General Listening Quiz

What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveling by bus on a trip over flying or driving?

1. Traveling by bus is safer than traveling by car.
2. Long bus rides are more relaxing than long train rides.
3. Bus tickets are usually a good value for the money.
4. Night buses are a convenient way to save time and money.
5. Buses are too crowded to be enjoyable.
6. It’s easy to make friends while traveling on a bus.
7. Bus travel is better for the environment than air travel.
8. Buses should always provide free Wi-Fi and charging ports.
9. Traveling by bus takes too much time compared to other transport.
10. Bus stations are more stressful than airports.

“hit the road” = start to travel
“It’s getting late. Let’s hit the road before it gets dark. I don’t like driving at night.”

“off the beaten path” = an area that people usually don’t visit
“When the bus stops in the next city, I want to take you to a restaurant off the beaten path. The food is great.”

A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

Do the vocabulary quizzes with the words from the conversation for more practice:

• Mixed-Up Sentence | Gap-fill Exercise | Sentence and Vocabulary Matching

How do most people travel on vacation within your country? Are there reasons why people choose one form of transportation over another? What is the best way to travel if you want to meet new people?

Imagine you want to travel from Los Angeles to New York,and you are interested in seeing as much of the country as possible. Which form of transportation would be best for you: plane, bus, rental car, or train? Use the internet to collect information on cost, convenience, possible routes, and time, for each of these methods from these Web sites or others you might know:

• plane – Orbitz (online travel booking service)
• train – Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
• bus – Greyhound (America’s largest intercity bus service)
• rental car – Enterprise Rent-A-Car or Hertz Rent-A-Car