General Listening Quiz

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

1. 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.”

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

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

• Is this seat taken? (adjective): being used or occupied
  – I’m sorry, but this seat is taken. My wife is using the restroom right now, but she’ll be back in a minute.
• break down (verb): stop working
  – The buses always break down on my way to work, so I now drive instead.
• regain (verb): recover something after it is lost
  – My brother almost crashed his car into a tree during the snowstorm, but he regained control of the car at the last second.
• beat (verb): do better than something else
  – I know that taking the bus isn’t always very comfortable and fast, but you sometimes can’t beat the price.
• herd (verb; also a noun): gather animals
  – Our dog herds the sheep very quickly in the fields.
• discover (verb): find
  – You can discover interesting places when you travel the country by bus.
• ranch (noun): a place where people live in the country and raise animals such as horses and cows
  – My father grew up on a large ranch in California, and his family raised a lot of animals. He said it was very hard work.
• head somewhere (verb): go in the direction of a particular place
  – I’m heading to California to visit my family. What about you? Where are you heading on this trip?
• upset (adjective): unhappy or angry
  – Brittany is really upset about the trip. She can’t go because she doesn’t have money to buy a bus ticket.

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