General Listening Quiz

What are some situations in which a vehicle is towed away in your area?

“bail out” = assist someone out of a difficult, often financial, situation
“If your car is towed away, don’t expect me to bail you out.”

“be in a jam” = be in a difficult situation
“We were in a real jam yesterday when our car was towed away, and we had to get home without a ride.”

Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the recording:

• tow (away) (verb): remove a vehicle
  – Several cars were towed away after the terrible accident.
• zone (noun; also verb): an area set aside for a specific purpose from other surrounding areas
  – You can’t park here because it is a construction zone, and workers need to keep the sides of the road clear of vehicles.
• uphold (verb): defend (a law or policy)
  – The police need to uphold these laws to preserve the peace.
• shelter (noun): a building designed to provide a place to live
  – Unfortunately, my friend had no place to live, so his car served as shelter for about a month.
• ludicrous (adjective): unreasonable or without good sense
  – The fine for parking illegally was so ludicrous that my roommate decided to fight it in court.

What are the most common traffic violations in your country and what are the penalties in each case? Do you think that there are more or fewer traffic problems in your country than any other country you have visited?

Every country has pride in its reputation, but it can be said that the driving habits of people around the world vary quite a bit. Use the internet to find statistics or other data that tries to identify the worst driving conditions (and drivers) around the world. Keep in mind that people’s stories about traveling overseas are sometimes not as credible as statistics or other data.