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Speaker 1: One of the things that I like about being self

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employed is that I'm in the driver's seat. Being independent

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like that and not having a boss is one of

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the driving forces behind my motivation to do this job.

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In the driver's seat. The driving force. Yeah, let's discuss.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All righty, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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This is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven forty four. Driving

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and road Trips. For today's podcast English Lesson, We're going

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to talk about something that plays a huge, huge role

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in the daily lives of Americans. Driving. Let's take a

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look at the importance of driving in American culture and

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the unique tradition of road trips. After that will go

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over some idioms and vocabulary related to driving. Buckle up

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and let's get started. In the United States, cars are

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more than just a way to get from one place

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to another. They're a significant part of American culture and lifestyle.

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For many Americans, owning a car is considered essential, especially

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in suburban and rural areas where public transportation options are limited.

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The freedom and convenience that come with having a car

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allow people to commute to work, run errands, and travel

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long distances with ease. Getting your drivers license is one

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of the driving forces that transforms teenage life. Here in

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New York, you can get your driver's license at seventeen

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if you take a driving course at your high school.

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I was determined to get my license as soon as

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I turned seventeen, because your driver's license at that age

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really drives home the idea that you're becoming an adult.

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Not to mention, it's the first symbol of freedom for

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a teenager. I'll never forget the feeling of freedom I

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had when I first drove my first car on the highway.

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I was really in the driver's seat for the first

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time in my life. The other thing that I remember

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from when I was a kid was that my friends

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and I would often talk about hitting the road on

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a cross country road trip. This concept of packing up

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the car and hitting the open road for a long

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journey has been a part of American life for decades.

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Road trips offer the freedom to explore at your own pace,

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stopping whenever and wherever you like. Even though we talked

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about taking a road trip. We basically drove as far

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as the beach and spent the most amount of time

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commuting to work in school. After all, I was just

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seventeen and my parents were the ones who were really

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in the driver's seat in terms of where I could drive.

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The US has a vast network of highways and roads,

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making it easy to drive from coast to coast. This

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car centric culture has also given rise to the American

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love for road trips, whether it's a quick weekend getaway

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or across country drive. Road trips are a popular way

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for Americans to explore the country, discover new places, and

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create lasting memories. And now let's have a look at

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the vocabulary in idioms from this lesson. The first word

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is commute, and we use commute as a verb to

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mean travel between home and work or between home and school.

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We also use commute as a noun to mean the

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trip itself between home and work or between home and school.

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And like many other verbs, we have commuter, which means

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the person who travels between home and work or between

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home and school. Let's look at some examples. I used

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to commute to my office by train, but now I

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work from home. In those days, my commute was an

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hour and a half one way. I remember I would

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always see many of the same commuters on the train

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every day. Up Next, we have the idiom the driving force.

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A driving force is a person or thing that has

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the power to cause something to happen. I mentioned in

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the story that getting your driver's license is one of

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the driving forces that transforms teenage life. This means that

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getting your driver's license moves you from being a teenager

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to being a young adult. Here are some other examples.

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When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late nineteen nineties,

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he was the driving force that brought us the iMac,

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the iPad, and eventually the iPhone. These days, social media

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is the driving force behind social change and progressive thinking. Next,

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we have drive home, which means to make something clear

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to others by using special emphasis and trying to convince

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somebody of something. In other words, drive home means to

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emphasize something. For example, the professor really drove home the

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importance of studying regularly to succeed in exams. The coach

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use several examples to drive home the strategy the team

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needed to win the game. I often drive home the

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idea that reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary. Next,

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when you are in the driver's seat of the car,

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you are in control of the car. Right With this idea,

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when we say that someone is in the driver's seat,

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it means that they are in control or in charge

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of a situation. Here are some examples. Since he started

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working remotely, Jake is in the driver's seat of his

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daily schedule, allowing him to balance work and personal activities

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more effectively. With a contract signed in the project underway,

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Mark is now in the driver's seat and has full

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control over the project's direction, more than her husband. Lily

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is usually in the driver's seat when it comes to

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making decisions about family activities and vacations. The last one

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for today is hit the road. And hit the road

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actually has two different meanings. In the story today, I

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talked about hitting the road on a cross country road trip.

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Hit in this case means to begin, and hit the

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road means to begin a journey or start traveling. For example,

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we should hit the road early today to avoid the

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traffic after saying his goodbyes, Neil hit the road for

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his vacation. Let's hit the road and see where the

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day takes us. We also use hit the road as

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a casual way to say we want to leave, or

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as a way of telling someone to leave. Here are

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some examples. It's getting late, I think I should hit

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the road. I am really tired because I hit the

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road very early this morning. Hey, hit the road and

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stop bothering me. Keep in mind, the best way to

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remember this and any other word or phrase in English

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is to take that word or phrase, write it in

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a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,

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and then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know that

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you can get the chance to practice this kind of

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English with me directly. You can get more practice using

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your English when you join my podcast Learner's study group.

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There you can make new friends, join us for live

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group lessons every week where we practice these podcasts lessons together.

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Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio

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download for every Happy English podcast in the past and

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in the future. And on top of that, each episode

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has exercises where you can practice this English point with

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speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just

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visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven

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forty four. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journeys.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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