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Driving
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E: Hi! Welcome to "Let's talk." Today we're going to be talking about the word "drive." You know we've talked about cars lately, and we think it is also very important to talk about the word "drive." It's used in many different contexts in English.
R: That's right. You really can't do anything with your car if you can't drive it.
E: Drive is a noun and a verb as well. We think of "drive a car", but you can also "go for a drive."
R: Here "drive" is a noun. It's also name for a street or a road. There're many famous big streets called "drive", like Lakeshore Drive or Memorial Drive. And you may need to take a driver's test. How would you study for this test? I have kids at home who are dying to learn to drive a car. And first you would need to take driver's ED.
E: Yeah. And driver's ED is different in all the different countries. And I know in China you have to take classes and drive around with an instructor for a while. And that's true in Europe you have to be 18 like in China. But in the US and perhaps in Canada, you can drive even as early as 15 and a half.
R: That's right. At the age of 15 you can get a learner's permit or you drive with your parents or another driver and you're learning. And then you take a test. There're usually two tests, written test and road test that's where you're really driving. I know my driver's ED was free. I didn't pay anything. I took it in school.
E: It happens in school. And also if you do take driver's ED at school, your insurance for your car is much cheaper.
R: But when we lived in Germany, many of the young people there turned 18 and paid very expensive private tuition for a long year's course in driving the car. And I thought their class was excellent. Because they even drove at night and leant to repair car if they were broken. It was very impressive. So I think the more you know about how to drive a car, the better off you are.
E: Well, but today we're going to talk about vocabulary and different vocabulary phrases that include the word "drive" because it's not just "drive a car."
R: Here're some drive words for you. Have you ever been to the "drive-in"? I usually think of "the drive-in movie." And that's where you sit outside and watch the film from your car. Drive in and watch the movie.
E: And we have one in Beijing. I don't know if you have one where you are. But we have one drive-in movie theater here in Beijing. There's also "drive-through." There're a lot of "drive-through" shops. For example, a shop where you can take your photographs to have them developed to get your pictures made and that's called "a drive-through." You don't have to get out the car and go into the shop. Just go to "the drive-though," and you drive though in your car, open the window, and give the lady your money. Then you'll get your pictures.
R: Yeah. I know there're "drive- through convenient stores" where you buy groceries.
E: Yeah. There's "drive-up." At the very beginning this wasn't done. But after more people started getting cars in the US about the 1950's, they had a "drive-up" restaurant where you could go and take your car. You drive in, you order your food and a cute little girl will usually come to bring your food and put it on your car. They had a tray that would sit on your car.
R: And you know in places where parking is difficult, for instance, at my mother's bank, it's good to have a "drive-up window." When she goes to the bank, she drives up without parking or getting out. But she does all for banking, puts the money in, and takes the money out at the "drive-up window."
E: Yeah. It's quite convenient.
R: There's also a "backseat driver." Have you heard of a "backseat driver"?
E: I often had a "backseat driver" in my car. A "backseat driver" is someone who sits in the back seat behind the driver and says "Look out! There's a car coming!" "You're driving too fast!"
R: "You drive too slow!" "No, No turn right!" "Don't park here!" Nobody likes the "backseat driver" usually.
E: So that's a kind of bad word. It refers to somebody is trying to say what should happen and they don't really have the power or the authority. You could even call someone in an office a "backseat driver."
R: That's right. Have you heard of a "designated driver"? That's the person who does not drink any alcohol. If you're all out together and you have a nice evening, Kara OK, dinner whatever, one person will talk to everyone and decide "I don't drink tonight because I'm the designated driver. And I drive safely home."
E: Right. That's because they're nervous about drunk driving. Drunk driving is a real problem. It's when someone is drunk and they're driving their car. My cousin was killed in a drunk driving accident. So everyone is quite worried about this.
R: There're other meanings for an expression using the word "drive." Here are some. See if you recognize them. You might think of your hard drive on your computer.
E: Or how about "driving me crazy" or "driving me nuts"? That means somebody is doing something that makes you really upset. You can say "Oh, that child is driving me crazy."
R: Yeah. Well you could also say "He's driving me crazy." or "He's driving me up a wall."
E: So we hope you enjoy these driving idioms. To drive is not always to drive a car. Maybe you can use them this week in your job or at school.
R: Here is another good expression, "drive safely."
