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Hang up and drive

Hang up and drive

Date: Sep 07 2007

Themes: Health

Intro

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

Americans love to multitask. You’ll see them reading and eating or cooking and watching TV. Sometimes you see people driving and talking on the phone. Well, usually you see these people heading rapidly toward you, blabbing away, blind to the fact that you exist.

Needless to say, driving and talking on the phone can be pretty dangerous. In fact, Kevin almost died at the hands of a driver on the phone. Listen to him tell Amanda about it.

Dialog

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

Kevin

Kevin

Amanda

Amanda

Kevin:  So I’m running the other day, and some idiot in a Chevy Suburban was on his cell and almost runs me over and then honks at me.

Amanda:  How do you feel about that? Do you ever talk on our cell phone when you’re driving, ever?

Kevin:  I don’t own a car.

Amanda:  Oh, so I guess that’s a no. You know, I feel the same way because there’s some statistic that said when you’re on a cell phone, whether you’re holding it or you have the little Bluetooth, it’s about as bad as having three cocktails.

Kevin:  Really?

Amanda:  That’s how much it affects your judgment when you’re driving as far as your response time, and when you think about it that way or look at it that way, it’s pretty scary.

Kevin:  And you know, you just see people doing it all the time, you know, it’s really ridiculous. Do you do it?

Amanda:  Only if I’m going about 20 miles an hour or less, that’s the general rule for me. But you know what’s tough too is texting. People will keep their phone down on the fly and be texting like crazy, not looking ahead…

Kevin:  Which to me seems worse because you have to be looking down at the screen, whereas if you’re talking at least you can hold it at the side.

Amanda:  Absolutely. But I think the reason they’re doing that is to be stealth so that they can communicate without other drivers seeing that they’re actually on the phone.

Kevin:  Might as well be reading a book.

Amanda:  Pretty much. Or shaving.

 

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Discussion

Kevin was out running the other day when someone almost ran him over with his very large car. Then the driver had the nerve to honk at Kevin. He probably had no idea what was going on because he was on his phone the whole time.

Amanda says that according to a study, talking on the phone while driving is just as bad as drinking three cocktails and getting behind the wheel. Since drunk driving illegal and widely regarded as a very bad thing to do, Amanda and Kevin agree that talking on the phone and driving is very dangerous.

Nonetheless, Amanda talks on the phone sometimes when she’s driving, but only when she’s going really slow. But that’s not as bad as texting and driving, which is something Amanda has seen people do. She thinks they do it because unlike talking on the phone, the other drivers can’t necessarily see you texting. Kevin thinks texting and driving is much worse than talking and driving. He jokes that it’s as bad as reading a book behind the wheel. Amanda says it’s as bad as shaving on the road.

What’s the silliest thing you’ve ever seen someone do while driving?

 

Comments

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explorer143

Pakistan

same as in our country.

07:23 AM Sep 07 2007 |

noureldien

Sudan

don't do that to safe yourself and another people

 

06:55 AM Sep 07 2007 |

helce

helce

China

It is every dangerous to talk on the cell phone ,specially the bus drivers,because there are so many  passengers  in the bus .when happending accident whill have a lot passengers hurted !so I hope the drivers don't  talk on cell phone when they are driving!

05:40 AM Sep 07 2007 |

Josh K

Josh K

Guatemala

that is danger.

02:13 AM Sep 07 2007 |

milly2011

milly2011

China

It is important that when we are driving we should concentrate energy . it is good for the safety not only ourselves but also other people . Be careful please .

12:57 AM Sep 07 2007 |

suk ra

Germany

I also see these people driving and talking on the road. I am quite sure they're not aware of the fact that they could put other people in danger.

They sometimes drive me crazy.

 

12:27 AM Sep 07 2007 |

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