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2007年ESL之交通出行 13 A Traffic Jam

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    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

 

 

13 A Traffic Jam

GLOSSARY1

traffic jam – when there are so many cars on a road that they move very slowly,or cannot move at all* There are traffic jams every morning on many of the freeways in Los Angeles.

congested – with many cars that are moving very slowly, without very muchroom between cars* Main Street is congested at this time of day.  Let’s drive on a different road.

bridge – a part of a road that is built over water or another road so that cars orpeople can cross over* The city of Eugene is building a new bridge over the Willamette River.

to have no choice but to… – to be forced to do something; to have no otheroption but…; to have no choice to do anything except…* We were lost in the forest, very hungry and tired, but we had no choice but tocontinue walking to try to get home.

bumper-to-bumper – with very little space between cars, so that their “bumpers”

(the long pieces of metal on the front and back of a car) are almost touching3* When I’m driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I have to pay attention because ifthe car in front of me stops suddenly, I’ll have to stop very quickly, too.

shoulder – the side of a road, where cars should not drive; the side of the road,where cars can stop if there is an emergency* Too many people throw their garbage onto the road’s shoulder.

backup – the area where cars are moving slowly or not at all because there is too much traffic* We heard on the radio that there’s a big backup on the freeway, so we’re goingto wait a few hours before starting to drive home.

to bypass4 – to go around something* You can bypass the construction if you drive down Lincoln Street.

stalled5 car – a car that has stopped working while it is on the road* The other cars are honking6 because there’s a stalled car in the intersection7 andit’s blocking traffic.

rubbernecker – a person who slows down his or her car to look out the windowand see an accident, making the cars behind it slow down* Let’s not be rubberneckers!  When we pass that accident, let’s look straightahead and continue driving at a normal speed.

road construction – the process of fixing a road, usually requiring that all or partof the road be closed temporarily* There’s a lot of road construction on Highway 58, because the government is making it wider.

lane8 – the space between painted lines on the road that is meant for one line ofcars* Slower cars should be in the right-hand lane, and faster cars should be in theleft-hand lane.

stop-and-go traffic – cars that move a short distance, then stop, then moveanother short distance, then stop, and so on* In the stop-and-go traffic, it took me 50 minutes to get home, when it usually takes only 15 minutes.

at my wit2’s end – very frustrated9; desperate; feeling like one will go crazy* After spending more than eight hours in a classroom with 30 noisy six-yearolds, I was at my wit’s end!

recklessly10 – not carefully; without being cautious11; dangerously* Timothy was in a car accident because he was driving recklessly.

to make up for lost time – to do something quickly because one was delayedand wasn’t able to do it earlier* The team had to work on some other things last week, so now it’s making up forlost time, staying at the office very late to finish the project.

to stand (someone) up – to not meet someone when one is supposed to,especially if the two people arranged a romantic date* Tanya waited at the restaurant for 30 minutes before she realized that Dorianhad stood her up.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Why was there a traffic jam?

a)  Because the bypass was closed.

b)  Because people were fixing the road.

c)  Because the rubberneckers had an accident.

2.  Why was the man in the story at his wit’s end?

a)  Because he was frustrated about the slow traffic.

b)  Because he was at the end of Wit Road.

c)  Because he wanted to take the bridge downtown.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

bridgeThe word “bridge,” in this podcast, means a part of a road that is built so that cars or people can cross over water or another road: “Everyone has to cross a bridgeto get into Manhattan.”  “Bridge” is also a card game: “Do you want to come overfor a game of bridge tonight?”  Another meaning of “bridge” is something thatconnects two things: “Junior high school is a bridge between elementary schooland high school.”  As a verb, “to bridge” means to build a bridge: “Let’s use this log12 to bridge the stream.”  The phrase “to bridge the gap13 between (something orsomeone)” means to make the difference between two things or people becomesmaller: “The Internet is bridging the gap between people who traditionally hadaccess to information and those who didn’t.”

shoulderIn this podcast, the word “shoulder” means the side of a road, where cars shouldn’t drive: “When there isn’t a bicycle lane, cyclists usually ride on theshoulder.”  A “shoulder” is also the part of one’s body at the top of one’s arm andnext to one’s neck: “Casey is carrying a heavy backpack on his shoulders.” As averb, “to shoulder (something)” means to accept doing something even thoughit’s difficult: “When her Mom died, Beth shouldered the responsibility of takingcare of her younger brothers and sisters.”  Sometimes people offer a friend “ashoulder to cry on,” meaning that he or she feels sympathetic14 toward15 anotherperson and is willing to listen to him or her talk about a problem.

