Episode 0132

Hello English learners, welcome back to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine and today we're talking about being on the road.

Yeah, we're going to be on the road, but we're going to encounter a little bit of a car problems.

Oh yeah. I think it's happened to everyone. You're on the road or maybe you're coming back from work. You get a flat tire or something happens to your car, right?

And it's always when you're in a rush.

And most of the time it's raining.

Yeah. Or snowing. So all of the circumstances definitely well, they don't help, let's just say.

All right, so before we listen to this dialogue, let's take a look at some of the uh the words in today's vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, so we're going to take a look at two words. Um they're kind of strange uh I don't know, kind of difficult to understand, so that's what we're going to explain them.

Um the first one is spew, to spew.

It's a verb, okay? To to spew, um well, what can spew? A volcano can spew.

Exactly.

An engine can spew, a person can spew.

Yeah, that's not very nice.

No. So basically it's to like expel or to shoot out, shoot out from uh your mouth or something, liquid. So in the case of a person, right?

So if a person spews, it means a person throws up. But it's usually very forceful. All right, it's very messy. Uh a volcano can spew lava.

Exactly. So a volcano is spewing lava.

Now, uh for the next word that we have, it's um it's an informal way of saying that something is broken.

Because it's busted.

It's busted. My DVD player is busted.

Man, my phone is busted.

Mhm. So it's an informal way, very popular, very common I would say uh to describe that something is not working. I don't think many people actually say, well, it's broken or it's damaged.

Yeah, they're pretty pretty much mixed, I think, but you you will definitely hear busted if you're talking to native English speakers.

Or even like for example your arm, oh, he's got a busted arm.

Exactly. So busted.

All right, so let's listen to our dialogue for the first time. Let's see what's going on with the this car trouble and then we'll come back and explain something.

Howdy, nice car. What seems to be the problem?

Luckily, I managed to start it up and drive it here.

What do you think it is?

Not sure yet.

How about you pop the hood and we can take a look.

Hmm. Doesn't look good.

Well, missy, the white smoke that you saw esteem from the radiator. You overheated your engine, so now the pistons are busted and so is your transmission.

You should have called us and we could have told you over here when your car died.

I'm afraid a bit more than that. We need to order the spare parts, take apart your electrical system, fuel pump, and engine, and then put it back together again.

You're going to have to leave it here for at least two weeks.

So if I were the mechanic, I would not be very happy to be dealing with someone like this girl.

I think it's a, well, maybe it's a little bit stereotypical that we put it as a, as a girl because guys and girls, so many people don't know anything about cars or mechanics, right?

And in the states, there's a lot of female mechanics too. So it's, you know, it's mixed.

Yeah, yeah. Uh but definitely it's a, it's something that happens all the time and probably the mechanic will overcharge her as well because apparently she doesn't know what she's doing.

And that's one of the reasons we want to give you the vocabulary to deal with these situations. So let's look at some of those car words in today's language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

All right, so we're going to take a look at very specific words related to cars and and the engines and everything. So, um let's start with the first one.

Radiator.

Radiator.

All right, so the radiator of the car.

So a radiator is something that you normally find in the front of the car near the engine. It usually gets very, very hot, right?

Yeah.

So one of the biggest issues is radiators getting too hot because there's no way to cool them down.

Mhm. So if you live in a place that's very hot, the radiator keeps your engine cool, because it has water in it. So, if it overheats or maybe you didn't put enough water in there and it'll start spewing steam like in this dialogue.

And if you have a problem with your radiator, you could actually do a lot of damage to your engine, which is why this is important.

Exactly, and that's what happened in this dialogue. So, a radiator. Now, because the radiator wasn't working well, it overheated the engine and he said they had some busted pistons.

So, broken pistons. Pistons are important because they're kind of like valves that go up and down.

Right. So, inside your engine, you have mini explosions and the pistons move up and down and that's what actually moves your car.

Right. And so pistons in general are things in mechanics, so like a trumpet has pistons, things that go up and down and that allow for the flow of air.

Air or something like that. Very good. So that's a piston.

And well, another very common mechanic term is the transmission.

All right, so the transmission, what happens if your transmission dies? Can you still drive?

You basically can't move or maybe you only have one gear or two gears.

All right, so think about transmission as coming from the word to transmit. That means to transfer.

Right. So this is the part of the car that transfers energy or the power to actually move the car.

Mhm. So the transmission.

And we've got the mechanic who says, well, we've got to order you some spare parts. So first, let's look at the word spare. What's another word for spare?

Uh additional, maybe extra.

Extra.

Right. So spare means extra. Parts are, well, pieces. So he's talking about ordering a new transmission, new pistons, things to replace the broken things.

Mhm. Spare parts. So this is where you go to the mechanic to get some spare parts and get them installed.

Well, yeah, so spare parts. And the last word that we're going to take a look at is uh a fuel pump.

Okay, so a pump is uh you could have a bike pump.

A water pump.

Water pump. So these are something, these are some things that we use very, very often, but a fuel pump is something that allows gas, gasoline to get into your engine.

Mhm. So it's basically a device that pushes gasoline into the engine, so you can start. And that's the same thing with the water pump, it it's a device that pushes water.

Or an air pump, something that pushes air into your tires and your bicycle.

Exactly. So a fuel pump, water pump, et cetera.

All right, so uh now that we've taken a look at all of these uh great words, uh let's move on to a couple of phrases in fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

All right, these are phrases that you hear sometimes when you're talking about electronics, but in today's lesson, we're also talking about specific car phrases, so you're going to hear these all the time at the mechanics.

Right. And the first one is the car suddenly died on me.

All right, to die on. So we keep these two words together, die on. Oh man, so while you were driving, your car died. It stopped moving.

