NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has been following this story, and she's here now. Dina, scientists and legal experts, they're saying that the evidence against Ivins is really far from foolproof, that there is no smoking gun. What are they concerned about?

Well, a lot of the scientists who have looked at this say that they couldn't - that the FBI couldn't possibly have ruled out everyone who might have matched the anthrax vial or had access to the anthrax vial that they matched to Ivins. And this is basically, without getting too much into the science, this is because anthrax, all you have to do is grow more. So if you had some anthrax, conceivably, from this vial that they linked to Ivins, you could have grown your own source of more of that.

They also can't place him in Princeton, which is where the letters were mailed from, and he has this very distinctive, cramped handwriting that they couldn't match the handwriting on the envelopes. The FBI said it was similar, but there was nothing conclusive there. And there's this broader feeling that he couldn't have possibly accomplished all of this on his own. The plan was too elaborate and too technical for one person to do by themselves.

So what does the FBI say to all those questions?

turn 2 : "cramped handwriting" - This is a descriptive phrase that refers to handwriting that is very small, tight, and crowded together, making it difficult to read. It does not refer to handwriting that is physically cramped due to space constraints.

Answer: Small


OK.  You have been witness to debate preparation sessions, however. So, when does the work really start for these events?

Well, I tell you, it's something that's ongoing from the very start of the general election. Because the best way to debate effectively is to know what your opponent is going to say. So, everyone in each campaign has been paying attention to the interviews the other opponent has been giving, the speeches that they have been making. And about a month ago, they started compiling a briefing book. This is about four inches thick, it has tabs covering every issue, everything that the campaign has put out about it, everything your opponent has said about it, and it's a way to get you briefed on all the issues. As you know, tonight, 90 minutes, everything is on the table.

Yeah. So, what are the key points a debate prep team likes to address right away?I was wondering if there is like a set list, or does it really depend on the candidate and the race?

Well, hands down, no matter the juxtaposition of your candidate or the charisma they may or may not have, it always comes down to two things, and that's the verbal and the non-verbal.

turn 1 : Debate preparation is a continuous process throughout the election campaign.

Which aspect of the debate preparation process is always important?

Answer: Verbal


Different things. Some people have heard of the Ig Nobel Prize, many have not. To some of them - there have been some winners who have been waiting for it for years. More typically they're not quite sure what it is. Our standard policy, which - it has a few twists now and then. But in general, when we've chosen somebody, we will quietly get in touch with them, offer them the prize and give them the opportunity to quietly to decline the honor. And if they say no, that's fine, that's it. We never mention it. We don't even keep records. We give it to somebody else. But happily for us, not many people decline. Almost everybody accepts.

And some of them - do they actually go on to win the real Nobel Prize?

That's happened at least once. In the year 2000, we gave the Ig Nobel Prize in psychics to two physicists in England, Andre Geim and Michael Berry, who were, and are, quite eminent physicists. They won the Ig Nobel Prize that year for using magnets to levitate a frog. I don't know if you've seen the videos on the Web of that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

turn 0 : Winners of Ig Nobel Prize are eager to receive it

Which prize are most people unwilling to decline?

Answer: Ig


Yeah.

I love salt.

You didn't see that coming. (Laughter) You love salt.

I totally didn't.

That's an essential mineral.

turn 4 : Implicated meaning: A is sarcastically downplaying the significance of B's love for salt. While the literal meaning suggests a factual statement about salt being an essential mineral, the tone and context imply that A is being dismissive or making light of B's statement about loving salt.

Answer: Salt


And it's the same university where, in the early days of gene therapy, a young man did die in a very early gene therapy study that set the field back, like, a decade. So the last thing these researchers want to do is, you know, do anything risky. They're taking it very carefully, being very slow. They're going to follow these patients for a long time to see if it's safe and how well it's working.

All right. There's a lot at stake here. And this isn't the only study, I understand, that's trying to use CRISPR to treat diseases. What else is going on?

Yeah, yeah. It's actually a really exciting time for - in the world for CRISPR and medical treatments right now. There's about a half a dozen studies that are - have been going in China for cancer for a while. And now another half a dozen or so are being launched in Europe, in the United States and in countries like Canada that try to treat a variety of diseases. In the first one are blood disorders. One is known as beta thalassemia. That first patient was treated there in Germany recently. And then there's - another trial is going to be starting soon in this country to try to use CRISPR to treat sickle cell disease. So it's a lot happening right now with CRISPR and diseases.

And it sounds like it's still early days.

turn 3 : The literal meaning of this sentence is that it is still early in the development of CRISPR-based treatments. However, the implied meaning is that it is still too soon to tell if these treatments will be successful.

Answer: Premature


Well, he's got two possibilities here. These tariffs go up on Friday. Both the U. S.  and the Chinese economy would feel the pain. Markets would respond. And here in China, the timing is not great. China's growth is slowing. The government has stepped in with stimulus to try and cushion the blow. And higher tariffs would put more pressure on China's financial system. That said, the notion of Xi Jinping standing up to an American president plays into this carefully crafted aura of him inside of China as this strongman leader who's willing to fight back against China's biggest global rival. So it could play in his favor.

Now, one thing that has not been on the table during these trade talks is China's interment of millions of Chinese Muslims - Uighurs - something that has concerned human rights groups here in the U. S.  Do you think that there's any chance that this human rights concern will be addressed during these trade talks?

Well, it certainly doesn't seem like it. The State Department has ratcheted up its criticism of China on this issue, but the Commerce Department and the U. S.  trade representative who are handling the trade negotiations don't seem receptive to having this issue be a part of the talks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did seem to separate the two issues in an interview on "Face The Nation" on Sunday, saying the administration has to do more than one thing at a time.

And you were just in Xinjiang last week, right?Tell us what you saw there.

turn 2 : The US government is not willing to include human rights concerns in trade negotiations with China

How has the US government responded to human rights concerns during trade negotiations with China?

Answer: Not


Yeah, thank you.

So tell us what the article said.

Well, it's very interesting. It's in the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica. It's a very historic magazine, the Jesuits, of course, being the same order that Pope Francis - an order of priest that Pope Francis is a part of. And what's very interesting is that these two authors are known to be quite close to him. One, Antonio Spadaro, was the person who interviewed him in 2013 and made a big splash. And what they're saying is that they're concerned about ties between fundamental evangelicals and, kind of, right-wing Catholics in the U. S.  that are focused only on very neuralgic issues and kind of dividing in politics.

And the article, I believe, specifically talks about xenophobic and Islamophobic views.

Yeah. What the authors say is that, you know, Pope Francis has really been trying to create a culture of dialogue encounter, really working with people across all the spectrums. And what the two authors in this article are saying is that these right-wing groups in the U. S.  have been really doing the opposite. Where Pope Francis is trying to build bridges, they're trying to build walls. And they're playing up concerns about migration, about refugees. And they're kind of operating in the exact opposite way of the pope which, for a Catholic, is obviously a very strange thing.

All right, this article also directly mentions President Donald Trump and his adviser Steve Bannon. What does it say about them?

turn 0 : "Thank you" - The literal meaning is an expression of gratitude or appreciation.

Which expression does PersonA use to respond to PersonB's request to share the content of the article?

Answer: Thank


Well, that's good to hear, and I'm sure life is good for a lot of people there. But nevertheless, austerity has cut into many people's lives, and a lot of people would like the economy to start doing a lot better.

It is true. In fact, you brought up a very good point. What happened is the austerity that followed the crisis of 2008 and 2009 - and I'm afraid your country, the United States, knows a lot about that, and it was part - actually, it helped start all that. We did our bit, as well, in Europe, of course. But - people and nations react in different ways. The Greek rioted in their squares. The French took to the streets. The Spaniards sort of sulked(ph) in their unsellable homes. The British swore at their bankers. Italians kept very quiet (unintelligible) Prime Minister Mario Monti. But obviously, something was sort of looming, and it happened. You know, this election, people had enough and say, austerity is not enough.

