(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

You and a friend are sitting in an outdoor café next to a street lined with stores and shops. Suddenly, you can’t hear your friend because a car with a loud muffler drives past. After a minute, you are able to continue your conversation. However, five minutes later, a loud motorcycle stops next to the café waiting for the traffic light to change. While waiting, the driver revs his motor. In other words, he makes his motorcycle sound loud without moving it. You and your friend finally decide to move inside the café to escape the noise.

Researchers have conducted studies to try to understand the reasons why some people want their cars or motorcycles to be so loud. They found four different reasons. Most of these noisy drivers are young men between 18-35 years old. Perhaps they haven’t been very successful in school or sports or in a job or in dating, so nobody notices them. Loud vehicles can change that.

(See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the 13th article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

The Type of People Who Drive Loud Cars And Motorcycles
That Bother Other People

You and a friend are sitting in an outdoor café next to a street lined with stores and shops. Suddenly, you can’t hear your friend because a car with a loud muffler drives past. After a minute, you are able to continue your conversation. However, five minutes later, a loud motorcycle stops next to the café waiting for the traffic light to change. While waiting, the driver revs his motor. In other words, he makes his motorcycle sound loud without moving it. You and your friend finally decide to move inside the café to escape the noise.

Researchers have conducted studies to try to understand the reasons why some people want their cars or motorcycles to be so loud. They found four different reasons. Most of these noisy drivers are young men between 18-35 years old. Perhaps they haven’t been very successful in school or sports or in a job or in dating, so nobody notices them. Loud vehicles can change that.

They think that the loud noise makes them look very confident, powerful and masculine (like a strong man.) When people hear the driver’s loud noise, the people will often jump or look at the driver. Studies show that these drivers like to see those reactions. Suddenly, the driver feels important and cool. He is able to control other people’s emotions.

Some of these drivers have “dark” personalities. They are selfish and don’t care about other people. They feel good when they frighten other people and cause them pain with their loud noise. Researchers have found that about 30% of these loud drivers have “dark” personalities. Some of these types of people might have had difficult childhoods because their families didn’t give them attention or love, or were cruel to them. Or they were born with brains that couldn’t understand the pain other people had. Also, they didn’t have good role models. In other words, they never saw their parents acting kind to other people, so they didn’t learn how to treat other people well.

Another type of drivers just gets excited by the loud sound of their cars or motorcycles. They are not trying to hurt anyone. They just enjoy the sound of a strong engine. Often, they don’t realize that they are bothering other people.

A final reason could be connected to culture. In some places, it’s common to hear loud sounds in the neighborhood all of the time. These can come from music from shops or homes, or loud conversations, or from someone calling out to someone else from an open window. So loud vehicle noises are just another sound in the neighborhood, and the drivers think their loud cars and motorcycles are normal.

Here is the link to the article and exercises that you can use with your students: Lovers of Loud Mufflers ARTICLE ^ EXERCISE

David Kehe
Faculty Emeritus

*About the free-download materials. During my 40 years of teaching ESL, I have had many colleagues who were very generous with their time, advice and materials. These downloads are my way of paying it forward.