CULTURE NOTELarge U.S. cities have many traffic jams, especially during “rush hour,” whenthere are more cars than usual on the road because people are driving to andfrom work.  Some cities are trying to “address” (find solutions for) these problems by building more and bigger roads, but this is expensive.  Other cities are tryingto “reduce” (decrease) traffic by using toll16 roads, carpool lanes17, and/or mass transit18.

“Toll roads” are roads where drivers must pay a “toll” (an amount of money paidto do something) to drive on them.  These tolls19 may be a few dollars, so poorerdrivers often decide to use a different road.  This means that there are fewer carson the toll roads, and therefore fewer traffic jams.

Some cities want people to “carpool,” or share their cars with other people whoare going to the same place.  In these cities, people who carpool by having acertain number of people in their car are allowed to use “carpool lanes.” Because few people carpool, the carpool lanes have fewer cars than the regularlanes do, so there are fewer traffic jams and these people can drive more quickly. Cars that use the carpool lanes without having enough people in the car can bestopped by the police and forced to pay a “fine” (an amount of money paid as apunishment).

Finally, other cities are trying to improve their “mass transit” systems of busses,trains, and subways that move people around a city.  Most U.S. cities do nothave good mass transit systems.  People have to wait a long time for busses,and busses go to only a few places in a city.  But cities are trying to find themoney to make their mass transit systems better.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – b; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 287: A Traffic Jam.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode21 287.  I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com to download a Learning22 Guide forthis episode.

This episode is called “A Traffic Jam.”  It’s a story about someone who gets onthe road to drive, and finds that there are many other cars there that are slowingtraffic down.  Let’s get started.

[start of story]

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 toreach 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 theshoulder to get around the backup.  But as it turns out, there wasn’t any way tobypass it because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled car or somerubberneckers.  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 sittingat 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 littlerecklessly, but I had to make up for lost time.  I really liked this girl.  The last thingI wanted was to make her think that I stood her up! [end of story]

Our story is called “A Traffic Jam” (jam).  A “traffic jam” is when you have toomany cars on a road, and that causes them to move very slowly or not move atall.  So, if you have too much traffic – too many cars – you have a “traffic jam.” Here in Los Angeles, we have lots of traffic jams almost every day.

This person is going to a restaurant, in our story, to meet his date for dinner, andhe hits a traffic jam.  Notice the verb “to hit” is used with this expression.  “I hit atraffic jam,” that means I was driving, and then suddenly, the traffic – the cars –started moving slowly – I was in a “traffic jam.”

He says that he saw the road was congested.  “To be congested” (congested) is similar to a “traffic jam,” when you have many cars that are moving very slowly. Usually, there is not a lot of space – a lot of room in between the cars.  Otherthings can be “congested” as well.  If a person says, “I’m feeling a littlecongested,” they mean that they have a cold or something that makes it difficultfor them to breathe.  Here, “congested” refers to the cars.

The person in our story has to take a bridge to reach downtown.  A “bridge” is apart of the road that is built over another road or water, so that people can goacross, from one side to the other.  If you have a river, you will usually have abridge23 so you can go from one side to the other – without swimming, that is!

The person says here that he had no choice but to stay on the road.  Theexpression “to have no choice but to do something” means that you are forced todo something.  You have no other option; no other choice to do anything exceptwhatever it is that you have to do.  In this case, the person has to stay on theroad he is on because he has to take the bridge, and that is the only way to getto downtown.

He describes the traffic as being “bumper-to-bumper.”  The “bumper” (bumper) isthe front and back of your car.  There are long pieces of metal, usually, at thefront and the back, so that if you have an accident – if someone hits you – thebumper will help prevent them from ruining your car.  It depends on how hardthey hit you, of course.  The expression “bumper-to-bumper” means that the cars are very close to each other; they’re going very slowly, almost touching.  Again,this is because of the traffic jam.