We've been suffering. And Beppe Grillo actually provided a way and a channel for (unintelligible), which is good. There was no violence at all in Italy, and the people protesting with their votes. I think it's very mature, very wise, in a way. Now it's time for Grillo to use those votes and do something with them.

Other than describing him as a populist, can you describe his politics to us?

turn 1 : Austerity measures caused protests and elections in Europe.

Answer: Anger


It does.

It worked out.

So, first of all, just - as you said, you're just coming back from this conference. Could you just give me - just overall, what are you hearing from your colleagues, particularly your former colleagues in the courts, about how this system is functioning now?How do they experience this backlog?Is it this unending flow of cases that they can't do anything with?Or - how are they experiencing this?

Yeah. You know, the American Bar Association just put out a report on the immigration courts recently in which they said it's a dysfunctional system on the verge of collapse. And that was, basically, agreed to by everybody at the conference, including sitting immigration judges. What the judges have said is that the new judges being hired are pretty much being told in their training that they're not really judges, that instead, they should view themselves as loyal employees of the attorney general and of the executive branch of government. They are basically being trained to deny cases not to fairly consider them.

turn 3 : This statement implies that that judiciary is not independent of the executive branch of government,

Which branch of government is the immigration court being told to be loyal to?

Answer: Executive


Did you think twice?

I said - well, I didn't think - well, I said, sure, and I held it to the ground. And then I thought, this is not exactly what I signed up for, but, you know, you need to pitch in a little bit in these circumstances.

For a disease, a virus to spill over, is it just a matter of coming in contact with the right animal?Is it just chance, or does there have to be something special about the virus itself to be able to infect multiple species?

Well, some kinds of virus, yes, are better at this than others. And the scientists who watch the world for the next spillover are particularly vigilant about single-stranded RNA viruses, as distinct from DNA viruses that carry their genomes on the good old, stable double helix. RNA viruses, when they replicate, mutate more frequently. Therefore, there's more change. There's more genetic variation in the populations of those viruses. They replicate very abundantly, so their populations are large.

turn 0 : B is asking A if he/she thought carefully before doing something.

What type of viruses are scientists more vigilant about due to their high replication rate and mutation frequency?

Answer: RNA


Wow.

. . . all the different individual pieces, we've got tens of thousands of pieces, but basically, 1,800 or more than 1,800 different distinct meteorites. And we have some of the - there's all different kinds of meteorites. I know this is radio, but I actually did bring some samples in with me for the studio audience at least. So if anybody afterwards wants to come by and take a look at these. . .

You'll count them on the way out.

I will count them on the way out.

turn 3 : You will count the number of samples you have after the presentation implying that the studio audience might steal some.

Which number will PersonA count after the presentation?

Answer: Number


But well. . .

If you go through the list of Obama people, the top four, five, six people had not just worked in presidential campaigns before, but they worked in that critical area which gets very little attention, but is absolutely essential, and that's called field operations. It means going into states, setting up shop, organizing, getting people door knocking, getting people calling and getting delegate victories.

These people knew how to win campaigns on a local level. Importantly, very significant figures had a lot of experience in Iowa. He set his sights on winning Iowa very early.

What I found fascinating in doing this reporting is that both campaigns had the same Plan A. The Plan A was, win the first four states, attain a political victory, and not be out of personnel.

turn 1 : Field operations" - The literal meaning of field operations is the management and execution of tasks in a specific area, such as farming or construction. However, in this context, it refers to the essential campaign strategy of setting up operations in states, organizing volunteers, and winning delegate victories.

What was the critical area that the top four to six people in Obama's campaign had experience in?

Answer: Field


Yeah. A chap called Paolo Campana seems to have been the first with the idea that you should eat a dish of pasta all'Amatriciana and donate some money to relief efforts - a euro, two euros, a couple of dollars. That was taken up fairly quickly by the Red Cross here in Italy. They've got a very clever campaign based on the fact that the ama in Amatriciana is love, so, you know, kind of playing on that and asking people to donate money when they eat a dish of pasta. A lot of restaurants here in Italy got on board very quickly. Paolo Campana said that he had 700 within a day of putting the idea up and lots of restaurants outside Italy.

Do you have a favorite version of the dish?

The simple one, the purest one, yeah. I don't particularly want it with onion or garlic. I think they overpower it. And I prefer just a little bit of hot pepper rather than black pepper, which is what some people put in. Interesting, you know, there's an idea to have a virtual sagre. I mean, these food festivals, they're called sagre, and they take place in every little town in Italy. And some people have put forward the idea that over the weekend, you cook a dish of Amatriciana, have some friends, post a photo, use a hashtag and donate some money to the relief efforts. That's a fun idea. You can, of course, just donate money to the relief efforts without having to cook.

Jeremy Cherfas wrote about pasta all'Amatriciana for NPR's The Salt, and he spoke to us from Rome. Thanks so much for being with us.

turn 2 :  (3) implies the speaker's approval of the idea of having a virtual sagre

How did the speaker respond to the idea of having a virtual sagre?

Answer: Approval


Well, I say that may be the case. And I'm for affirmative action. I'm for giving opportunities to minorities. I'm for immigration reform. I'm a very proud Hispanic. But I just think the Democratic Party has to communicate a better message of economic populism, of helping small businesses. Somehow the centrist white male, the conservative white male that used to vote Democratic from the South and the Midwest is eluding us. And we've got to get that base back or get some portion of the base because they're leaving us in droves.

And what about those politicians that might say, hey, look, we won a couple of national elections with the demographics that we have in the Democratic Party.

Well, what I say to them is that's great. But we've lost the Congress. We've lost the House. We've lost the Senate. We lose governorships. And, you know, it's not just the presidency that has the power in this country. It's local officials, it's county commissioners, it's governors. It's not just the Congress. It's a whole range of offices where we're not competing because we - we need a stronger, compelling economic message. And somehow, that seems to be eluding us if you look at recent elections, especially in the South and the Midwest.

You've already cited Bernie Sanders. And I gather you have endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. How do you think Secretary Clinton addresses these issues?

turn 2 : suggests that the Democratic Party must put forth a more persuasive and powerful economic message to win more elections

Which message does person PersonA believe the Democratic Party needs to communicate better to win more elections?

Answer: Economic


I was listening back to some of the pieces that you've done in the past couple of months as we prepare for this broadcast. One of the things that China may have to change is the role of its banks. Banks like to take very few risks if possible, and that means investing in those big state-owned industries that have - well, they may not be spectacular returns anymore, but they are reliable.

Yeah. The banks do extremely well. You and I could sit back and run those banks and be very, very wealthy, though, communist.

The government sets the interest rates and so the banks can make a lot money. And if you're a Chinese person, you can't really get much of your capital out of the country. So where else are you going to put it?

One of the problems with the banks is that they tend to invest in state-owned enterprises. It's kind of part of their job, and it's less risky. But most of the jobs in China are really produced by private enterprise, as they are here in the United States. And it's much harder for them to get capital. So people are, in many ways, feelings that the economy is out of whack in a number ways and that there need to be some serious changes. The government knows this, but there are now very strong vested interests in state-owned enterprises and the banks. And so getting that done is not going to be easy politically.

turn 3 : The government is aware of the issues with state-owned enterprises and banks, but it will be difficult to make changes due to vested interests

What is the main obstacle to making changes in state-owned enterprises and banks?

Answer: house


Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Now, the books were released on inauguration day. I don't know if that was significant or not. Tell us if it was and what inspired these collections?

