Hello English learners（学习者） and welcome to EnglishPod. My name's Erika and I'm here with Marko. Marko, hurry（赶紧） up. I'm coming. Hurry up, Marko, we've got a lesson. Okay（好）, I'm here, I'm here.

  What did I miss? The lesson. Alright（ 好）, sorry about that. We have a great lesson for you today. We have an elementary（基本的） lesson. That's right, an elementary lesson about being in a rush（ 冲） and about giving directions（ 方向） when you're in a car.

  Exactly（确切地）. We're going to listen to two friends who are getting in a car and they're getting ready to go somewhere（ 在某处） and they're in a big hurry（赶紧）. So let's hurry up and listen to the dialogue. Hurry up, get in. I'm in, let's go. Okay, make a left here.

  No, wait, I meant（意味） make a right. Come on, speed（超速） up. Jeez, what's the rush? Don't worry（ 担忧） about it, just drive. Oh no, the light is about to change, step（走） on it. Are you a nut（坚果）?

  I'm not going to run a red light. Whatever（ [用于否定句中以加强语气]任何）, just turn right here. The freeway（高速公路） will be packed（捆扎） at this hour. Let's take a side（方面） street. Go on, get out of our way. Move（动）, move（动）.

  What's your problem? Jeez, having a fit（合身） is not going to help. Here, I know a shortcut（捷径）. Just go down here and we'll cut through Ashburn Heights. Let's go, let's go. Watch out for that lady（女士）.

  I'm going as（当…的时候） fast as（当…的时候） I can. Yes, we made it, 558 just before（ 在…之前） the library closes. You're such a geek. So they were in a hurry and it was all just to get to the library. Well, maybe he was late returning a book or something. That's a bit（一点） dramatic（戏剧的） just for returning a book.

  Yeah. All（ 全部） right, why don't we look at our language takeaway（外卖食品） for today? Language takeaway. Okay, on today's language takeaway, we have five words for you today, five really important and useful words that we found in our dialogue. So let's take a look（看） at the first one. Step on it.

  Step on it. Step on it. Step on it. So what does it mean when I tell you to step on it? Drive faster. Drive faster, right?

  Step on it. Exactly. You might（可以〔用于礼貌地提出建议〕） also say speed（超速） up. Speed up. Yes. Speed up.

  That's exactly it. Our second word, speed up. Also means go faster. Go faster. And what about the opposite? You might say slow（ 放慢速度） down.

  Slow down. Yeah. Okay, so speed up and slow down. So our third word for today is having a fit. Having a fit. Having a fit.

  Having a fit. Well, this is a funny phrase and I think listening to a few examples of this phrase might help us understand its meaning a little bit better. Example one. Jeez, you don't need to have a fit. Nothing is going to happen if we're five minutes late. Example two.

  My boss（老板） is going to have a fit（合身） if I don't finish this on time. Example three. I almost（几乎） had a fit（合身） when my boss（老板） told me I had to work this weekend. Okay, great example. So Erica, why don't you tell me what does it mean when you have a fit? It means you get really angry and you can't control（控制） your emotions（情感）.

  So maybe you start screaming（尖叫） and maybe some steam（蒸汽） comes out of your ears. Okay, that's having a fit. Exactly. Excellent（卓越的）. Okay, let's take a look at our next word now. Cut through.

  Cut through. Cut through. Cut through. When you cut through something it means you just go through. Go through. Yeah, quite simple（ 简单的）.

  It gives you the idea that you go through something quickly. Quickly, so I can say let's cut through the park. Yep, or let's cut through the backyard（后院）. Okay, go through. And this takes us to our last word for today. Shortcut.

  Shortcut. Shortcut. Shortcut. This is a really common word and not many people know about it. Yeah, you're right. It's two simple words that when you fit them together, the meaning changes.

  It's a great example of this real English we talk about. And it means to take a shorter way somewhere. Exactly. So if I take a shortcut, I go the short way. Okay, so going back just a little bit to cut through. If I cut through the park, that's basically（基本上） a shortcut（捷径）.

  Exactly. All right. Okay. Now（现在） it's clear（清晰的）. Okay. Now it's time to listen to our dialogue again, but this time it's going to be slower so then we can understand all these words that we just talked about.

  Hurry up. Get in. I'm in. Let's go. Okay. Make a left here.