He says in our story that one crazy driver, which would be everyone in Los Angeles, tried to drive on the shoulder to get around the backup.  The “shoulder”

of a road is the side of the road, usually on a freeway or highway.  And it is aplace where you can stop your car if you have an emergency.  We call that the“shoulder.”  “Shoulder” has a couple of other meanings in English; take a look atour Learning Guide for further explanation of that, as well as the word “bridge,”

which I used earlier.

The driver – the crazy driver – is driving on the shoulder to get around thebackup.  “Backup” here is the area where the cars are moving slowly or not at all because there’s too much traffic.  It’s really just another word, here, for the traffic jam – the congestion24 – the bumper-to-bumper cars; all of these refer to the samething.  But, there wasn’t any way to bypass the traffic.  To “bypass” (bypass)means to go around something. There was no way to bypass the traffic because the backup wasn’t due to anaccident, a stalled car or some rubberneckers.  When we say a car is “stalled”

(stalled) we mean that it has stopped working, but it is still on the road or on thefreeway.  So, a car that suddenly stops moving forward – stops working – thatwould be a “stalled” car.  Usually, there is some problem with the “motor,” or theengine – unless you forgot to put gasoline25 in the car, and then you would beconsidered, hmm, not very intelligent!

Back to our story: One of the other things that can cause a traffic jam is rubberneckers.  This is an interesting term; a “rubbernecker” (all one word –rubbernecker) is a person who slows down his car to look out the window to seean accident.  This, of course, causes all of the other cars behind him to movemore slowly.  So, a “rubbernecker” is a person who, when they get close to anaccident, slows down and turns to look at it.  This is very common here inSouthern California, and it is a problem because people, of course, are makingthe situation worse by stopping and looking at it.  It’s called a “rubbernecker”

because people are turning or bending their necks, and rubber is a very flexiblematerial, so it is as if you had a neck of rubber because you’re turning it, in this case.

Unfortunately, the real problem was road construction.  “Road construction” is when the government is fixing the road, usually causing part of the road to beclosed.  There was only one lane (lane) open.  A “lane” is the space on the roadbetween the painted lines that is supposed to tell you where one line of cars should be driving.  So in Los Angeles, in our freeways, we have five, six,sometimes eight lanes of cars.  These are like eight lines of cars divided by whitelines on the road – painted on the road.  These are lanes.  You can have lanes on the freeway; you can have lanes just on a regular street.

Well, after 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, the person in our story was at his wit’s end.  “Stop-and-go traffic” is the same as “bumper-to-bumper traffic” –congested traffic.  This is when cars can go forward and then they have to stop,and then they go forward and then they have to stop.  The person is at their wit’s (wit’s) end.  “To be at your wit’s end” is to be very frustrated, to be desperate,feeling like you are going to go crazy.  This is how I feel when I am behind arubbernecker!

The date of the man in the story – the woman – is waiting for him at a restaurant,and he does not have her cell phone number.  Not very smart! Well finally, he gets past the road construction, and he had to drive a littlerecklessly.  “To drive recklessly” (recklessly) means not carefully or dangerously – “recklessly.”  He had to make up, he says, “for lost time.”  “To make up for losttime” means to do something quickly – something very fast – because youweren’t able to do it earlier.  In this case, he has to drive quickly because hecouldn’t drive fast before, when he was in the traffic jam.

He says at the end of the story, “The last thing I wanted was to make her” – my date – “think that I stood her up!”  “To stand someone up” means to make anappointment or a date with someone, and then not go to that appointment andnot call them and tell them that you are not going.  It’s, of course, a very impolite,rude thing to do, to stand someone up.

