Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 480, Riding in a Carpool.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 480.
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.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode.
This episode is called Riding in a Car Pool.
A car pool is when several people ride together in one car to go, usually, to work.
Let's get started.
Hey, Loretto.
Got a minute?
I'm going to a meeting off-site, but we can talk if you don't mind walking me to my car.
Sure, okay.
I just wanted to ask if you're interested in carpooling to work.
We only live a few blocks from each other.
We wouldn't have to commute together every day, only on those days that are convenient for both of us.
Carpooling has its advantages, too.
In addition to doing our part for the environment, we could use the high-occupancy carpool lanes.
That'll save time, especially if there's a lot of traffic congestion.
Yeah, I guess that could cut down on our commute time.
We also get preferential treatment for parking on the days we carpool.
How would it work?
Do we set up a schedule and take turns driving?
If you don't mind picking me up en route, that would be great.
By the way, how do you know where I live?
Oh, I asked around.
See you tomorrow.
Our episode begins with Roberto asking Loretto.
The word hey nowadays is sometimes used informally to say hi or hello.
It's a very informal use, however.
Roberto asks if Loretto has got a minute, meaning do you have a short time to talk to me?
When someone says got a minute, they mean I want to talk to you for a short amount of time.
Is this a good time?
Loretto says I'm going to a meeting off-site but we can talk if you don't mind walking me to my car.
Off-site means at a different location, not at your office in this case.
Loretto asks Roberto to walk her to her car.
To walk someone to somewhere means to accompany someone while they are walking, to walk alongside we could say that person, to walk with that person.
Roberto says, sure, okay.
I just wanted to ask you if you're interested in carpooling to work.
To carpool means to share a car with two or more people who are going to the same place.
Usually, carpooling relates to going to work, though you could carpool to a concert, for example.
Normally, however, it refers to two or more people riding in the same car.
In many cities in the United States there are what are called carpool lanes on the freeways or the highways.
These are parts of the road that only two or more people riding in the same car may use.
It's a way of encouraging people to not use as much energy to cut down on traffic, to reduce traffic by giving people a special lane on the freeway where they can drive if you have two or sometimes three or more people.
These are very popular here in Los Angeles.
Roberto says that he and Loreto only live a few blocks from each other, meaning they live very close to each other, so it would make sense for them to drive to work together.
Loreto says, thanks for asking, but I'm not sure carpooling would work for me.
To run late means to be behind your schedule, not to be on time, to do something later than you should.
Someone says, They mean, I have to go now.
I am late for an appointment or I am behind my schedule.
Run has many different meanings in English, as you probably know.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
To hold someone up, as in when Loretta says I don't want to hold you up, means to delay someone to do something so that the other person cannot get something done on time or as soon as he or she would like.
To prevent someone from doing something on time or quickly.
To hold someone up, then, means to delay them.
Loretto is saying to Roberto sometimes I'm late in the morning and I don't want you to be late too.
I don't want to hold you up.
Roberto says, we wouldn't have to commute together every day, only on those days that are convenient for both of us.
To commute means to go from your home to your office and then back again.
So if Roberto and Loreto are going to carpool, they would be commuting from their homes to their office, assuming they work at the same office, which is normally the case.
I carpooled, and notice we use it as a verb as well.
When I was commuting back in St.
Paul back in Minnesota.
When I lived there many years ago, when I was teaching high school, I would carpool with one of the other language teachers.
She was a German teacher, I believe.
That was commuting by using a carpool.
We only did that a couple of days a week.
On the other days, we drove separately.
Roberto says carpooling has its advantages, too.
In addition to doing our part for the environment, we could use the high occupancy carpool lanes.
To do your part means to help something happen, to contribute to something.
We want everyone to do their part.
We want everyone to do their share.
We want everyone to do what they should do to help the larger group effort.
A high-occupancy carpool lane means is what I was talking about earlier when I mentioned carpool lanes.
Sometimes they're called high occupancy.
Occupancy refers to how many people are there in a particular place or how many people could fit in a particular place.
High occupancy would be that you would have many people, in this case, in your car.
The minimum is usually two people.
Sometimes the minimum to use these special carpool lanes is three people.
In some states they're called HOV lanes, where the V stands for vehicle, in this case a car or a truck.
So high-occupancy vehicle lanes or high-occupancy carpool lanes are the same thing.
Roberto says that will save time, meaning using the carpool lanes will save time, especially if there's a lot of traffic congestion.
The idea here is that carpool lanes have fewer cars in them because most people drive themselves to work alone.
So you can go faster in the carpool lane usually, especially if there's a lot of traffic congestion involved
Traffic congestion is when you have too many cars on the freeway or the highway and it causes all of the cars to move very slowly.
Loretto says, yeah, I guess that could cut down on our commute time.
To cut down on something is a phrasal verb meaning to use less of something or to reduce something.
Loreto is saying that, yes, they could get to work faster if they used the carpool lanes.
Roberto says, we also get preferential treatment for parking on the days we carpool.
Preferential treatment is treating some people differently, being nicer to someone or giving someone special benefits that you don't give other people.
Loretto then asks, How would it work?
Do we set up a schedule and take turns driving?
To take turns means to do one thing after another.
I do something, and then you do something.
Or if there are three of us first I do something, then you do something, then the third person does something, and then I do something again, and so on and so forth.
Roberto says And we can talk more about it when we're talking about driving means to go to a place for a short period of time, especially someone's office or home, to visit with that person.
In this case Roberto is going to swing by, going to drive to her house and pick her up, that is, take her with him in his car.
Loretto says, if you don't mind picking me up en route, that would be great.
En route, which is sometimes pronounced en route, although the preferred pronunciation is en route or en route is a French expression.
In English we use it to mean on the way, on the path between where you are starting and where you end up.
So I go from my house, I stop and pick you up at your house, and together we go to work.
I pick you up en route to work.
Loretto then says, Roberto answers, I asked around.
To ask around means to get a piece of information by asking many different people until you find someone who knows the answer.
Why Roberto is asking around about where Loretto lives is a little strange.
It's a little...
Perhaps something that Loretto needs to be careful about this Roberto.
I don't know.
I don't trust him.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey Loretto, got a minute?
I'm going to a meeting off-site, but we can talk if you don't mind walking me to my car.
Sure, okay.
I just wanted to ask if you're interested in carpooling to work.
We only live a few blocks from each other.
Thanks for asking, but I'm not sure carpooling would work for me.
Sometimes I run late in the morning, and I wouldn't want to hold you up.
We wouldn't have to commute together every day, only on those days that are convenient for both of us.
Carpooling has its advantages, too.
In addition to doing our part for the environment, we could use the high-occupancy carpool lanes.
That'll save time, especially if there's a lot of traffic congestion.
Yeah, I guess that could cut down on our commute time.
We also get preferential treatment for parking on the days we carpool.
How would it work?
Do we set up a schedule and take turns driving?
Why don't I swing by and pick you up tomorrow morning and we can talk more about it?
If you don't mind picking me up en route, that would be great.
By the way, how do you know where I live?
Oh, I asked around.
See you tomorrow.
If you ask around, I think you will find that the best script writer is the one who wrote this script.
Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