  No, wait. I meant make a right. Come on, speed up. Jeez. What's the rush? Don't worry about it.

  Just drive. Oh, no. The light is about to change. Step on it. Are you nuts? I'm not going to run a red light.

  Whatever. Just turn right here. The freeway will be packed at this hour. Let's take a side street. Go on. Get out of our way.

  Move. Move. What's your problem? Jeez. Having a fit is not going to help. Here, I know a shortcut.

  Just go down here and we'll cut through Ashburn Heights. Let's go. Let's go. Watch out for that lady. I'm going as fast as I can. Yes.

  We made it. Five fifty-eight just before the library closes. You're such a geek. Okay. Well, I think that was a lot more clear this time. You know, there was some great language in that dialogue and I would like to look at how we can put it together.

  Putting it together. Okay. So today I'm putting it together. We have three phrases for you and we're going to show you how you can use these phrases like a native（本国的） speaker（演讲者）. Okay. So all of these phrases we heard in the dialogue, why don't we start with the first one?

  Make a. Make a. So in the dialogue, they say make a left here. Yeah. And we can extend（延长） this phrase to say make a right. That would be the equivalent（等价物） of saying turn left or turn right.

  Turn right. And there's one more. Make a U-turn. Exactly. That means turn the car one hundred and eighty degrees（程度） all the way around. Make a U-turn.

  So make a left, make a right, make a U-turn. If you're ever in a taxi and you're telling the taxi driver where to go, this is the perfect way. Make a left here, make a right there. Okay. So let's move to our second phrase and it is are you nuts? Are you nuts?

  Are you nuts? So this is a great way of saying are you crazy（疯狂的）? Are you insane（患精神病的）? Are you mad（发疯的）? So when would we use a phrase like this? If somebody has a bad idea that you don't agree with, you would say, are you crazy or are you nuts?

  So Marco, let's stop this podcast right now. Are you nuts? Okay. I think that's a good example of how we can use this phrase. Yes. So are you nuts?

  Are you insane? Are you mad? So let's listen to some examples of are you nuts? Example one. You want to get married（娶） now? Are you nuts?

  You only met her three weeks ago. Example two. Are you nuts? I'm not going to cheat（骗取） on the exam. What if I get caught（捉住）? So I think that's clear.

  And now we can move to our third phrase, which is let's take a side street. Let's take a side street. Let's take a side street. Again, so if you're in a taxi, this is a great way to suggest（建议） a route（路） or suggest（建议） a direction（ 方向）. Right. So we can take this phrase and extend it out with a few more words.

  We might say, let's take Wilson Avenue（林荫道）. Right. Or let's take the highway（公路）. So let's take a side street. Let's take Wilson Avenue. Let's take the freeway.

  Okay. So now let's take a listen to this dialogue a third time at its normal（正常的） speed（超速）. And now you can understand everything that's in this dialogue. Hurry up. Get in. I'm in.

  Let's go. Okay. Make a left here. No, wait. I meant make a right. Come on.

  Speed up. Jeez. What's the rush? Don't worry about it. Just drive. No, the light is about to change.

  Step on it. Are you nuts? I'm not going to run a red light. Whatever. Just turn right here. The freeway will be packed at this hour.

  Let's take a side street. Go on. Get out of our way. Move. Move. What's your problem?

  Jeez. Having a fit is not going to help. Here. I know a shortcut. Just go down here and we'll cut through Ashburn Heights. Let's go.

  Let's go. Watch out for that lady. I'm going as fast as I can. Yes, we made it. Five fifty eight just before the library closes. You're such a geek.

  Well, this dialogue is all about driving, right? Yes. And in North America, where both of us are from, driving is everything. Everybody has a car. When did you get a car? Well, my car I got when I was like（喜欢） maybe nineteen.

  Really? But I learned how to drive and I was driving already（早已） by the age of sixteen. Yeah, that's the thing. In many countries, you have to wait till（ 直到） I think you're eighteen to drive. But in North America, everyone has a driver's license by the time they're sixteen years old. Yeah, yeah.

  I guess everything is so far away that you need a car. Yeah, it's a lot less（更少地） likely（可能的） to have subways or trains to travel by in North America. All right. So now you have all the tools（工具） necessary（必要的） to give directions（ 方向） the next time you're in a car or in a taxi. Well, everyone, I really hope you enjoyed this lesson.