a car that is cheap, and of course cheap C-H-E-A-P means not expensive, not very much money.
Terry says to Samantha, well, I have just the thing for you.
I have just, J-U-S-T, the thing for you.
This is sort of a...
Kind of a common expression, but it's also sort of a joke.
I have just the thing for you.
Would be something that a salesperson, for example, might say to someone.
A salesperson that you might not trust, that you might think is dishonest.
It's an old expression, and so when people use it now, they use it sometimes to make a joke.
I have just the thing for you.
Literally this expression means, or actually this expression means I have the perfect thing for you.
When someone says I have just the thing for you, I have the perfect one, the one that is right for you.
Well, Terry says that his brother has a 2001 Ford.
And notice we say a 2001 Ford, meaning a car made in 2001.
Ford, of course, is a famous American car.
And he has a Ford, or a 2001 Ford, he's trying to sell.
Terry says the car has low miles.
It's in good condition and he's in a hurry to sell it.
When we say a car has low, LOW miles, we mean that it has not been driven very much.
It may only have 10000 or 20000 or 30000 miles on it, meaning it's been only driven that amount, which means it should be in good condition, which is the second thing that Terry says that the car is in good condition.
When we say something's in good condition, we mean that everything is working properly, that there are no problems with it, that it's not going to break.
His brother is in a hurry to sell it.
And of course, to be in a hurry means that you want something to happen right away.
Well, Samantha says, your brother, huh?
Notice the use of the word, huh, H-U-H.
It's indicating here that she is not so sure, that she doesn't necessarily trust his brother.
And we use that sometimes when we are trying to tell the other person that you're not sure you don't trust what they are saying or you don't trust this particular person.
So someone says, hey, I want you to meet my friend.
He's tall and he's handsome and I think you will fall in love with him.
And a girl says, your friend, huh?
Meaning she's not really sure.
She doubts that this person is as good as he says.
Well, Samantha says Meaning, is this the same brother who tried to sell me something?
Get me to buy something earlier?
In this case it was a stereo system, and a stereo system would be a radio with speakers, CD player and so forth.
This stereo system, Samantha says, fell off the back, B-A-C-K, of a truck.
When we say something fell off the back of a truck, this is an informal expression to mean that it was stolen, that someone stole it and is now trying to sell it again or sell it to make money.
It's sort of a humorous expression, sort of a joke to say it fell off the back of a truck.
The idea is that a truck would be driving down the road and one of the boxes might come out of the truck and someone would find the box in the street and go oh look, a brand new stereo.
Well, of course that doesn't happen, and that's what Samantha is suggesting that maybe this car, like the stereo, is stolen, that someone had stole the car and is now trying to sell it.
Terry says no no no, that's a different brother, meaning he has a dishonest brother who steals things, but this is a different brother.
Then he says, listen, this is a really nice car.
And of course, listen is a way of getting someone's attention, particularly in an informal setting.
You say, listen, means pay attention to what I'm going to say.
This is a really nice car, he says.
It has leather interior, a leather interior.
Interior, I-N-T-E-R-I-O-R, is the inside of the car.
And when someone says they have a leather interior in their car, it means that the seats, for example, are made out of leather, that they have leather coverings on them.
The other type of interior you could have would be a cloth interior CLOTH where the seat is not made out of leather.
It's made out of something else.
The car also has power windows and doors.
To say something has power.
P-o-w-e-r windows means that they are automatic, they're electric.
You don't have to put the window up by hand or lock each door by hand.
You can just press a button and they all lock.
Most cars have power windows and doors nowadays.
Although my car a few years ago did not.
But that's another story.
Well, this car also gets great gas mileage.
Mileage, M-I-L-E-A-G-E, is how many miles you get per gallon.
And to have good or great gas mileage means that the car runs many miles on one gallon of gas.
For each gallon of gas, you get 30 miles or 35 miles or 40 miles.
That would be great gas mileage.
