Public Transport
Episode #7 of the course English vocabulary – in the morning (B2) by Kasia Sielicka, PhD
Having wrecked the car, Susan had to come up with another way of getting to work. Luckily, there was a bus stop nearby.
Susan hated commuting to work by bus. She hated waiting in the cold at the bus stop, all the sweaty people, the crowd, the expensive fares. Only the double-deckers in London were nice—so romantic and retro. But she had no choice now. Her boss would kill her!
The bus finally arrived. She got on the bus and—to her surprise—realized that she was the only passenger!
“Good,” she thought, “I can have the aisle seat, and my bag can have the window seat with no pangs of conscience that I am blocking two seats!”
She sat down and enjoyed the trip. But after 20 minutes, the bus suddenly stopped. Susan looked out the window—there was an open manhole in the middle of the road! And no workmen in sight!
Luckily, she was already close to her office, so she decided to get off the bus and run the rest of the way.
“I wonder if this counts as my morning jog….”
Key words
A bus stop is a place where buses stop to pick up passengers.
If you commute, you travel to work every day. People who do it are called commuters. Most of us are commuters.
The fare is the money you have to pay to travel on public transport.
A double-decker is a bus that has two levels. They are typical in London.
When you want to use a bus, you get on the bus. After the trip, you get off the bus.
There are two kinds of seats on buses, planes, etc. The window seat is, well, closer to the window. The aisle seat is closer to the space between the seats on both sides of the bus/plane.
A manhole is a hole in the road, with a metal top, that leads to cables, pipes, or the sewage system (= the system of getting dirty water away).
Bonus words
Susan had to come up with another way of getting to work. (= have a new idea)
I can have the aisle seat, and my bag can have the window seat with no pangs of conscience that I am blocking two seats! (= a feeling that you’re doing something bad)
There were no workmen in sight! (= she couldn’t see them)
I wonder if this counts as my morning jog. (= when you go running in the morning to keep fit and healthy)
Finally, the end of her problems! Everything has to go well when she gets to the office, right?
Recommended course on Coursera
Interviewing and Resume Writing in English
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