General Listening Quiz

Listen to the recording on towing services and read along with the conversation. Review the key vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Man: Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey!! What are you doing?

Police Officer: Uh, what does it look like I’m doing? I’m having your car towed away for parking illegally.

Man: Officer. You can’t do that. That’s not fair.

Police Officer: What do you mean it’s not fair? You parked your car in a no-parking area.

Man: What? What do you mean?

Police Officer: Look, sir. There’s a sign right there that says [Where? Where?] . . . right there! It says, “Tow away zone. No parking between the hours of 7 a.m. through 6 p.m.”

Man: Oh, that one? [Yeah] Those tree branches are covering it.

Police Officer: Sorry, you’re gonna have to take that complaint up with the city. It’s – I’m just doing my job. I’m just here to uphold the law. Anyway, you can clearly see it once you get out of your car.

Man: But, but . . . my car was only here five minutes. [Sorry.] I had to just run into this building to . . . to drop off some clothing at the homeless shelter. Just trying to help people in need.

Police Officer: Sir. The homeless shelter? It’s six blocks down the road. Anyway, look, here’s your ticket, and the address where you can pick up your car is found on the back.

Man: What? A hundred and fifty dollars? That’s outrageous. I mean, completely ludicrous.

Police Officer: Sorry. Don’t park your car illegally!

Man: So, you mean that you’re gonna have my car towed away? [Yeah] And I’m standing right here. [Yeah] Look. How about two tickets for a lecture on the history of the English language tomorrow night at the library? Anything.

Police Officer: Sir. It’s illegal to bribe an officer.

Man: Wait, wait wait, or how ’bout some coupons for a free burger at that restaurant across the street? [You’ve gotta be kidding me.] Buy one and get the second one half price.

Police Officer: You know sir, you’d probably better leave now. Have a good day.

• tow (away) (verb): remove a vehicle 
  – Several cars were towed away after the terrible accident.
• zone (noun; also verb): an area set aside for a specific purpose from other surrounding areas 
  – You can’t park here because it is a construction zone, and workers need to keep the sides of the road clear of vehicles.
• uphold (verb): defend (a law or policy) 
  – The police need to uphold these laws to preserve the peace.
• shelter (noun): a building designed to provide a place to live 
  – Unfortunately, my friend had no place to live, so his car served as shelter for about a month.
• ludicrous (adjective): unreasonable or without good sense 
  – The fine for parking illegally was so ludicrous that my roommate decided to fight it in court.