Well, these collections I have been thinking about for a long time. I've been talking about it with my agent for sometime about doing something like this. The big fear was that, no publisher would be that interested in it because they wouldn't think the collection could be sustained over a period of time doing it every year. But Bantam believed it and so Bantam, we ultimately made a deal with Bantam to do it. The date wasn't really significant. I mean, the date turned out to be significant but we had set the date a long time before and we were just hoping that Obama would win so the date would really have some significance but it was all an accident. It turned out well though.

Now, you're going to - we've had anthologies before obviously. But the new thing about this anthology is that you're going to try to publish it annually. How difficult do you think that is likely to be?

turn 2 : The publisher was not interested in the collections but Bantam believed it

How did the author find a publisher for the collection?

Answer: Bantam


Well, you're a gifted counselor. What do you think it might be?

I think it's triggering our students who have already experienced trauma and secondary trauma, and they've seen things. And we've seen students go through all kinds of emotional reactions during drills - panic and sadness and grief and fear because during those drills, you really don't know what's happening.

Given your history, given what you do now, given how close you come to some of these terrible issues, issues that are often too terrible to contemplate - if there are any one, two or three things you can change or say need to be done right now, what would they be?

I think our schools are doing everything they possibly can to make the environment safe. And I think one of the things that needs to change is it is not a conversation just for our schools anymore. What's happening is our world and our society are now entering our schools. And so we need to address our world and our society.

turn 3 : Schools alone cannot solve the issue of safety, society as a whole needs to address it.

Which issue needs to be addressed by society as a whole?

Answer: Safety


Yeah. Everyone agrees that our prescription drug costs are too high - both right and left - you know, Democrat, Republican. It's one of the few points of information, points of fact that everyone agrees on. The problem is everyone disagrees on how best to tackle that. And there are a lot of forces that are resisting any change at all.

The bipartisan solution which Senator Klobuchar and Senator John McCain have proposed is allowing prescription drug imports from other countries, so we allow for a global competition in the sense of, you know, if everyone else is getting a better deal than us, why can't we buy our prescription drugs from there the same way we buy our, you know, refrigerators and cars?

Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News and author of "An American Sickness: How Health Care Became Big Business And How You Can Take It Back. "Thanks so much for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

turn 1 : Everyone is aware that the issue of high prescription drug costs needs to be addressed, but there are opposing views on how to do so.

What is the point of disagreement regarding the tackling of high prescription drug costs?

Answer: Tackling


So I can't say anything definitive. But my understanding is that Mr.  Mueller basically laid out, here are the elements. As you read in the introduction, we can't conclude it wasn't obstruction, and we're essentially turning it over to Congress to look at that and, I must say, to the voters; ultimately, I think the voters in 2020 are going to be the people that decide what was right and wrong in this case.

Now, there was an interesting point in the press conference today with Attorney General Bill Barr. He defended his conclusion that there was no obstruction by pointing out that the president has at times been very cooperative in this investigation - he provided access to documents, he let his senior aides testify freely. Let me ask you, does that mean in your mind that the president could not have had a corrupt intent?

Well, I think, you know, he was sort of cherry-picking the evidence. We know, for example, that the president wanted to dismiss Mr.  Mueller, wanted to shut down the investigation, wanted Attorney General Sessions to unrecuse himself to take control of the situation. We know that when he first heard of the investigation, he leaned back in his chair and said, this could be the end of my presidency. And so I don't - I mean, clearly, there was cooperation. Although, on one of the very major aspects, the president refused to testify or his lawyers, anyway, refused to testify.

Do you think it was a mistake of Robert Mueller not to have subpoenaed the president to sit down for an interview?

turn 3 : Turn (4): "subpoenaed the president to sit down for an interview" is an idiom that means legally compelling someone to appear and give testimony. It does not mean literally inviting someone to sit down for a friendly conversation.

How does the statement define "subpoenaed the president to sit down for an interview"?

Answer: Legally


Well, I think it was more like blind anger, as anyone would probably if you have, you know, the highest elected person in the land telling you that the - an entire congressional district is rat-infested and miserable and a horrible place when, of course, that's not true. And you have to sort of question his judgment, as this is not hardly the first time he has done something like this.

I'll put it bluntly. Did you take the bait?I mean, it seems like these repeated attacks are designed to cause controversy and to cause the media to engage.

Well, I think you've really hit the nail on the head. That's the - that is the professional problem that we all have in covering this president. But if you have this carefully considered, you know, sort of - you know, this is some academic or intellectual argument, it's going to be - fall on deaf ears as well. So at some point, you know, you have to take the measure of the moment and decide where you're going to go.

And I think, you know, this particular tweet that - actually series of tweets and somewhat echoed again this morning - is just beyond the pale. I mean, it's just so obvious what's going on. It's just not excusable, so you just have to stand up for the people who don't have a voice in this.

turn 2 : Hitting the nail on the head means to state the truth. The deaf ears are people that don't want to hear about it.

What does hitting the nail on the head mean?

Answer: Truth


Well, popularity is very important. The outdoor world needs more visitors and better accessibility. The difficulty with managing that side of it is that construction can have adverse effects to the natural areas if you start doing different buildings and that sort of thing on top of it, but yes.

Is this an anomaly, though, when we're talking just about Horseshoe Bend or have you seen other spaces that have changed?

I have. A smaller one in Colorado is Conundrum Hot Springs. After it became a spot for people to easily find on social media, the amount of visitorship (ph) went up really high. And since this is a very remote location where people kind of hang around for a long time in the hot springs, they ran out of places to go to the bathroom. As a result, Conundrum Hot Springs had to be shut down for a little bit while park rangers were up there with shovels to relieve that issue.

Meaning they were building bathrooms because people were just, like, basically. . .

turn 2 : Social media can significantly increase the number of visitors to remote locations, causing issues with facilities.

How can social media impact remote locations?

Answer: Issues


I don't know where life would have led Ionel Talpazan if he'd slept on a cardboard box on a corner of, say, Akron or Peoria. But in New York, a famous art figure named Henry Tobler saw an artist in his drawings and wrote about him in scholarly journals. His pictures were included in Manhattan art galleries, and from the 1990s on, Ionel made his way in the world by his art. By the time he died, his works had hung at the American Visionary Art Museum and museums in San Francisco, London, Berlin, Madrid and France. Talpazans were sold in fancy galleries from SoHo to Chelsea. The man who'd slept in a box moved to a New York apartment.

My art shows spiritual technology, something beautiful and beyond human imagination that comes from another galaxy, he once told the Western Folklore journal. So in a relative way, this is like the God. Ionel Talpazan imagined incredible things and made them alive in the eyes of others. In a way, he did escape on his UFO.

(Singing) I wouldn't fool you, but I - I've seen the saucers so many times, I'm almost. . .

Elton John. You're listening to NPR News.

turn 1 :  implies that Ionel Talpazan was able to find success and make something of himself, and in a way, he was able to "escape" his struggles and reach his dreams

How did Ionel Talpazan "escape" his struggles and achieve success?

Answer: Success


Well, tell us first, let's go back. How did you find out about this because I know they try and keep this very secret?How did you find out you had been awarded the MacArthur Grant?

I kind of got punked a little bit. I mean, it's the best way to get punked you could imagine, but they called me into the offices, I was going to be in Chicago for an event, and they basically called me in more or less under the pretense that they wanted me to talk about some candidates that I was recommending.

So of course I kind of scampered in to sort of support the folks that I was hoping would get it, and they just sort of surprised me with this, you know, this incredible gift and just, you know, it kind of just blew my brains open.

So they really did manage to keep it a secret?

turn 1 : A was surprised to receive the MacArthur Grant.

Answer: Crowding


What would happen in a civil contempt is that you would basically be trying to hold the attorney general - get a court order that he was in contempt. And the court would have a hearing. And Justice Department would intervene, and they would fight the contempt citation. And then the court would have a ruling. And that's how the process kind of operates theoretically. What normally happens is the court does not like to step into executive legislative disputes, and they will urge both sides to try to accommodate one another. I think it would only be if the court determined that the Justice Department was really in bad faith would they then hold the attorney general in contempt.