Most cars get about 20, 25.
If you drive a big car, a big truck, you may only get 10 or 15 miles per gallon.
That would be very poor gas mileage.
Well, this car has great gas mileage, and the tires are practically new.
When we say the tires are practically new, we mean they're almost new.
They're not exactly new, but they're not very old either.
That's the use of the word practically.
It means almost here.
Terry says that it's a steal at $7,000.
It's a steal, S-T-E-A-L, means that it's a very, very good price.
It's one of the lowest prices you will find.
Someone says, oh, that's a steal.
That means it's almost like you are stealing it.
You are taking it from someone.
It's such a low price.
Terry says that it's a steal and Samantha says how do I know it's not a lemon?
How do I know it's not a lemon?
L-E-M-O-N.
A lemon is a car that doesn't work.
A lemon is a car that has lots of serious problems.
A lemon, of course, is a fruit that you can eat.
But here when we say that car is a lemon, we mean it's a car that has lots of problems, that you should not buy it.
Samantha says she doesn't want to end up with a piece of junk.
And of course, junk, J-U-N-K, is like garbage, something you would throw away.
Terry says, come on, would I steer you wrong?
That expression, come on, means the same as don't joke with me or take me seriously.
We might also say something like be serious, come on, means the other person is saying something.
That is not reasonable, that isn't fair.
Terry says, come on, would I steer, S-T-E-E-R, you wrong?
To steer someone wrong means to influence them in a way that they would make a bad decision or they would make a wrong decision.
To steer literally means to direct, usually a car or some sort of moving vehicle like a plane or a train or a bus.
To steer it means to direct it.
So that when you get into the car, if you're the driver, in front of you is the steering wheel.
And it's a round wheel that you use to steer, to move the car left or right or to keep the car going straight.
Well, that's the verb to steer here that we're using.
But the expression to steer someone wrong means to direct them or to influence them in a way that would end up being a bad situation for them.
Samantha says, well, it won't hurt to go see it and to give it a test drive.
The expression it won't hurt H-U-R-T to do something means that she's not excited about doing it, but there's no problem in her doing it.
She's not committing herself.
She's saying, it would be okay for me to do that.
She wants to go and give it a test drive.
T-E-S-T, drive, D-R-I-V-E, two words.
A test drive is when you are thinking about buying a car and You go and you drive it first for maybe 10 minutes or 20 minutes or 30 minutes to see if you like it before you buy it.
That's a test drive.
Terry says, trust me, you won't be sorry.
When someone says you won't be sorry means that they are trying to get you to do something.
And they're telling you that if you agree to do something, you will be happy.
You won't be sorry.
You won't be sad.
Samantha says, we'll see about that, meaning she doesn't quite believe him.
She's going to wait and see.
We'll see about that.
She has doubts about whether this is a good car in this case.
Well, now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
Hello?
Hey, Samantha, it's Terry.
Oh, hi, Terry.
How's it going?
Not bad.
Hey, the reason I'm calling is that I heard from Veronica that you're looking for a used car.
Yeah, I'm hoping to find something reliable but cheap.
Well, I have just the thing for you.
My brother has a 2001 Ford he's trying to sell.
It has low miles, it's in good condition, and he's in a hurry to sell it.
Your brother, huh?
That's not the same brother who tried to sell me a stereo system that fell off the back of a truck, is it?
No, no, no.
That's a different brother.
Listen, this is a really nice car.
It has a leather interior, power windows and doors, gets great gas mileage and the tires are practically new.
And it's a steal at $7,000.
How do I know it's not a lemon?
I don't want to end up with a piece of junk.
Come on.
Would I stew you wrong?
Well, it won't hurt to go see her and give it a test drive.
Trust me, you won't be sorry.
We'll see about that.
The script today was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com.
You can now get a learning guide a 8-10 page learning guide you can download, with the complete transcript of everything we say on this podcast, as well as with additional help for your English.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
