Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1106, Getting a Flat Tire.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1106.
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 driving your car and getting a flat tire.
Let's get started.
What is that thumping noise?
I don't hear anything.
I think you have a flat tire.
The left rear tire has a slow leak, but I just inflated it the last time I was at the gas station, so I'm sure it's fine.
No, really.
I think you need to pull off to the side of the road.
We're on a busy freeway, but if you insist... Wow, your tire is definitely flat.
See how the tire is completely worn out with hardly any tread left?
Yeah, well, I've been meaning to get a new one.
Now what?
We need to change it.
Let's see if you have a jack and a spare tire.
I think they're in the trunk, but I don't think I could do it myself.
Right.
I'll change the tire.
Do you have a wrench so I can get the lug nuts off?
Put your hazard lights on and I'll get to work.
At least your rim doesn't look bent.
I'm glad to hear that.
What should I do?
Bone up on basic car maintenance?
This episode is all about getting a flat tire, T-I-R-E.
A flat tire is when you have a tire that no longer has any air in it, usually because there's a small hole in the tire.
A tire, I guess I should explain, is what goes around the wheels of your car.
Most cars have four wheels, and around the wheels go tires.
The tires usually have air in them.
If the tires don't have any air, well then, the car will not move very easily.
In our dialogue, Haloladin says to Manisa, What is that thumping noise?
Thumping T-H-U-M-P-I-N-G is an adjective used to describe a heavy, loud noise, usually a sound made by something heavy hitting the ground or something else.
In this case, it's the sound of rubber hitting the road, with a flat tire.
Manisa says, I don't hear anything.
Haloladin says, I think you have a flat tire.
Manisa says the left rear tire has a slow leak, but I just inflated it the last time I was at the gas station, so I'm sure it's fine.
Manisa doesn't think she has a problem at all.
She does say that the left rear tire has a slow leak.
A car has front tires in the well logically front of the car, as well as rear tires in the rear or back of the car.
There's a tire on the left and the right side of both the front and the rear of the car.
So the left rear tire would be the tire in the back of the car on the left-hand side.
Minisa says that the tire in the left rear has a slow leak, L-E-A-K.
A leak is when you have a small hole in something that has either air or liquid in it.
That allows the air or liquid to escape, to go out of the container.
If a tire has a slow leak, as Manisha describes it, it means that air is slowly escaping from the tire, but not so fast that the tire becomes flat.
Manisa says she just inflated the tire the last time she was at the gas station.
To inflate, I-N-F-L-A-T-E, in this case means to put air into something.
If your tire is flat, you have to inflate it.
You have to put more air into it.
We might also say blow up the tire.
A gas station is a place where you buy gasoline for your car.
Typically gas stations also have air pumps, which are machines that allow you to inflate a tire more.
However, Haloladeen says, no, really, I think you need to pull off to the side of the road.
To pull off to the side of the road means to take your car and park it along the side of a road or a street, so that you are not actually on the main part of the road or street.
Manisa says, we're on a busy freeway, but if you insist.
Manisa is pointing out that they're on a freeway, which is a special road, where people drive fast, at least if they can.
She says but if you insist, meaning if you absolutely think I must pull off to the side of the road, then I will.
At this point, the two of them get out of the car to take a look at the tire.
And Haloladeen says, Wow, your tire is definitely flat.
See how the tire is completely worn out with hardly any tread left?
To be worn, W-O-R-N, out, means to be... used so completely that you can no longer use it.
Something that is worn out has to be replaced.
It is no longer usable.
Manisa's tire hardly has any tread, T-R-E-A-D, left on it.
The tread of a tire is the thick rubber part that actually holds holds onto or grips the road.
If you look at a tire, you can see lines in the rubber of the tire or the material the tire is made of.
That's the tread.
If you don't see any lines, if the tire is basically smooth, we would say that the tire is bald B-A-L-D.
And you don't want to drive with tires that are bald.
