¶ Intro / Opening
Hello and welcome to another edition of ESL Podcast, the podcast designed especially for those who are speakers of English as a second language. I'm your host, Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Educational Development and www. Today on our podcast, we're going to be interviewing Lucy, who's going to tell us about where she likes to live, what she likes about the places where she lives, and some things that she doesn't like about where she
¶ The Joys of Los Angeles City Life
lives. Let's listen in. If you asked me which I like better, the suburbs or the city, I would definitely say the city. I'm a little biased, though. I have only lived in a city, in a medium -sized city and in large cities. I was born in a very large city. Then I grew up in another city, and now I live in... what some people think may be a very exciting city perhaps the best city in the world and that's los angeles i like
living in l .a because there is always something to do if you wake up in the morning and you want to try something new you can always find something to do that you've never done before maybe that's going to a concert or trying a new type of food, or just going to a different part of the city. Even if you've lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, because there's always people, new people, moving into the city, the city is constantly changing,
and there is always something new. It's a place where you can meet people from different countries. who speak different languages, with many different kinds of beliefs, and people who do different kinds of jobs. Some people say that you can find anything you want in Los Angeles. I think that in the world that there are a few other cities like this. Maybe New York City, Paris, Beijing, who knows? But I think that Los Angeles is the
best city to live in. I love eating. I love being able to try new kinds of foods and being able to eat things that I've never thought about eating before. I also like living in Los Angeles because it's close to the ocean. close enough to the ocean that on the weekends I can get up, drive a little ways, and walk next to the beach and feel the ocean breezes and watch people surf. It's a lot of fun. I like watching the water,
seeing the waves, watching people surf. I also like Los Angeles because of the warm weather. I have always lived in warm weather. Well, almost always. For a short time, I lived in Washington, D .C., where the weather is very cold in the wintertime. Some people who lived in very, very cold weather think that Washington, D .C. isn't that cold. But for somebody who grew up in Arizona,
it is very, very cold. So I like Los Angeles because the weather is nice, it doesn't rain very much, and even in the wintertime, you don't have to wear heavy jackets. There are, of course,
¶ Addressing Urban Challenges: Traffic Congestion
disadvantages to living in a large city. In big cities, there are so many people that the roads or the streets are often congested. In Los Angeles, it's usually the freeways. It's difficult to get from one place to another without driving on the freeway. But if you drive on the freeway, you will very likely get into a traffic jam, especially at rush hour. So if you live in Los Angeles, get ready to wait in traffic every day.
¶ Vocabulary Explanations and Episode Conclusion
I want to thank Lucy for talking to us today about where she's lived. As you heard, she's lived in different places here in the United States, in Los Angeles, in Arizona, in Washington, D .C., so several different cities. There were a few words of vocabulary that you might have had difficulty, that might have tripped you up, which is to say made you or gave you some difficulties.
One was a traffic jam. A traffic jam is when there are too many cars on the road and everyone has to go slowly, either for an accident or just because of what we call congestion. Congestion in traffic is too many cars on the road. Rush hour is another term that Lucy used in describing the traffic in Los Angeles. Rush hour. is that time during the morning and the afternoon when most people are going back and forth to work.
People who commute, that is to say, who go from one part of the city to another part of the city usually have to go during the morning rush hour or the afternoon rush hour. Those were, I think, the only two terms that you might have had some difficulty with. That's going to wrap it up for today's ESL podcast. Remember, you can visit us on our website at www .eslpod .com. That's www .eslpod .com. I want to thank you for listening and invite you to tune in to our next podcast
on English as a Second Language podcast. Thanks again for listening.