对话文本
A: Where's Bill? The ambassador is already here. The meeting is set to start at 9 am.

B: He's late again. Traffic is probably holding him up. You know, he commutes from the suburbs. It's not easy commuting every day. We should cut him some slack.

A: Even though the trafic is bumper-to-bumper out there, I don't think it's heavy traffic that makes Bill late. He takes the train, remember?

B: Oh, that's right. Well, the train shouldn't be late. That means there is only one explanation.... Bill must have overslept.

A: Well, to be fare, since he's coming all the way from Lancaster, he's got to get up much earlier than the rest of us. He must get start on his commute about 6:30, no telling what time he actually gets up.

B: That's right, because he's got to get to the train station from his house, then take the blue line into the city, then switch trains to the red line. In all, the trip's got to take more than 2 hours.

A: Why doesn't he just drive to work?

B: It's too difficult to park your car in the city. Also, the traffic coming in from the suburbs is a nightmare.
参考翻译
比尔在哪儿？大使已经到了。会议定在上午9点开始。
他又迟到了。可能路上耽误了。你知道，他从郊区坐公交车来上班。他每天坐公交车上下班不容易，我们应该放他一马。
即使那儿路上的汽车一辆接着一辆，我认为他也不会因为交通繁忙而迟到。他乘火车上班，你忘了吗？
噢，是这样。火车可不会晚点。那就说明只有一种解释，比尔一定睡过头了。
好了，公正地讲，由于他从兰开斯特远道而来，所以比我们所有的人都要起的早。他必须在6:30左右坐上公交车，不知道他到底是几点起床。
确实如此。因为他得从家赶到火车站，然后乘蓝线进站，接着再换乘去红线的火车。这一路上总共要花两个多小时。
那他为什么不开车上班？
在城里找地方停车太难了。而且，从郊区开车进城简直是太恐怖了。
重点词汇
traffic: 交通
There is too much traffic on the road.
这条路上行人车辆太多了。
Police control the traffic in large cities.
在大城市里,警察控制交通。
Traffic is very heavy during the rush hour.
高峰时间交通十分繁忙。

Commute: 通勤,乘公交车上下班
She commutes between Chicago and Rockford every day.
她每天通勤于芝加哥和洛克福之间。

Suburb: 郊区
His family moved to the suburbs.
他的一家搬到郊区去了。

Explanation: 解释

Oversleep: 睡过头
I'm afraid I overslept and missed my usual bus.
很遗憾我睡过头了, 误了我通常坐的那班公共汽车.

Switch: 换乘

Drive: 开车

Park: 停车
Don't park the car on this street.
别把汽车停放在这条街上。

nightmare: 噩梦,可怕的事
Her first few days in that foreign land were a total nightmare.
她刚到达异邦的那几天简直像是一场噩梦。
重点词组
Hold up:耽搁,阻碍
They were held up by fog.
他们被雾所阻。
The finals of the football was held up by a heavy storm.
由于一场凶猛的暴风雨，那场足球决赛被迫停赛了。
The train he took was held up for over 2 hours.
他乘坐的火车晚点了两个多小时。

Cut sb. Some slack:放某人一马

take a train:乘火车

bumper-to-bumper:一辆接一辆

to be fair:公正地说

get up:起床

the rest of us:我们其他人

no telling:不知道
There's no telling what he'll think up next.
谁也不知道他下次会想出什么花样.