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與Drive一詞有關的成語
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E：歡迎收看“你説我説”。今天我們要談drive這個詞。近來我們談了一些關於汽車的話題，我們認為有必要談談drive一詞。drive這個詞有多種不同的用法。
R：是的，如果你不會開，車就沒有用。
E：drive既是名詞又是動詞。我們知道drive是開車的意思，同樣你還可以説go for a drive（驅車出去玩一玩）。
R：這裡的drive是名詞，drive還是汽車道或馬路的意思。有不少著名的大道叫drive，比如Lake Shore Drive很著名，還有Memorial Drive。要駕駛汽車就要通過駕駛考試，怎樣學習才能通過考試呢？我的孩子特別渴望在家裏學習駕駛。首先你要接受駕駛培訓。
E：不同的國家其駕駛培訓方式也不相同。我知道在中國，你們要上培訓課，然後在教練的伴隨下練習駕駛。在歐洲，法定的駕駛年齡是十八歲，這一點與中國的法律相同。但在美國和加拿大，年滿十五周歲半就可以駕駛汽車了。
R：是的，你只要年滿十五周歲就能獲得學習駕駛的許可，你可以在父母或他人指導下學習駕駛，然後參加考試。考試通常分為兩個部分，筆試和道路考試，也就是説你要進行實際的駕駛。我當初的駕駛培訓是免費的，我沒有花錢，我是在學校完成的。
E：學校裏是有駕駛培訓的。如果你是在學校接受駕駛培訓的，那麼你的車輛保險費就會便宜的多。
R：但是，我們在德國居住時，那裏年滿十八歲的年青人要自付很昂貴的學費， 並且要參加為期約一年的駕駛培訓。我認為他們的課程很好，因為他們甚至要學習如何在夜間駕駛，而且還要學習一些修理汽車的技術。這給我留下很深的印象。你了解的駕駛知識越多越有益處。
E：我們今天要講一些詞彙，一些包含drive的詞組或短語，而不僅僅是drive a car（開車）。
R：這裡有一些drive words，你去過drive-in 嗎？我一般會想到drive-in movie，這是指一種免下車的電影院。你不必下車就可以觀看電影。
E：北京就有一家這樣的汽車電影院，不知你所在的地方是否也有汽車電影院。還有一種商店叫drive-through。在美國，這種商店很多。比如有一些照片沖洗店可以把你送去的照片沖洗出來，這種店就叫drive-through。你無須下車走進商店，你只須將車開進drive-through，你打開車窗，把錢遞給女店員，於是你就能拿到你的照片。
R：我知道還有一些這樣的便利店，在那裏你可以買到日用品。
E：還有一種説法是drive-up。早一些時候美國並沒有這樣的店，但隨著越來越多的人擁有了汽車，從二十世紀五十年代起美國出現了drive-up餐廳。你把車開到那裏，點你要的東西，可愛的女店員會把食物送到你的車內，裝有食物的托盤可以放在車內。
R：大家都知道很多地方泊車難，比如我媽媽常去的銀行就是如此。銀行設立drive-up窗口是個好主意，再去銀行辦事時，她不必泊車也不需要下車，所有存錢和取錢的業務在drive-up窗口都可以辦理好。
E：這樣非常方便。
R：還有個説法是backseat driver。你聽過這個説法嗎？
E：我的車裏常有backseat driver。這是指坐在司機後面的那個人，他時不時會大驚小怪地説：“當心，有車開過來了！”，“你開得太快了！”
R：“你開得太慢了！”“不對，向右轉！別停在這兒！”人們通常都不喜歡backseat driver。
E：這是一種不太好的説法。這是指有些人愛指手劃腳，但實際上他並沒有這種權利或威望。你可以把辦公室裏的這類人稱做backseat driver。
R：你聽説過designated driver嗎？這是指某人在大家聚會時滴酒不沾。比如當大家歡聚在一起唱卡拉Ok，享用美味的晚餐，有一個人會對大家説：“我今天不能喝酒，我註定要開車，我要保證把大家安全送回家。”
E：是的，這是因為人們害怕酒醉駕車，酒醉駕車是很嚴重的問題。這是指喝醉酒了的人繼續駕車，我的表兄就死於酒後駕車的事故中，所以人們對酒醉駕車都非常恐懼。
R：含有drive的説法還有一些，你是否能辨別出來這些呢？你可能會想到電腦有hard drive（硬盤驅動器）。
E：drive me crazy和drive me nuts又是什麼意思呢？它的意思是有人做了讓你很煩的事，你可以説：“那個孩子快把我搞瘋了。”
R：與drive me crazy相同的説法還有He's driving me up a wall。
E：希望你喜歡這些含有drive的成語，説到drive不一定就是説開車。也許你很快就能將這些成語用在你的工作或學習上。
R：現在再説一個短語，drive safely（小心駕駛）。
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