Traffic Tickets

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• plead guilty
• permanent record
• expunge
• learn one's lesson

• highway patrol
• speed
• have a lead foot
• pull over

• cross one's fingers
• middle of nowhere

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Even the most well-behaved citizens occasionally get into trouble with the police over the way they drive. As a result, the highway patrol is probably one of the least popular institutions in the U.S. But the IRS, the agency that collects taxes, is probably still the most unpopular.

There are a lot of different reasons why people get traffic tickets. Some get in trouble for going through red lights and stop signs. Others make illegal turns or other dangerous maneuvers. But you can also get a ticket for making smaller mistakes, like forgetting to signal before you change lanes. Mason has another problem. Listen to him explain to Dale why he’s gotten so many traffic tickets over the years.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Dale

Mason

Dale:  Hey Mason, have you ever gotten a ticket?

Mason:  Yeah, I’ve gotten a few in my day to be honest.

Dale:  Really? What was the infraction?

Mason:  Speeding. I’ve got kind of a lead foot. What can I say?

Dale:  Were you pulled over by the highway patrol or the city cops or…?

Mason:  I’ve pretty much seen them all. The worst one is when you get pulled over by some highway patrol guy ‘cause that means you’re like out in the middle of nowhere. And one time that happened to me and I had to go drive like two hours to this remote circuit court sort of place just to plead guilty. ‘Cause when you do that they reduce the fine.

Dale:  So you did plead guilty, you didn’t even try to get rid of it?

Mason:  No. I mean at that point, I was like twenty miles an hour over, you just…you can’t. There’s no arguing with that.

Dale:  So did it stay on your permanent record at all?

Mason:  I think I had it expunged. That’s the legal term.

Dale:  How long does it usually take for it to be expunged?

Mason:  You know actually all of my infractions were prior to being 18. So, when you hit 18 that’s the reset button.

Dale:  OK. Well at least you learned your lesson, I hope.

Mason:  So far. Cross my fingers.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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