ESL Podcast 287 – A Traffic Jam

I was on my way to a restaurant to meet my date for dinner when I hit a traffic jam. I saw that the road was congested, but since I had to take the bridge to reach downtown, I had no choice but to stay on that road.

The traffic was bumper-to-bumper. One crazy driver even tried to drive on the shoulder to get around the backup. But as it turns out, there wasn’t any way to bypass¹ it because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled² car or some rubberneckers. It was because of road construction and only one lane was open.

After 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, I was at my wit’s end. My date was sitting at the restaurant waiting for me and I didn’t have her cell phone number. What’s more, I was really hungry.

Finally, I got past the road construction and was on my way again. I drove a little recklessly³, but I had to make up for lost time. I really liked this girl. The last thing I wanted was to make her think that I stood her up!


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 bypass   

n.旁道；分流术；vt.绕过，越过...于不顾

参考例句：

• If we take the bypass we'll avoid the town centre.我们走旁道就能绕过镇中心。
• You cannot bypass this question.你不能回避这个问题。

2 stalled   

失速的

参考例句：

• The post is stalled fast in the ground. 那根柱子牢牢地竖在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The engine stalled suddenly. 发动机突然熄火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 recklessly   

a.不在乎的；不顾后果的

参考例句：

• If you drive as recklessly as that,you'll end in hospital. 要是你开车老是那样鲁莽，总有一天要住进医院。
• He was arrested for driving recklessly. 他因鲁莽开车被捕。