Intro
When you got back from your last
vacation, were you happy about how much money you spent on transportation, or
did busses, trains, and planes cost more than you wanted? It’s expensive
to get around when you’re traveling. One way people spend less
money on the road is by thumbing
a ride.
It’s important to be cautious when
asking strangers to take you somewhere. As a passenger,
you don’t have a lot of control, so you have to judge carefully
before you get in a car. However, the driver likely isn’t a psychopath, and you might meet some really interesting people by hitchhiking.
Why did
Lily hitchhike? And what does Marni think about it? Find out in today’s English
lesson about travel.
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Dialogue
Marni: Lily, you just got back from Europe.
Lily:
Yeah.
Marni: How did you get around? It seems like
you covered a lot of
ground. Did you take trains, busses, fly?
Lily: It
was a little bit of everything. It just depended on where we were. I actually
hitchhiked for the first time while I was there.
Marni:
No!
Lily: Yeah. It was not as scary as I thought it was going
to be. But I was kind of embodying the backpacker stereotype. I had the big backpack on,
and I was there with my friends, and we all had our thumbs out.
Marni: So, you were just thumbing a ride through Europe?
Lily:
Yeah.
Marni: Oh, Lily, you have to be so cautious!
It’s so scary. You didn’t know these people, right?
Lily: Marni, it wasn’t that bad actually. Most people I
have found are good at heart, and as long as you take care of yourself and you
make sure that you don’t put yourself in a bad situation, and you judge the
situation, you can’t really go wrong, I don’t think.
Marni: Really? Because it seems like you can’t really judge
the situation. You don’t know what the driver is thinking. You’re just
the passenger. They could look really normal, and yet, they’re just
a psychopath!
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Discussion
Lily
recently returned from Europe, and she tells Marni that she hitchhiked there
for the first time. Marni sounds really surprised and a little bit upset.
Lily says she enjoyed the adventure of asking strangers for
a ride, and she doesn’t think it’s a scary thing to do. Marni, on the other
hand, is worried about the possibility of getting into a car with a psychopath.
She doesn’t think it’s possible to judge the situation when you don’t know the people. It’s
clear Marni won’t be hitchhiking as a way to get around.
Have you
ever hitchhiked? Do you think it’s a scary or safe way to travel?
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Grammar Point
Zero Conditional
Lily
tells Marni, “As long as you take care of yourself and you make surethat you don’t put yourself in a bad
situation, and you judge the
situation, you can’t really go wrong.” She uses a long zero conditional to talk about
hitchhiking.
The zero conditional is used to talk
about general truths, or things
that are almost always true under certain conditions. For example, it’s pretty
much always true that if it rains,
stuff gets wet. Lily thinks that
it’s pretty much always true that if you’re
careful, hitchhiking is a
good way to get around.
Zero
conditional is easy to form because all the verbs are in present tense. You just use two clauses, one
with If + simple present verb, and
the other with another simple present verb,
as in, “If students miss an exam, the professor fails them.” Or you can reverse the order
of the clauses. You can say, “The professor fails students if they miss an exam.” Sometimes, you can use another word
besides if in one of the
clauses, such as when or, in
Lily’s case, as long as.
Finally,
this form can also be used for giving
instructions about what to do under certain conditions. For
example, “If I’m late for dinner, start eating without me.”
Which
sentence is correct, “If you eat too much sugar, you feel sick,” or, “If you
ate too much sugar, you feel sick”?
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Vocab
passenger n.
Definition
person riding on a plane, on a train, or in a car
Example
All the passengers were quiet during the overnight flight.
Everybody was asleep.
judge v.
Definition
make a decision; decide what is right
Example
I am color blind. I can’t judge what color is blue and what
color is green.
psychopath n.
Definition
crazy person
Example
My mother thinks there are psychopaths living in every
neighborhood.
cover ground v.
Definition
travel a long distance; move quickly
Example
When we drove from California to New York, we covered a lot of
ground every day.
get back v.
Definition
return
Example
James got back from college on December 23. He’ll leave again
right after New Years.
get around v.
Definition
travel from one place to another
Example
I use my bike to get around town on the weekends.
thumb a ride expr.
Definition
hitchhike; point one’s thumb in the air to ask cars for a ride
Example
Have you ever thumbed a ride anywhere?
cautious adj.
Definition
very careful
Example
Be cautious when you go up the back stairs. Some of the steps
are a little loose.
embody v.
Definition
stand for, symbolize
Example
I think Mark embodies the perfect guy.
stranger n.
Definition
unknown person; person with whom one does not have a
relationship
Example
My mother taught me not to talk to strangers.
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