Mhm. So that means that it it doesn't work anymore. And it's not only for cars, right? You can say my MP3 player died on me today.

Exactly. And what it means is it's not like you left it and you forgot about it and you tried it again and it didn't work. It means while you're using it, it dies. It doesn't work.

Exactly. Mhm. So I think this phrase is a is a good one to give some other examples. So let's listen.

Example one.

My CD player died on me and I had to listen to the radio.

Example two.

Example three.

And so this next one is a phrase you hear the first thing you hear maybe when you tell someone you have a car problem.

Right, you tell him to pop the hood.

Or let's pop the hood.

So this means let's open the front part of the car, the hood to look at the engine, transmission, all those parts.

Exactly. So you can say open the hood, but but the most common one is pop the hood.

So the reason is because there's a little spring and you have to pull inside the car and it goes pop and there's a little there's a little jump, the hood jumps. So it's literally popping.

Right. Or you can also say the trunk, right? The back part of the car.

Hey, can you pop the trunk for me? I've got to put some stuff inside.

Exactly. So pop the hood, pop the trunk.

And uh next we've got this this girl actually who's talking about her car because she just got this car. So what's another way to say it's a new car?

It's brand new.

Is that more new than new?

It's like newer, newer than new.

All right, so brand you think about brands like Ford or uh Gucci, these are brands, but brand new means she maybe got it like today.

Mhm. So it's brand new. It's very, very new.

All right, so brand new. And uh well, the last phrase that we have for you today is uh to take apart something.

All right, so this is very popular with young children, like they like to take things apart so they can find out how they work, but uh to take apart means to take all the pieces and to pull them out.

Mhm. Yeah, I used to do that a lot when I was a kid. I used to take apart any any electronic device to kind of see how it works and then I would try to put it back together again.

So the problem is always putting them back together again, right?

Exactly. So you can take it apart, but then you put it back together and there's always a screw missing or a screw that's extra or two or three parts.

Not a good sign.

All right, so um we've taken a look at a lot of great words and phrases, so let's listen to this dialogue for the last time.

Howdy, nice car. What seems to be the problem?

What do you think it is?

Not sure yet. How about you pop the hood and we can take a look.

Hmm. Doesn't look good.

Well, missy, the white smoke that you saw esteem from the radiator. You overheated your engine, so now the pistons are busted and so is your transmission.

You should have called us and we could have told you over here when your car died.

I'm afraid a bit more than that. We need to order the spare parts, take apart your electrical system, fuel pump, and engine, and then put it back together again.

You're going to have to leave it here for at least two weeks.

All right, so car travel, have you ever had like any very serious car travel or like something weird happened to your car?

Actually, um the week before I decided to leave Chicago, I had this 1991 Honda Civic hatchback. So only two doors.

And I didn't know what to do. So I'm calling people and then all of a sudden, I see someone tapping on my window and there's cars everywhere. And it's this guy. And uh and he's like, listen, do you need a hand? I said, yes, so I put the car in neutral, so that there's there's no break. And uh he pushed it to a side road and gave me a ride home.

Yeah, that's that's a good story because usually people are too afraid or maybe a little bit reluctant to to stop and see if you're okay or if you need a ride or something because, you know, you can't really trust people these days.

No, it's just a nice thing to do. If you if you know anything about cars, I mean, Yeah. Or if you can offer someone a lift. I know it it's not terribly safe to ride with strangers, but uh this guy totally helped me out. So.

Nice. All right, well, maybe you guys have some cool or maybe some interesting stories of what's happened with your car or maybe you've helped somebody out. So come to our website at Englishpod.com and let us know.

And of course, if you have any questions about the vocabulary or phrases that you heard today, please ask away. Don't hesitate and uh well, again, we hope to see you on the website.

All right, we'll see you guys there.

Bye.

Bye.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

To flow out of something in a fast and forceful way.

Spew.

The metal casing enclosing a set of gears in a motor vehicle.

Gearbox.

To stop working or running while in use by someone.

Die on.

A tubular acoustic device inserted in the exhaust system that is designed to reduce noise.

Muffler.

Broken.

Busted.

Control mechanism for keeping an automobile at a set speed.

Cruise control.

To remove all the pieces.

Take apart.

To pass after catching up with another vehicle on the road.

Overtake.

Introduces request or suggestion.

How about.

A device that is locked on the wheel of a car by the police to prevent it from moving.

Boot.

Let's try that faster.

Broken.

Busted.

To flow out of something in a fast and forceful way.

Spew.

To remove all the pieces.

Take apart.

Introduces request or suggestion.

How about.

To pass after catching up with another vehicle on the road.

Overtake.

To stop working or running while in use by someone.

Die on.

Control mechanism for keeping an automobile at a set speed.

Cruise control.

A tubular acoustic device inserted in the exhaust system that is designed to reduce noise.

Muffler.

The metal casing enclosing a set of gears in a motor vehicle.

Gearbox.

A device that is locked on the wheel of a car by the police to prevent it from moving.

Boot.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Spew.

Everyone in the village was evacuated when the volcano started spewing lava.

Spew.

After 10 hours of constant interrogation, the suspect finally spewed the truth.

Spew.

Frank had too much to drink and spewed all over the car.

Die on.

My CD player died on me, and I had to listen to the radio.

Die on.

Die on.

I forgot to charge my mobile phone. It's gonna die on me soon.

How about.

How about.

How about.

Busted.

We were playing baseball in the backyard, and I accidentally busted a window.

Busted.

Mike was in a car accident and busted his rib and arm.

Busted.

The cat knocked over my mom's favorite vase, and it busted into a million pieces.

Take apart.

Once I had taken the clock apart, I couldn't fit the bits together again.

Take apart.

Take apart.

This book shows you how to take apart electronic devices and gadgets.