Let me ask you this. If this matter does land in court, if litigation is actively pursued, that could take months. It could take years even. And if the goal is to get information from Attorney General William Barr, how is this an effective strategy?Pursuing a contempt case could result in a huge delay, right?

I think the reality is is that the rules of subpoenas right now as we're discussing in many ways work in favor of the executive for the exact reason that you are hinting at in your question, which is they can run the clock. They can probably run the clock on the enforcement question for months, if not years. And they might be able to even run it up to the next election.

Right. So if the White House intends to stonewall, do you think it's even a wise strategy on the part of the Democrats right now to be talking about contempt?

turn 2 : The rules of subpoenas work in favor of the executive.

What is the advantage of the rules of subpoenas for the executive?

Answer: Executive


She says, look, we've got to do something some investment on sort of global warming issues, energy, independence issues. Let's use the recession to start creating a green economy.

Now, when you look at someone who is no longer in the race, John Edwards, he was often portrayed by supporters and portrayed himself as someone who was going to make ending poverty the center of his campaign. How would his approach have differed from both Senators Obama and Clinton?

Well, actually it turns out at the end of the day, the Edwards approach is fairly similar to sort of a combination of the Clinton and Obama proposals, and that's not surprising. Because John Edwards was the person who came out with a plan first - I thought it was the best plan - and the other candidates fit in in a lot of issues, actually copied John Edwards. In fact, John Edwards was - has truly been a forcing figure during this election, compelling Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both, to be more progressive than they might otherwise have been.

Well, let's talk a little bit about political philosophy. We've talked a bit about trickle-down economics, but then there's also the model of the government getting directly involved. Certainly ending the great depression by creating jobs itself - everything from jobs for writers and artists to road building, infrastructure. That does not seem to be a model that's been followed, certainly not to that extent - in decades. Is that even on the table, the whole prospect of the government actually stepping in and doing job creation itself?

turn 1 : "How would his approach have differed from both Senators Obama and Clinton?" - The literal meaning is a question about how John Edwards' approach to ending poverty would differ from the approaches of Senators Obama and Clinton. The actual meaning is a question about the policy differences between the three candidates.

What was the focus of John Edwards' campaign?

Answer: Poverty


Hello.

Hi. I don't even know where to begin this story. It is so crazy. I guess I'll note Britons who do seem to love a really deliciously gossipy trashy tabloid tell-all, maybe they were overdue for a good scandal.

I have to say we've really, really needed it. Britain is exhausted by Brexit and the constant doom and gloom. So it's no surprise that WAGatha Christie, as you mentioned in the introduction, has broken the Internet today. And the reason why it's called WAGatha Christie is that WAG or WAGs is an acronym commonly used here to refer to the wives and girlfriends of high-profile athletes. And two of the women involved in today's feud are two of the most high-profile WAGs in the country.

OK. The wives or girlfriends in question here are Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy. Who are these two women?

turn 0 : The story is very different from stories people normally here

What is the tone of the statement in turn 0?

Answer: Different


In diapers, exactly. But the London police haven't quite given the final say-so on that yet. But, you know, there will be a lot of protests. That may upset the president. It's controversial, but the government insists, and the diplomats insist, that he's a vital part of nurturing a special relationship, which they insist is very good for the U. K.

Because he's not only going, he's getting literally the royal treatment.

Yeah. I mean, this is as good as it gets if you're a head of state coming to the U. K. It is bells and whistles. It's pomp and circumstance. It's a banquet at Buckingham Palace, although that seems to be being boycotted by Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, also by Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the - of Her Majesty's Opposition, and Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

But I don't think that's going to take the gloss off it too much for Donald Trump. He's someone who has made it very clear this is what he wants, and we're expecting him to look like he's lapping it up.

turn 2 : Bells and whistles means that everything that is expensive and fancy is being done.

Which phrase describes the treatment received by the head of state visiting the UK?

Answer: Expensive


Yes. At the top of the mountains, we have cloud forests. These are forests composed of trees of low stature. They have the ability to withstand the strong wind conditions at the top of the mountain. They are very important in regulating the water cycling of the mountain and actually supplying the 20 percent of the water for Puerto Rico. These trees are completely covered by mosses and plants that sit on the tree trunks and collect water. And they can then kind of filter cloud water down the mountain. So many of these mosses and epiphytes were stripped from the tree trunks on the face where those winds were more intense.

I wonder, Dr.  Gonzalez, as you were walking through El Yunque looking at the destruction of this place that you've known so well for so long, what was going through your mind seeing it totally transformed?

Well, it's an amazing experience, but I think it's one of learning and regeneration. We already have seen the greening of the forest in some areas. We're already seeing that some species are lifting up. We know that some other species will come up and kind of make their way to more native or mature species of the forest to take over. So yes, it is a catastrophic event. But we know that there's going to be a recovery phase.

Dr.  Gonzalez, what about you and your family?How did you do?Do you have power?Do you have water?

turn 3 : DR GONZALEZ AND HIS FAMILYWAIKED THROUGH AFORESTAND FACES MORE INTENSED THINGS

What did Dr. Gonzalez and his family face in the forest?

Answer: Intense


I think that's up to the nominee to determine who his vice president will be. Certainly, I think she brings some things to the table that would be great for a team, as I indicated. There are a lot of women out there who would like to see her play some significant role, perhaps as vice president. She obviously went into the rural community, and whipped up some small-town votes.

And so I think she does bring something to the table that would cause her to be considered. And I think she will be considered by Barack Obama. So now they have to get together, and work it out, and see if it works for them.

When you think about this race, you have so many people who are so emotionally invested, both people in the political community but certainly American citizens. What would you say to someone, yourself as a stalwart Democrat, who said, as many people have said, you know what?I'm not going to vote for Obama. I'm going to vote for McCain. I'm a Hillary supporter. I can't stomach voting for Obama.

Well, the first thing I think is that it is time for people to focus on the issues, the core issues of the Democratic Party. What do we stand for?Who do we really represent?And that's how you measure your candidates. I don't think anybody that focuses on the history of the party, and how we have evolved, and what our issues are, and the leadership of our party who could vote for McCain.

turn 0 : "whipped up some small-town votes" - This expression means that the nominee's vice presidential candidate was able to motivate and persuade people from rural areas to vote for their party. The literal meaning of "whipping up" is to mix or beat ingredients together quickly, so the phrase has a figurative meaning here.

What does the expression "whipped up" mean in turn 0?

Answer: Motivate


The federal investigations looming over the Trump administration kicked into high gear this past week, yielding legal consequences for not one but four of his associates. Former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts in federal court while, at virtually the same time, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and implicated the president. Add to that news that prosecutors reached immunity deals with two Trump allies - David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, and Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization. To sort through what all this means, I'm joined by Anne Milgram, a former state and federal prosecutor and former attorney general of New Jersey. Welcome to the program.

Thanks for having me.

And let's talk about that immunity. Prosecutors have worked out deals to get cooperation from at least these two men that we know about. What's the upshot of that?

So the upshot with Pecker, I think, could be enormous for the government in terms of getting evidence about Donald Trump. We understand that he had - he's friends with Trump for 20 years or more and that they've had a long relationship. What I think is one of the most interesting questions here is not just that he's cooperated related to the Cohen piece but also what other evidence he may have. Were there other deals made?Were there other stories that they caught and killed, as they say in the business, where they pay people to not actually publish a story and not have it go public?So that, I think, is particularly interesting.

turn 3 : "Caught and killed" is not literal. It refers to newspaper stories being not being published due to interference from the subject of those stories.

Which term describes the practice of preventing the publication of a newspaper story?

Answer: Publishing


When you look at what the U. S.  walks away from this summit with, was it a success from the U. S.  point of view?