That can be dangerous because you won't be able to stop easily or quickly if you need to.
Manisa says yeah well, I've been meaning to get a new one, meaning she had been planning on getting a new tire.
Then she asks, now what?
Meaning, what do we do now?
Alola Dean says, we need to change it, meaning to put a new tire on or a different tire on.
Let's see if you have a jack and a spare tire.
Most cars have a spare S-P-A-R-E tire, which is an extra tire usually kept in the back of the car, in the car's trunk.
That can be used if you get a flat tire.
A jack J-A-C-K is a small tool that is used to lift the car up so you can take one of the tires off and put a new one on.
We call it a spare tire but it's really a spare wheel and tire.
The rubber tire goes around the metal wheel.
Manisa says, I think they're in the trunk, meaning the jack and the spare tire are in the trunk.
But I don't think I could do it myself.
A trunk, T-R-U-N-K, is the back part of a car used for storing things.
It's not a place where you could actually sit.
Well, you could, I suppose, but it wouldn't be very comfortable.
Manisa says, I don't think I could do it myself.
Now, Haloladin follows this statement by sighing, as though he doesn't really want to do it either.
I guess he's not a very nice guy, huh?
Anyway, he says, I'll change the tiger.
Do you have a wrench so I can get the lug nuts off?
A wrench W-R-E-N-C-H is a metal tool that is used to turn small pieces of metal called nuts, that are used to hold, in this case, the tire, onto the car.
A lug, L-U-G, nut is what we call the nuts that are used to hold wheels onto the car.
Manisa says, I have some basic tools in the trunk too, I think.
Haloladeen says, put your hazard lights on and I'll get to work.
Your hazard H-A-Z-A-R-D lights are lights on your car that go on and off, that we would say flash on and off to warn other drivers that you are driving, parked or that there's some sort of problem with your car.
We're guessing that this is Manisa's friend and not boyfriend or husband.
Because if it were a boyfriend or a husband and he didn't seem very enthusiastic about helping his girlfriend or wife, he probably wouldn't have a girlfriend or wife for much longer.
Anyway...
In this case, Haloladin says, at least your rim doesn't look bent.
The rim, R-I-M, is the edge of the wheel.
It's the part of the wheel that the tire goes around.
If something is bent, B-E-N-T, it has an angle or a curve in it where it shouldn't.
If your wheel is damaged, if you hit it, for example, against the side of the road, against a curb or a rock, you could bend the rim in such a way that you damage it.
The rim should go around in a circle, and if there's any break in that circle, then we would say the rim is bent.
It isn't in the correct shape.
Manisa says, I'm glad to hear that, meaning I'm glad to hear that the rim of the wheel is not bent.
What should I do, she asks.
Haloladeen says, bone up on basic car maintenance.
To bone, B-O-N-E, up on something, means to study something else.
For a short period of time to try to learn something quickly.
What Haloladin is saying is that Manisa needs to learn how to change a tire so that she doesn't rely on other people, namely him, to do it.
I think you need a new friend, Manisa.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What is that thumping noise?
I don't hear anything.
I think you have a flat tire.
The left rear tire has a slow leak, but I just inflated it the last time I was at the gas station, so I'm sure it's fine.
No, really, I think you need to pull off to the side of the road.
We're on a busy freeway, but if you insist... Wow, your tire is definitely flat.
See how the tire is completely worn out with hardly any tread left?
Yeah, well, I've been meaning to get a new one.
Now what?
We need to change it.
Let's see if you have a jack and a spare tire.
I think they're in the trunk, but I don't think I could do it myself.
Right.
I'll change the tire.
Do you have a wrench so I can get the lug nuts off?
I have some basic tools in the trunk too, I think.
Put your hazard lights on and I'll get to work.
At least your rim doesn't look bent.
I'm glad to hear that.
What should I do?
Bone up on basic car maintenance?
If you need to bone up on your English, there's no better way than listening to the wonderful dialogues written by the wonderful scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
