Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 623, A Hit and Run Accident.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 623.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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This episode is a dialogue between Flora and Saul.
There has been a car accident.
One car, one automobile has hit another one and then immediately left.
Let's get started.
I saw it happen.
A car came around the corner and hit the back of your car.
No, it was hit and run.
The driver just took off.
He was driving like a bat out of hell.
It looks like he caused some damage.
Some damage?
My car is totaled.
I hope whoever it was gets his license revoked.
Better yet, I hope the judge throws the book at him and he does jail time.
But how are the police going to catch someone who leaves the scene of the crime like this?
That guy must be a real jerk.
Take it easy.
Maybe he just panicked.
It's probably his first offense.
Maybe he's young and just learning how to drive.
Maybe.
Hey, why are you defending the driver?
Well... You know the person driving the car, don't you?
You're not an innocent bystander.
You're trying to talk me out of calling the police.
Well, I have this nephew who sometimes borrows my car and he drives too fast.
He did hit your car, but it's a simple fender bender.
Fender bender?
My car is totaled.
I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks.
If you don't call the police...
I'll make sure it's repaired.
It'll be as good as new.
Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?
No, not at all.
I'll get your car fixed right after I ring my nephew's neck.
Flora begins the dialogue by saying, what happened to my car?
Saul said, I saw it happen.
Whatever happened, he saw it.
A car came around the corner and hit the back of your car.
So a car was driving on one street then turned right or left and and started to drive down another street.
He came around the corner, and then he hit the back of Flora's car.
Flora says, did the driver stop?
Meaning, did he stop his car and get out to see if he had hit anything?
Saul says, no, it was hit and run.
Hit-and-run is a type of car accident where one driver hits a person or hits another car and then leaves immediately without stopping to see if he has hurt anyone or damaged the car, because he doesn't want to get in trouble with the police perhaps, or he doesn't have car insurance, which is required in most states in the US.
It's illegal to hit a car and then leave immediately.
Hit-and-run accidents in most states will cause you to go to jail if the police find you.
So you'd never want to do that.
Well, that's what this driver did.
Saul says the driver just took off to take action.
Off is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to leave a place very quickly without saying goodbye.
Take off actually has several meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Saul says that this driver was driving like a bat out of hell.
This is an old expression.
A bat B-A-T is an animal that flies at night, can bite you and is often found in dark places.
Hell is the word.
We describe the place where you go if you are not good in this world, after you die, that is.
So a bat out of hell means that the bat was going very quickly.
Perhaps the bat is escaping hell.
I'm not sure.
But it's an old expression that means to go very quickly and dangerously.
He was driving like a bat out of hell.
It's an informal expression.
It's not something you would use among children, perhaps.
I used to hear this expression growing up.
It was more common, I suppose, a few years ago, but you will still hear it.
Saul says that it looks like he caused some damage.
The driver caused some damage to Flora's car.
Damage is when you break something or harm something, injure a person, perhaps.
It's something that makes the object in worse condition.
Usually damage is about a thing, not a person.
Although you could say I damaged my hand, but you would more likely say I hurt my hand or I injured my hand.
But you wouldn't say I injured my table.
You would say I damaged my table or I damaged my car.
So that's what happened here.
The man caused some damage.
Flora says, some damage.
My car is totaled.
Something that is totaled, in this case, means completely destroyed, ruined.
Something you can no longer fix, you can no longer use.
We usually use this word in talking about cars.
The car was in an accident and it was totaled, meaning you could not fix the car.
Flora says, I hope whoever it was, whoever hit her, gets his license revoked.
To revoke, R-E-V-O-K-E, means to cancel some official permission that you have or a license.
In the US.
Each state has its own driver's license and you must get a driver's license from at least one state to drive in the US.
If you have an international driver's license, that's okay, too.
To revoke a license, then, means that the state says you can no longer drive.
We are taking away your license.
Flora says, better yet, I hope the judge throws the book at him and he does jail time.
A judge is the person in an official court of law where you go if you have committed a crime.
The judge typically determines what your punishment will be.
Flora says she hopes the judge throws the book at him.
This expression, to throw the book at someone... means to punish someone very severely, very badly.
Maybe saying that they committed many crimes and must spend many years in jail, in prison.
That's to throw the book at someone.
Usually we use this when we are talking about a judge, saying It could be used in talking about, for example, a principal, the head of a school, who has to punish students.
It's possible.
Well, Flora hopes the judge throws the book at this person and that the person does jail time.
To do jail J-A-I-L time means to spend time in prison.
To spend time in jail because you have done something wrong.
You have broken the law, we would say.
You did something against the law.