Well, the one thing - yes, obviously the president, I think, was happy. The president was happy to have been celebrated in the way he was celebrated. Clearly he repeated the mantra of, you know, this imperial visit was the first and most important thing in 200 years.

But I think it's also true that on Iran, they may have gotten a little bit of assistance from Mr.  Abe. He offered to mediate. He's going to be visiting in Iran. And Mr.  Abe and Mr.  Trump both said nobody wanted war; nobody wanted rising conflict. And that may be helpful to the president, who has tried to put the damper just a little bit on the kind of drumbeat that looks like the United States and Iran could end up in a military conflict.

That's Sheila Smith of the Council on Foreign Relations. She's also author of the book "Japan Rearmed. "Sheila Smith, thank you.

turn 1 : The president was satisfied with how he was perceived.

Answer: Satisfied


So from your teens into your 40s, you become an increasingly successful auto repair entrepreneur and businessman. What makes you, in your 40s, wind up in medical school?

I really wanted to grow the business or - I didn't really know exactly which direction I wanted to go into, but I felt like I needed some foundational training in business if I were to do this correctly. So I ended up checking out some local colleges to see who had a degree program and came across Ursuline College in Pepper Pike.

But it was while I was at Ursuline that I discovered my desire for medicine that came back from how I felt when I was a child. And it was during a biology class. And it was the first day of class when I walked in there, in the first hour, that my life changed.

How?What happened?

turn 0 : wind up means to suddenly be in a situation.

How did the speaker end up in medical school?

Answer: Foundational


What a coincidence. Serendipity.

Absolutely. So this is a very festive lab and we asked if they would look into this and they did, several times over, for us. And so we have the results on Video Pick of the Week is originals of our sample size of one - we should be clear - experiment into this.

Right. And you found that if you out enough - spike your eggnog enough, should we. . .

Well, yes. So you can go to our website for the recipe. But after - the key to this, and actually, we'll have - let's have Vince Fischetti, sort of, give us a little background.

turn 0 : The speaker is expressing surprise and amazement at the coincidence.

How would you describe PersonB's reaction to the coincidence?

Answer: Surprise


Yeah. The O'Neal family says that it shows cold-blooded murder. There is certainly rough language. I saw about nine minutes of one video. I think a lot of civilians might - it's a confusing thing to see. It's a - it's a crime scene after all, and it begins with the police car being sideswiped by a car stolen by the young man. At least one officer thought he'd been shot at.

Right. And it is - it is, among other things - first of all, you do not see the shooting of the 18-year-old because the officer who did the shooting, the fatal shooting, which was a gunshot to the back, was not his - his personal camera, body camera, was not turned on for whatever reason. But you see the vantage point of nine cameras, some worn by police officers, some on the dash boards of the car. And what you see is the kind of adrenaline and mayhem of police officers trying to corner a suspect.

And so when you finally do see Paul O'Neal, he is on the ground, face down. He's being handcuffed. Blood is coming out of his back. An officer has a foot on one of his legs as if to restrain him. And there's confusion because police are saying to each other, did you shoot?Were you shot at?And so there is a kind of mayhem quality.

In the time we have left, police and others have suggested that some of this, once again, an increase in homicide is because many gang leaders have been jailed or killed. How does that follow?

turn 0 : The phrase "cold-blooded murder" implies that the act was done with a clear intention to kill, indicating that it was done without any emotion or hesitation.

How was the shooting described by the O'Neal family?

Answer: Murder


Hello.

Hi. I don't even know where to begin this story. It is so crazy. I guess I'll note Britons who do seem to love a really deliciously gossipy trashy tabloid tell-all, maybe they were overdue for a good scandal.

I have to say we've really, really needed it. Britain is exhausted by Brexit and the constant doom and gloom. So it's no surprise that WAGatha Christie, as you mentioned in the introduction, has broken the Internet today. And the reason why it's called WAGatha Christie is that WAG or WAGs is an acronym commonly used here to refer to the wives and girlfriends of high-profile athletes. And two of the women involved in today's feud are two of the most high-profile WAGs in the country.

OK. The wives or girlfriends in question here are Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy. Who are these two women?

Which turn in the dialogue introduces the name of the scandal?

Answer: 2


Sure. So one rule that was actually finalized on Halloween at about 4:30 or so on a Friday has to do with confined animal feeding operations, and those are industrial farms. And basically it allows the companies that run those farms to voluntarily apply for permits to discharge waste from these industrial farms into streams, rivers and things like that. The sort of catch is that there is not really much enforcement in terms of whether, you know, the farm that's applying for the permit actually discharges enough waste to apply for that permit. So it really leaves a lot - a great degree of the discretion onto the industry itself. So that's one. . .

So it's deregulation?

Right.

Of course, the financial deregulation issue, whether or not - how much financial industry should be regulated is a big issue, but also, in California, you had a whole look and a proposition that passed that was about this kind of issue, about how densely animals should be kept together. But you mentioned reproductive freedom. What is the regulation change on that?

turn 0 : The permit system for industrial farms is flawed and allows companies to discharge waste into streams and rivers without much enforcement.

What does the permit system for industrial farms allow?

Answer: Discharge


Oh, yes. Nationally, and even locally, we sometimes just put everybody in the same group as just protesters, but there are a lot of different people out there for a lot of different reasons. And the vast majority of folks have been peaceful. We did see back in August and in November, and then again this week, some people engage in violence. And they do not speak for the majority of people. They do not represent the majority of people who have been out there. But it is a very diverse group, and people have different agendas.

Mr.  French, you, I gather, have a family - 4-year-old son. Do you want him to grow up in that St.  Louis area?

You know, this is a question my wife and I ask ourselves all the time. You know, we're educated. We, you know, have good incomes and we have chosen to live in a neighborhood I grew up in, which is a rough part of North St.  Louis. It's in a higher crime area. Its property values are low. There are a lot of struggles. And we've decided to stick it out and try to improve our community. But when we had our son four years ago, he really became for us an hourglass. He is, as we see, our timeline of when we really need to see real progress. And so for us, we always have a sense of urgency about trying to really improve our community.

St.  Louis Alderman Antonio French speaking with us from the studios of KWMU in St.  Louis. Thanks so much for being with us.

turn 1 : The implied meaning of this turn is that the speaker is asking if the Alderman has any reservations about the safety of the St. Louis area, given the protests and violence that have been occurring.

How does the interviewer ask about the Alderman's concern for the safety of his family in St. Louis?

Answer: concern


What makes a great building?

Well, what makes a great tall building is a building that stands out from the normal run of the mill stuff which is - which makes up most of the tall buildings that are being built in cities around the world. The four buildings this year that we've honored from each region are definitely breaking away from the norm.

Let's talk about - let me just remind everybody that this is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. Let's talk about the Absolute Towers in a suburb of Toronto. These towers were named best tall buildings of Americas. They've been named the Marilyn Monroe Towers because of their sky-high curves. They're curvy-looking, yet they - the curves serve a function.

The curves do serve a function. And what's unique about these buildings is, again, against the backdrop of 99 percent of tall buildings being fairly boring rectilinear boxes, these are very curving organic towers, which look iconic and look incredible, but they serve a purpose.

turn 3 : Literally, the turn means that the Absolute Towers are unique because they are curvy and organic, and also serve a purpose. However, the implied meaning is that most tall buildings are not designed with both aesthetics and functionality in mind, whereas the Absolute Towers manage to achieve both.

Answer: Curvy


President George W.  Bush's book of portraits of more than 60 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who served in wars under his watch was published this week - "Portraits Of Courage: A Commander In Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors. "President Bush has done a number of interviews in recent days talking about how he took up painting after leaving office and how he came to paint portraits of men and women that he sent in to war. We're joined by one of the president's subjects now. They call each other friends. Michael Rodriguez was a U. S.  Army Special Forces Green Beret who served from 1992 to 2013 in Latin America, Somalia, Haiti, two tours in Afghanistan, nine deployments in 21 years. Michael Rodriguez joins us now from his home near Fort Bragg, N. C. Thanks so much for being with us.

