American English Words: Driving: 美国英语词语：驾车
William: Hello I'm William Kremer.
Yang Li: Hi I'm Yang Li. 今天我们继续回答 Simon 提出的关于美国英语词汇的问题。
William: Today we'll explore terms of address relating to driving.
Yang Li: America is sometimes described as a country on wheels. 轮子上的国家 right?
William: Yes, driving in the States can be a wonderful experience but you have to know their driving terminology.
Yang Li: 是的。今天我们就通过两段对话来学习几个最常用的驾驶和交通词语。
William: Listen to this dialogue between Karwai and Rob and see if you can spot any American English expressions.
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K: Sorry I'm a bit late.
R: Oh, no worries. I heard there was traffic on the roads and the weather's really bad!
K: Tell me about it! The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see through my windshield and had to drive slowly. There was some road work on the freeway so I had to take a detour.
R: I hope you took the expressway which leads to that big traffic circle. Take the second turn and it should take you onto my road.
K: I did, but there was still heavy congestion. So many cars were switching lanes, trying to pass each other it was a nightmare. My side-view mirror was almost hit by a car. Just as I was about to turn onto your road a truck broke down…
R: Oh dear. But you got here okay.
K: Yes, I did.
R: Where did you park your car?
K: In the parking lot across from the crosswalk at the bottom of your street.
R: Oh that's fine.
William: Now let's make a list of all the American expressions we've just heard and then match them with the English equivalents, shall we?
Yang Li: Good idea. So the first one was windshield 汽车的挡风玻璃。
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William: In British English we say windscreen.
Yang Li: Detour 改道，绕行。
William: Well, we'd say diversion.
Yang Li: Express way 城市快车道。 Freeway 高速公路。
William: For this we would say motorway.
Yang Li: Traffic circle 转盘。
William: In Britain we say roundabout.
Yang Li: To pass a vehicle 超车。
William: Well, that's to overtake a vehicle.
Yang Li: Trucks 在美式英语中的意思是货车， but in Britain？
William: We call them lorries.
Yang Li: Lorries. How about emergency signals 紧急信号灯?
William: For emergencies we would switch on hazard lights, they are hazard lights.
Yang Li: Finally we have parking lot 停车场。
William: If you want to park your car you should look for a car park.
Yang Li: We also spoke to Rogan, an American student visiting London. She observed more differences in road signs.
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And all the signs are different. For example, in America, a sign would say exit but here it says way out. Or instead of a yield sign, yield meaning let someone pass you by it would be a Give Way. English people drive on the left side of the road whereas Americans drive on the right side. William: Well I don't entirely agree with Rogan on the point of exit vs. way out, because actually we do use both expressions in the UK. But the other point was very good as we do use give way in Britain to mean allowing another
car to pass, whereas the American expression is yield.
Yang Li: 让行在美语里是 yield, that's Y-I-E-L-D 而在英式英语中则是 give way.
William: And of course the biggest difference is we drive on the left side of the road, whereas countries like America and China drive on the right.
Yang Li: 再有就是美国和中国都是右边行车，而在英国是左边行车。
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William: Next we hear from Daniel, who is English, but he's doing his university degree in the States.
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Daniel: Talking about drivers, the difference between Americans and English is how they call the boot of a car. Because in America they call it the trunk. And when they first said that I thought automatically elephant, like elephant trunk. Where does this come into everything? But no, obviously it's the back of where you put your stuff. So when they say "Put your stuff in the trunk", they don't mean the elephant, they mean the back of the car.
Yang Li: 美语的汽车后备箱是 the trunk of a car. 英国人则说the boot of a car.
William: Yeah, the boot of a car. Well, I hope that the list that we've provided today helps if you are going to drive in the States or the UK...
Yang Li: Yes. Finally we'll leave you with the short dialogue I had with Rogan and Daniel on the word 锡纸。 I thought it quite amusing, so enjoy.
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Rogan: In America, we like to call the metal foil that you cover your food aluminum foil.
Li: And in Britain?
Daniel: Well, it's definitely – not just Britain, Britain and the rest of the world – it's called aluminium.
Rogan: Yeah, well, you see, it's actually even spelled differently in America; we're more efficient. We take out the extra letter and make it aluminum; much easier to say than aluminium. I can barely even say it!
Li: Well, more efficient!
Daniel: More efficient? I think the i just got lost in the Atlantic Ocean!
Li: That i is lost!
Rogan: He's just trying to be poetic! I don't know…
Li: So that's a very interesting discussion we've just had – both entertaining and informative. So on behalf of www.bbcukchina.com, thank you Rogan and Daniel.
Both: Thank you.