Flora is of course, very angry because She says but how are the police going to catch, going to find someone who leaves the scene of the crime like this
The scene, S-C-E-N-E, of the crime is where the crime happened, where it was committed, right?
Crime is of course what you do that is against the law.
To steal is a crime.
To kill someone is a crime.
So the scene of the crime is where the crime happened.
Flora doesn't think the police could find someone who has left the scene of the crime.
Then she says, that guy must be a real jerk.
A jerk is an informal way of calling someone a very stupid or bad person.
Saul says, take it easy, meaning calm down, don't be so excited.
Maybe this man was just panicked.
To be panicked means that you are afraid, that you are very anxious, you don't know what to do.
You often do the wrong thing when you panic.
Saul says it's probably his first offense, meaning it's probably the first time that this person has had a problem, has broken the law.
He says maybe he's young and just learning how to drive.
Then she says hey why are you defending the driver?
To defend someone means to do something or say something that protects the other person.
To say the other person is not guilty.
They're innocent.
Saul says, well, Flora says, you know the person driving the car, don't you?
She thinks Saul knows who the driver is, the name of the driver.
Flora says, you're not an innocent bystander.
A bystander is someone who just happens to be somewhere and see something that has happened.
It's a person who did not do anything wrong, but they usually saw someone and who did do something wrong or were in the same place as the person who did something wrong.
Innocent is the opposite of guilty, meaning you didn't do anything wrong.
But Flora doesn't think Saul is an innocent bystander.
She says you're trying to talk me out of calling the police.
To talk someone out of something means to convince or persuade another person not to do something, to make them change their mind about doing something.
The parents tried to talk their daughter out of getting a tattoo.
They tried to convince her not to put ink permanently on her skin.
Something you should never do for your boyfriend or girlfriend, because someday, perhaps they will not be your boyfriend or girlfriend any longer.
I'm not speaking from personal experience, mind you.
Well, Flora says that Saul is trying to talk her out of calling the police on.
Saul says well, I have this nephew who sometimes borrows my car and he drives too fast.
He did hit your car, but it's a simple fender bender.
So Saul's nephew, which is the son of his sister or brother, borrowed Saul's car and hit Flora's car.
He was the person who caused the accident.
But Saul says it's not a serious accident.
It's a fender bender, a minor car accident, not serious.
Flora says, fender bender?
My car is totaled.
I should explain that the fender is the front part of your car.
That usually is what hits another car first.
To bend means to take something that is straight and make it so that it is not straight.
So a fender bender would be taking your fender, which is straight, and making it so that it isn't straight because you hit it.
Flora says, fender bender?
My car is totaled.
Saul says, I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks.
If you don't call the police, I'll make sure it's repaired.
I will do what is necessary to repair it.
It will be as good as new.
As good as new means just like new, as if the damage had never happened.
Flora says, are you trying to pull a fast one on me?
To pull a fast one on someone means to trick them, to fool them, to make them believe something else.
Saul says, No, not at all.
I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you.
I'll get your car fixed, repaired, right after or immediately after I wring my nephew's neck.
To wring W-R-I-N-G someone's neck literally means to choke or strangle someone by putting your hands around their neck.
The neck is, of course, what connects your head to the rest of your body.
To wring someone's neck would mean basically to kill them.
Now, of course, Saul isn't going to kill or strangle his nephew even if he wants to.
It's a phrase we use to emphasize our anger at someone, to show how mad we are.
If I find the person who hit my car, I'll wring his neck.
Or a wife might say, if my husband doesn't come back in an hour when he does, I'll wring his neck.
You see, it's something you would not use about a boss or in a formal situation.
It's used to express a great deal of anger.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What happened to my car?
I saw it happen.
A car came around the corner and hit the back of your car.
Didn't the driver stop No, it was hit and run.
The driver just took off.
He was driving like a bat out of hell.
It looks like he caused some damage.
Some damage?
My car is totaled.
I hope whoever it was gets his license revoked.
Better yet, I hope the judge throws the book at him and he does jail time.
But how are the police going to catch someone who leaves the scene of the crime like this?
That guy must be a real jerk.
Take it easy.
Maybe he just panicked.
It's probably his first offense.
Maybe he's young and just learning how to drive.
Maybe.
Hey, why are you defending the driver?
Well... You know the person driving the car, don't you?
You're not an innocent bystander.
You're trying to talk me out of calling the police.
Well, I have this nephew who sometimes borrows my car and he drives too fast.
He did hit your car, but it's a simple fender bender.
Fender bender?
My car is totaled.
I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks.
If you don't call the police, I'll make sure it's repaired.
It'll be as good as new.
Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?
No, not at all.
I'll get your car fixed right after I wring my nephew's neck.
I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you.
This script was, in fact, written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you? on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
