The Car
Episode #6 of the course English vocabulary – in the morning (B2) by Kasia Sielicka, PhD
Fully dressed and accessorized, Susan ran out of the house and opened the garage door. Oh no! She had left the headlights on!
“What if the battery is dead?” she thought in fear.
She anxiously got into the car. There were no keys in the ignition. Where are the keys? In my bag! But which bag? She fumbled in the bag and luckily found the keys.
She turned the key and the engine started. Phew! Luckily, the battery wasn’t flat after all. She pressed the gas pedal, then remembered you have to press the clutch first. She backed into the road.
BANG!
The car stopped suddenly. Ooops—she had forgotten to look in the rearview mirror! And she had forgotten about the big tree on the other side of the road!
“I have totaled the car. Great! Now what? I have to get to work somehow!”
Key words
The headlights are the big lights in front of the car.
The battery is the part of your car where electric energy is kept. You really need it to start the car.
If the battery is dead, there is no electricity in it. The car can’t start.
The ignition is the place in your car where you put the keys to start the car.
The gas pedal is the pedal you press if you want to drive faster. The opposite is the brake pedal.
The clutch is a special pedal when you don’t have an automatic gear box. You press it before you can change the gear. If you don’t, you will kill your car!
The rearview mirror is the little mirror in your car where you can see what’s happening behind the car.
If you total the car, you have a very bad accident and the car is totally ruined. In our story, Susan probably didn’t really total the car. It was more of a fender bender—a very small accident with very little damage.
Bonus words
She anxiously got into the car. (= she was a little afraid)
Luckily, the battery wasn’t dead after all. (= you use this phrase when something is different from what you said earlier)
She backed into the road. (= reversed the car, made it go back)
What will Susan do now without the car? Find out tomorrow!
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