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Traffic Tickets

Traffic Tickets

Date: Aug 28 2009

Themes: Travel

Grammar: Passive Voice

Intro

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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

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

Dale

Dale

Mason

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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Discussion

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Dale asks Mason if he’s ever gotten a ticket. It turns out that Mason has a lead foot and got more than one speeding ticket when he was a teenager. Fortunately, he got them all before he was 18, so they didn’t stay on his permanent record.

Mason thinks it’s worst when you get a ticket in the middle of nowhere. On country roads when there aren’t a lot of other cars around, it’s hard not to drive fast. But if you get a speeding ticket, you might have to go back to the place where you got it in order to appear in court like Mason did.

Have you ever gotten a ticket? Are the laws about driving strict in your country?

 

Comments

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luosijie203

Taiwan

nowadays in china we are carrying on campaign for drunken driving, there are to much traffic accident, and lead so many people to die, that’s very sad. I think we should obey the traffic rules, you know if traffic accident has happened, you destroy not only the other family, but also your family. so we must be careful about driving

04:04 AM Aug 29 2009 |

spike_dsl

spike_dsl

Philippines

traffic rules. keep us safe on the road.

02:58 AM Aug 29 2009 |

Eman1990

Eman1990

Saudi Arabia

this was the most  interesting lesson i have ever seen

01:32 AM Aug 29 2009 |

beyond0418

beyond0418

China

I just want know the number of traffic accident  in USA is less than others! i offen see the traffic accident as the high speed and driving after alcohol in our country,which lead many deaths.

01:21 AM Aug 29 2009 |

Colibri

Colibri

Russian Federation

I have got my license recently in US after I moved and drive  very carefully. But I also feel that I have a lead foot, I enjoy speeding in the middle of nowhere when we have to drive for several hours in highways and freeways. Somebody said that if you get a ticket, my name will be in local newspaper, I don't think that it is a good commercial for me since our city is very small and everybody knows each other… ha-ha. 

12:35 AM Aug 29 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

thank God i havent gotten any ticket, so the laws here are kind of strict but the problem is that there isnt like a great survey, many people know that as a result, we have seen a lot of accidents caused by drunk people or the ones that dont respect the traffic laws, too bad.

12:32 AM Aug 29 2009 |

~MemoTheHun~

Germany

cmon you know the meaning;)

09:49 PM Aug 28 2009 |

nirajmehra

nirajmehra

India

yup i got to the speeding ticket one's . but to  be honest I   didn't paid for it instend my friend had to pay for it. coz that time I had no money .

really belive me haaahaaaaaaa

06:05 PM Aug 28 2009 |

nirajmehra

nirajmehra

India

what is the meaning of traffic tickets i really don't know tell me if anybody knows

06:00 PM Aug 28 2009 |

Reptillia

Reptillia

Turkey

I'm going to have a license this summer, but I won't start to drive.If I would, I could get a ticket too :)

05:52 PM Aug 28 2009 |

~MemoTheHun~

Germany

calm down.. it is just as shad84 said :D

04:56 PM Aug 28 2009 |

~MemoTheHun~

Germany

the grammar part is like a triller novel :D

04:48 PM Aug 28 2009 |

~MemoTheHun~

Germany

oh yeah… my first  ticket i got because of the security belt :S

04:45 PM Aug 28 2009 |

Dabren

Dabren

Mexico

Take it easy guys!!!

hahahaa!! ...

04:17 PM Aug 28 2009 |

rosendo

rosendo

Mexico

ok Aaron_In_Korea first of all , try to understand the words that i wrote. i didnt write that i am a "good citizen" .. but u know i dont want to write the reasons that i have to say that here there is not "Traffic Tickets".  i rather surf in the internet and organize a party that i will have tommorrow in the CONTEINER CITY.

 take care.

03:34 PM Aug 28 2009 |

rosendo

rosendo

Mexico

traffic tickets dont exist here in my country….. i said that bcs if u commit something illegal like going through red lights , even run over a person , so on. u wont have a problem with the highway patrol bcs here is too commun give them money. i get embarrss but is the reality here.

02:48 PM Aug 28 2009 |

Dabren

Dabren

Mexico

No, i never gotten a ticket, because i dont have a car!!!  hahaahaha… WTF!!!! =S

01:09 PM Aug 28 2009 |

max1983

max1983

Germany

The worts one is when you get shot with camera by cops.So, you are very surprise when you receive a ticket(usually will be sent by post)Of course you can't remeber that you have done something wrong.

Very bad!!!

12:08 PM Aug 28 2009 |

TURKO

TURKO

Turkey

l got a ticket 2 months ago.My infraction was passing the speed limit.The speed limit is 110 km outside of the city in Turkey and l was drıving at 130 km when l passed the radar. l was pulled over by a highway patrol cop and he gave me a ticket when l looked at it l saw the fine was 300 TL (150 euro).l have been driving since l was 18 and thıs was my second fine.

11:57 AM Aug 28 2009 |

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