Now let’s listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

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 toreach 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 theshoulder to get around the backup.  But as it turns out, there wasn’t any way tobypass it because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled car or somerubberneckers.  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 sittingat 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 littlerecklessly, but I had to make up for lost time.  I really liked this girl.  The last thingI wanted was to make her think that I stood her up! [end of story]

The script20 for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.  Thanks for listening.  We'll seeyou next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright26 2007.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 glossary of7xy     
n.注释词表;术语汇编
参考例句:
  • The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
  • For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便,我们在附录中也提供了术语表。
2 wit TMaz3     
n.智力,才智,智能
参考例句:
  • Our teacher is full of wit when he has a lesson. 我们的老师只要讲课就很风趣。
  • He is a man of many words but of little wit.他爱说话,但头脑简单。
3 touching sg6zQ9     
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
参考例句:
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
4 bypass ASJyQ     
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。
5 stalled fb9bf0846e12c893fc7f66803864fe84     
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》
6 honking 69e32168087f0fd692f761e62a361acf     
v.(使)发出雁叫似的声音,鸣(喇叭),按(喇叭)( honk的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停,喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Flocks of honking geese flew past. 雁群嗷嗷地飞过。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
7 intersection w54xV     
n.交集,十字路口,交叉点;[计算机] 交集
参考例句:
  • There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
  • Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。
8 lane i2kxH     
n.(乡间)小路(巷);车(跑,泳)道;航道
参考例句:
  • There is a shop at the end of this lane.这条胡同的顶头有一家商店。
  • The champion is running in lane five.冠军跑在第五跑道上。
9 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 recklessly Dk0zIh     
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。
11 cautious dUHyv     
adj.十分小心的,谨慎的
参考例句:
  • We should not only be bold,but also be cautious.我们不仅要大胆,而且要谨慎。
  • He was cautious about his work.他对工作非常谨慎。
12 log P0BxH     
n.记录,圆木,日志;v.伐木,切,航行
参考例句:
  • They log for a living.他们以伐木为生。
  • And then what do you do with that log?然后你要拿那些记录做什么呢?
13 gap FhkxL     
n.缺口;间隔;差距;不足,缺陷
参考例句:
  • We must see that there is no gap in our defence.我们必须确保我们的防御没有漏洞。
  • There is a gap of five miles between towns.镇与镇之间相隔五英里。
14 sympathetic 6gxyt     
adj.有同情心的;表示好感或赞同的
参考例句:
  • He is a sympathetic person.他是一个有同情心的人。
  • They were quite sympathetic to our proposals.他们很赞同我们的建议。
15 toward on6we     
prep.对于,关于,接近,将近,向,朝
参考例句:
  • Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
  • Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了,并跑了过去。
16 toll LJpzo     
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
参考例句:
  • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
  • The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
17 lanes 36373506bd49f75dcff89d28c2374128     
n.小路( lane的名词复数 );车道;航道;分道
参考例句:
  • A headless rider haunts the country lanes. 一个无头骑士常出没于乡间的小路上。
  • He made a kamikaze run across three lanes of traffic. 他不要命地冲过了三条车道。
18 transit MglzVT     
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过
参考例句:
  • His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
  • The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。
19 tolls 688e46effdf049725c7b7ccff16b14f3     
(缓慢而有规律的)钟声( toll的名词复数 ); 通行费; 损耗; (战争、灾难等造成的)毁坏
参考例句:
  • A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
  • The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。
20 script 2Z4x4     
n.剧本,广播稿;文字体系;笔迹,手迹
参考例句:
  • It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
  • The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。
21 episode Titzy     
n.(作品的一段)情节,插曲,系列事件中之一
参考例句:
  • The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
  • This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。
22 learning wpSzFe     
n.学问,学识,学习;动词learn的现在分词
参考例句:
  • When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时,常会从车上掉下来。
  • Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。
23 abridge XIUyG     
v.删减,删节,节略,缩短
参考例句:
  • They are going to abridge that dictionary.他们将要精简那本字典。
  • He decided to abridge his stay here after he received a letter from home.他接到家信后决定缩短在这里的逗留时间。
24 congestion pYmy3     
n.阻塞,消化不良
参考例句:
  • The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
  • Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。
25 gasoline jhwxW     
n.(美)汽油
参考例句:
  • This car runs 5 miles on a gallon of gasoline.这部汽车一加仑汽油可以行驶五英里。
  • There is still some gasoline left in the tank.油箱里还剩下一些汽油。
26 copyright XZRyV     
n.版权,著作权
参考例句:
  • He retained the copyright of his book.他保留此书的著作权。
  • This company has a proprietorship of the copyright.这家公司拥有版权所有权。
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TAG标签:   ESL英语  ESL交通出行  交通出行
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