Oh, thank you for having me.

What do you think of your portrait?

Oh, wow. I'm, you know, I'm blown away that my former commander in chief would actually take the time to paint those that served under him. And I'm humbled that he selected me as one of them. I think it's a pretty good representation of me. I couldn't - I'm still kind of processing the whole thing.

turn 2 :  This is a polite way of asking what the person thinks of their own portrait.

Which portrait did President George W. Bush paint for Michael Rodriguez?

Answer: Not-Mentioned


. . . Say, the state agriculture commissioner. It just doesn't make sense.

Well, forgive my naivety. But don't all parties weigh in on ballot design?Or are those days - am I living in the age of Pollyanna aspirations?

Well, they have - they do have the ability to at least protest. They have the ability to see it at the time. The ballot is sent out ahead of time to say, hey, here's what the ballot looks like. And the Senate campaign of Bill Nelson did not complain.

President Trump has said there's evidence of election fraud. Is there evidence?

turn 1 : Not all parties weigh in on ballot design

How does PersonB describe their understanding of the involvement of all parties in ballot design?

Answer: naivety


That will vary tremendously among fields, but the simple story is, it'll take awhile. So, even the most wildly optimistic assessment would say that, even if we started drilling now, we won't really see any oil for five years. So, the U. S.  Geological Survey looked at, for example, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even if we started drilling today, we wouldn't really start to produce significant quantities of oil for a decade.

Robert, I know you're familiar with the ongoing debate about energy resources in this country. What we should do?Drill now?Don't drill now?You're a nonpartisan. You're a scientist. How do you view this argument between, really, the Republicans and the Democrats?

You know, the question for this country, for policy is, how will we ensure that we have energy over the next 20 years?To do that, we have a finite amount of capital that we can invest in the energy industry. It's highly unlikely that investing that money in offshore oil and gas drilling will ensure that we have sufficient supplies of energy 10 and 20 years from now. We've tried that experiment in the past. Despite all those wells drilled, domestic oil and gas production continued to decline. So, in hindsight, that money was not effectively spent.

Robert Kaufmann, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University. Robert, thank you.

Oh, you're welcome.

turn 0 : Drilling for oil takes a long time and won't immediately solve our energy problems.

What is the main issue with investing in offshore oil and gas drilling?

Answer: Time


. . . Didn't make millions. I know he made a lot - who ran Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Yeah, I think it's a question of, you know, does money tempt you to do things that you might not otherwise do?

Well, you've been there. What do you say?

I like to think that you need to stay grounded, right?You need to stay grounded. You need to say to yourself, am I doing what matters to the country and our future?Or am I just thinking about just pure self-interest, the amount of money that I can amass for myself and my family?

turn 3 : One should prioritize the country's future over personal gain.

How should one prioritize their interests?

Answer: Grounded


Maybe they pass along in bodily fluids. Maybe they pass along through the air, on a cough or a sneeze. And those are the ones that become not just outbreaks but epidemics and pandemics.

And some humans are even call super-spreaders. Can you - do we know why some people are super-spreaders?

Well, we don't know why, but we know that it happens, this phenomenon of super-spreaders. It's a little bit similar to the famous case of Typhoid Mary, but a super-spreader is a person who becomes infected with one of these diseases, and then Typhoid Mary didn't show symptoms, but these super-spreaders generally show severe symptoms, and they pass their infection along to more than their share of secondary cases of other people.

For instance when SARS, SARS virus spilled over into humans in Southern China and then got to Hong Kong in 2003, it was amplified out of Hong Kong and went on to Toronto and Hanoi and Beijing and Singapore. But one of the reasons it was amplified is because there were a couple of super-spreaders in the case of SARS, two men who were very sick and who really spewed the virus out and infected a lot of health care workers.

turn 3 : couple implies few carriers of the virus and not two people in romantic relationship

How many super-spreaders were involved in the SARS outbreak?

Answer: two


Yeah, there's quite a few of them. I looked up a couple. There's one that's e-Cycle. com. The EPA also has a pretty good index for, you know, how to find these places. There's another one called ecyclingcentral. com, where you can look up local things. And I also advise people to talk to their, you know, local landfill or, you know, contact your carrier or the maker of your phone, because I truly believe that that's something that they could, you know, do better, is - at least make it easy when you're getting that new phone to drop off the old one so that it gets recycled or reused.

Or maybe, you know, even on the box where the phone comes in, it has a label already stuck on it for sticking it back in the mail.

Yeah. That would be a phenomenal idea.

Yeah. Well, we sometimes come up with an idea.

turn 2 : The idea of labeling phone boxes for recycling is good.

How does PersonA respond to PersonB's suggestion about labeling phone boxes for recycling?

Answer: Phenomenal


Jim Kelly, the great old Buffalo Bills quarterback, can't remember the fourth quarter of the most important football game. And as he works all his life to get into that fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, and he can't remember.

Can't remember it, but it's on video. No, it's - I love Jim Kelly. I mean. . .

Yeah, I do too.

. . . He was a great player to watch. And he's in a special case because he's had several cancers that keep returning, and he's lost a son. He suffered in ways not of his own choosing. I mean, football was his own choosing. It was very poignant, though, because he told it, like, sort of joyously. He said, oh, yeah, we called it dings back then. You know, we call it concussions now and CTE, but no, no, no, it was great. I don't remember anything. I remember wandering back to the team hotel the day after the Super Bowl and wondering why I was there and not remembering - and he thought it was a funny story.

turn 0 : Jim Kelly can't remember the most important football game despite being a great quarterback

What player's memory loss was discussed in the dialogue?

Answer: Jim-Kelly


I wish, by this time, I had better news. Our colleagues in the U. N.  system are now reporting that at least 2. 3 million people have been uprooted. Officially, there are 1. 2 million internally displaced. And don't forget that a year ago, there were no displaced people and now Ukraine is in the top 10 countries in the world with large displaced populations. We can tell you also that the humanitarian situation is very dire. Well over 6,000 - almost 7,000 - people have been killed and almost 17,000 have been injured. There's very little water, food, medical supplies available, so life is very, very difficult. But the problem for Ukraine, of course, is it's been well over a year now that the conflict has been active, so you can imagine the strain on the system and on society's fabric.

Ukraine says that Russian humanitarian convoys are carrying weapons across the border.

We have no way to verify that but what we do observe - we have a sister border monitoring mission on the Russian side of the border and they do report when these convoys cross - what time, how many vehicles, whether they're inspected. But I can't recall one time where we've actually reported that we've seen arms or anything like that. But I do have to point out is that we're not able to enter these vehicles.

turn 3 : The turn whose actual meaning is different from its literal meaning is turn (4) "Is this frustrating work, Mr. Bociurkiw?" The literal meaning of the question is asking Mr. Bociurkiw if he finds his work frustrating, but the implied meaning is whether Mr. Bociurkiw finds his work challenging due to the difficult and complex nature of the situation in Ukraine

How does Mr. Bociurkiw find his work in Ukraine?

Answer: Challenging


Aw. We mentioned that you worked for President George W.  Bush, who advised John McCain. In your circle of friends, people there at the Hoover Institution - without violating any any confidences - your friends and colleagues - is your opinion widely held or are people who ordinarily would support the Republican candidate talking about voting for Hillary Clinton?

I think this is a real time of crisis for Republicans. It's hard for many of my friends to think about supporting Donald Trump. And it's very hard for many of my friends to think about supporting Hillary Clinton. In fact, I would have indulged the luxury of writing in one of my terrific nephews for president if I hadn't seen that the polls during the British referendum were off by 12 points. And my concern that (inaudible) be accurate, and everybody's vote's actually going to count this election.

Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She joined us by Skype. Thanks very much.

You're welcome.

turn 3 : "You're welcome." This turn is an example of conventionalized language, where the speaker uses a set phrase to respond to the expression of gratitude. The literal meaning of "you're welcome" is an invitation for the other person to come in, but in this context, it's used to acknowledge and accept thanks.

What is the purpose of using the phrase "you're welcome" in turn 3?

Answer: Acknowledgment


The truth of the matter is people like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, beneficiaries of affirmative action, would not have been at Harvard or at Yale have there not been those programs and obviously, they were completely qualified to be there as are all of the other black and Latino and women students in prestigious, elite higher education institutions in this nation.

You've fought and you lost. I'm talking about the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative of 2006. Now, we're talking about five more states. Really, what are you trying to do if these measures pass?

I think if they pass, then we're going to be filing lawsuits in every single one of the states where they've been passed - in Oklahoma, in Arizona, in Colorado, in Nebraska, in each and every one of those states - and very much like the march of the Supreme Court that was made by Thurgood Marshall nearly 50 years ago now to get Brown versus Board of Education. We're going to be going to the Supreme Court in saying overturn the new (unintelligible). You can't have an America in which states decide to eliminate the only programs that have brought about successful integration of higher education and of every occupation in this nation.

Now, Ward Connerly said of economic affirmative action was okay so you know, rich and poor but not racial or gender. How do you feel about those distinctions?

turn 2 : A: "march of the Supreme Court that was made by Thurgood Marshall" Implicated meaning: The phrase refers to Thurgood Marshall's efforts in the Supreme Court that led to the landmark case of Brown versus Board of Education, implying a historical precedent for taking legal action to challenge discriminatory practices.

How did Thurgood Marshall contribute to the challenge of discriminatory practices?

Answer: Brown


The president's reaction, they're happy with, I think. The alt-right - Lana actually - I asked her this specifically - I said, you know, what do you think about Donald Trump?And she said, let's be honest; he's not one of our guys. We've never thought that he was one of our guys.

But the more that he does not disavow the things that they believe in and either tacitly or directly supports them, the better.

Seyward Darby - her article "The Rise Of The Valkyries" is published in the September issue of Harper's Magazine. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

turn 2 : Thank you so much for speaking with us." - The literal meaning is the speaker thanking the person for speaking with them, and the implied meaning is likely just gratitude and appreciation.

What is the name of the author who wrote "The Rise Of The Valkyries" and published it in the September issue of Harper's Magazine?

Answer: Seyward


Hey. How you doing, Lulu?

I'm very well. For people who haven't been to Richmond, can you describe Monument Avenue for us?What statues are there?

The tennis champion, Arthur Ashe.

turn 2 : "Monument Avenue is one of the most beautiful stretches of street in the United States of America. I mean, it's tree-lined. It's on the national historic registry. There are statues to Robert E. Lee. There's a statue to Jeb Stuart, to, you know, Stonewall Jackson. And there's a lonely statue of Arthur Ashe, which I call the only true champion on that stretch of street." - The actual meaning is the speaker is expressing their opinion about Monument Avenue and the statues on it, highlighting the controversial nature of the Confederate statues and elevating Arthur Ashe as a true hero, rather than just providing factual information.

What is the name of the tennis player mentioned by the speaker in turn 2?

Answer: Arthur


No, he won't be voted on by the entire board, under our system, and I'd be telling you more internal NAACP organizational matters than anyone needs to know. The CEO works for the executive committee, and the executive committee needs to approve his contract, which I'm confident will happen. And when that's done, it's done.

You have been a very strong leader of the NAACP, from the position of chairman of the board. There have been some incredible chairmen - and women, including Myrlie Evers-Williams. But is this organization prepared to have a strong president?You are arguably still, at this point, you know, beyond arguably, the most powerful person at the NAACP, are you ready to split the seat?

I'm ready for Ben Jealous to come on board, and, you know, we have had only, I think, 17 people in this job, over the 99 years we've been in existence - four have been white, several have been women, they come from a variety of backgrounds and professions, but I'm looking forward to Ben Jealous. I think he is going to be among the strongest we've ever had, and may turn out to be the strongest we have ever had.

Give me a moment that you think typifies the direction that the NAACP is going. And what I mean is a personal moment, where you really felt, I'm doing the right thing, for the right reasons.

turn 2 : The incoming president, Ben Jealous, is expected to be one of the strongest in NAACP history.

How would you describe the expected strength of the incoming NAACP president?

Answer: Strong


It's very interesting. I find it funny, though, because I found in America, you - mixed-race people are categorized as black until you achieve success. You know, like they wait for you to achieve success before they give you the black standard. That's the upgrade. Before then they say you're mixed. You achieve success and you get upgraded to black. And all the famous mixed people do it. Before they all were mixed. You know, like, you know, all those singers - Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey - they go, oh, you know, mixed, and then they become famous, they go black singers. Tiger Woods is a black golfer although he's mixed. He doesn't even refer to himself as black, you know?

And the most famous person is Barack Obama, mixed half and half, but you say America's first black president. But when he was running, they called him the mixed candidate, you know, which is very interesting for me. You see how the dynamic goes. And then now you get people going, oh well, he's not black enough. I go, what is black enough?What is, you know, it's a very interesting thing. And as a mixed-race child, I know, growing up in a world where people always say that to me, oh, you're not black enough. And they'll never say you're not white enough though. White is never an option.

We wish you success enough to be called black.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

turn 2 : (3) has an actual meaning that is different from its literal meaning. The literal meaning of "We wish you success enough to be called black" is simply wishing someone success, but the implicated meaning may suggest that the speaker believes being "black" is a higher status, and that success is only achieved when one is considered "black" by society. It implies a commentary on the social construct of race and how success is tied to it.

Which term does the speaker in turn 2 use to imply that social status is tied to race?

Answer: Black


It's a pleasure to be with you. And thank you very much for having me.

So this issue has been kind of dancing around the edges of political discourse for years now. I mean, Jesse Jackson made it part of his platform when he ran for president in 1988. And as we mentioned, your former colleague, Representative Conyers, reintroduced the bill in every congressional session for 25 years. But now it seems to be gaining some traction again. Why do you think that is?

I frankly believe that there's something to elections - And this is a Democratic House with Democratic leadership - and also the times. And it is tragic, but it is real that we've seen an uptick in racial incidences - white supremacy, white nationalism. And so the question of slavery, frankly, has never been addressed, particularly from the institutional governmental perspective. And I've updated the language of the resolution, HR40, and that is that it is a commission to study and to engage in proposals, recommendations on the question of reparation.

And it really goes to, I think, more people understanding that 40 acres and a mule was a legitimate concept right after the Emancipation Proclamation, and that never happened. But yet cotton was king. It was an economic engine of the entire United States. And so the prominence of the United States today in the 21st century is grounded on the free brutal labor that Africans gave and their descendants.

turn 2 : The election of a Democratic House and the rise of white supremacy have made it possible for the issue of slavery and reparation to gain more attention.

What is the reason for the renewed attention on the issue of slavery and reparation?

Answer: Rise


Revkin told me about a man named Khaled. He worked at a slaughterhouse that ISIS took control of, leaving him with a choice - stay at the job and work for ISIS or leave and face retaliation.

Khaled, like many residents of Mosul, decided that cooperation was the only way to survive. So he continued working in the slaughterhouse. He claimed that he was never trained. He never received combat training or used a weapon or participated in any military operations on behalf of the group. But nonetheless, three years later, when Iraqi security forces, supported by the international coalition, recaptured Mosul, he was 1 of more than 90,000 people who have been detained on suspicion of association with the group. And he was arrested solely on the basis of testimony from a secret informant who had apparently witnessed him pledging allegiance, even though Khaled insisted that this pledge was involuntary and coerced.

So, you know, during the trial, I saw him explain that his work consisted only of feeding and caring for animals at the slaughterhouse. But nonetheless, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a trial that lasted less than 30 minutes. And the judges actually told him that he was lucky to receive such a lenient sentence because the crime for which he was convicted, which was membership in a terrorist group, generally brings capital punishment.

A lot of post-ISIS life is figuring out who was or who was not involved in ISIS and bringing the appropriate perpetrators to justice. This is done mostly through courts?

turn 0 : Khaled was put in a difficult situation by ISIS and had to choose between working for them or risking retaliation.

Which group took control of the slaughterhouse where Khaled worked?

Answer: ISIS


Yeah.

It's a little more controversial in the Senate race because it looks like bad ballot design might've cost Bill Nelson mightily because Broward County. . .

Yeah.

. . . Is a very Democratic county. And they had a tremendous number of undervotes - that is, no one voting in the Senate race - because it appears that a good number of people, perhaps as many as 20,000, might have missed the Senate race because it was in the lower left-hand corner right under the instructions. And if you look at the Senate race compared to all the other races, it got fewer votes in Broward County, even compared to. . .

turn 1 : The Senate race was controversial due to bad ballot design.

What caused the controversy in the Senate race?

Answer: baddesign


It has.

Get out.

The time has flown. And you are flying. You are flying across the ocean. You are leaving us.

Great segue.

turn 2 : the time has flown means time went by fast.

Answer: B


The cease-fire that was supposed to halt fighting between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government has not taken hold. Really, it never seems to have started. Shelling and dying has continued this week with both sides insisting the other had violated the cease-fire agreement. Separatist rebels have taken control of the city of Debaltseve, which serves as a key rail hub in Ukraine. Ivo Daalder is the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the former NATO ambassador. He joins us now. Thanks very much for being with us, Mr. Ambassador.

Oh, it's great to be here.

Do you think a cease-fire is even practical?

Well, I think the only way you're going to get a cease-fire is if one side stops shooting because clearly the Russians and the Russian-backed separatists are bent on continuing to fight. They were never interested in the cease-fire in the first place. We saw that in the Minsk negotiations more than a week ago when they refused to have an immediate cease-fire. They wanted to have a delay. So they could take this city of Debaltseve, but we now also see continued fighting in the south near Mariupol and in other parts of the region.

turn 3 : A: "Well, I think the only way you're going to get a cease-fire is if one side stops shooting because clearly the Russians and the Russian-backed separatists are bent on continuing to fight." - This turn uses the idiom "bent on" to mean "determined to" or "committed to," rather than a literal meaning of being physically bent over something.

Which idiom did PersonA use to describe the determination of the Russians and Russian-backed separatists in continuing to fight?

Answer: bent


One of the other things you mentioned in the book, among many, is that al-Qaeda might become the world's first terrorist nuclear power without possessing a single nuclear weapon. And I suppose the answer to that is in part what you just were describing.

It is. What's interesting is that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency has said that al-Qaeda is the CIA's top nuclear concern. Now that's a fascinating comment. Obviously, that assessment is based upon intentions rather than capabilities. Insofar as we know, al-Qaeda has no nuclear material, has no knowledge to put together a nuclear bomb, but it is the number one nuclear concern because it is believed that if it had a nuclear bomb, it would use it.

You know, it's been a number of years now, seven since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Two questions. First is, how did Americans view the threat of terrorism back then, and how do they see it now?And how effective have the agencies like the Department of Homeland Security been in preventing another terrorist attack?

Well, in terms of our perceptions of terrorism, terrorism has been a concern for a long time for Americans. But the concern would spike, of course, in the wake of some spectacular episode, you know. The sabotage of Pan Am 103 in 1988, or the destruction of the American Embassies in Africa in 1998, and then it would quickly diminish.

turn 1 : Al-Qaeda has no nuclear material, but they are the CIA's top nuclear concern.

How is al-Qaeda classified by the CIPersonA in terms of nuclear threat?

Answer: Intentions


So, you're skeptical about a car czar. You think that there should be loans, though, with strict provisions attached to them.

Right, right.

What else?What else needs to be done?I mean, this is a massive, massive problem, and two of the three are facing extinction at this point.

Don't forget, what's putting them in this condition is the economic, you know, the economic condition of the nation right now. But the kind of fixed-cost structure that these auto companies have is massive, massive losses that have to do with what's happening to demand.

turn 0 : The car czar should not be the only answer to the auto industry's problems; loans should be offered, but with strict conditions.

How does PersonA feel about loans for the auto industry?

Answer: Skeptical


We tried for about two and half years. And I had this fear that with every step we took, we would learn something that it would confirm my fear that I couldn't have a baby.

She struggled with anxiety, but eventually she got pregnant through IVF.

Oh, my gosh. It was - it was incredible. I mean, first of all, I was in labor for 24 hours.

turn 2 : : "Tell me about that moment when you first saw your daughter Hazel for the first time. I mean, how did that feel?"  Implicated meaning: The listener wants to know about the emotional experience of seeing one's child for the first time.

Which daughter did PersonA see for the first time?

Answer: Hazel


When I got toward the end of my research, I tried to contact all the women that I had spoken with and just said, hey, would your husbands be willing to talk?The interesting thing about it was when I spoke to the women, they were all so enthusiastic and passionate. When I talked to their husbands, they were really nice, but they were so clearly disinterested in the topic. It wasn't that they didn't know that their wives are never frustrated with them. It just didn't seem particularly important to them. And I don't mean to imply that they were cold to their wives or indifferent to their wives. It just really didn't register as such a big deal.

Like a fact of life - like, this is just the way things are.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, one of the women that I interviewed said to me, my husband sees we have an issue with this. But he considers it my problem. So he says to me, there's really nothing I can do, and it would be helpful if you weren't so bothered by this.

Wow. Let me ask you this. The amount of child care that men take on was actually rising in the 1980s and '90s. But then we did see it level off. So what happened?It seemed like we were sort of making some progress in this issue.

turn 3 : Level off here means that there is some downfall in the amount and does not mean levelling something.

Answer: Decrease


It's becoming a new Thanksgiving tradition. This year, like the year before, the newest installment of "The Hunger Games" movie franchise "Mockingjay Part 1" is an adaptation of the first half of Suzanne Collins third and final book in the series. And with the backdrop of what's been happening in the world, protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and shakeup at the Capitol - Capitol Hill that is. Audiences look for comparisons between the fictitious world of Panem and the real world. We're joined now by Stephen Carter, a professor of law at Yale, a novelist and columnist for Bloomberg View, where he writes regularly on popular culture. Stephen, thanks so much for being back with us.

It's my pleasure, Scott.

I'm just guessing you don't watch "Hunger Games" the way a lot of other people do.

You're right. I'm looking for tropes and ideas that are going to leap out of the film into public life. And one that's really striking about the "Hunger Games" franchise is how more than really anything else in recent years in popular culture, so many of the symbols - the nation of Panem itself with its deep wealth inequalities, the notion of the Capitol, this barricaded wealthy city and of course, Katniss Everdeen herself, the hero. All of these things have not only leapt into the public imagination, but they are regular features of political argument.

turn 1 : "my pleasure" - This phrase is a polite way of responding to a thank you, but it does not actually mean that the person feels pleasure.

How does PersonA respond to Scott's gratitude?

Answer: Pleasure


The law now differs whether the gun being purchased is a handgun or what is broadly defined as a long gun. So the law is that if it's a handgun, you need to be 21. But long guns - rifles, shotguns and assault-style rifles included - that's 18. And after Parkland, where the perpetrator was 19 and legally purchased an assault-style rifle, there has been a call to raise that minimum age for assault-style rifles and all long guns.

What about arming teachers?What changes to the law would be required?

That gets complex. We do have the Gun-Free School Zones Act, which was signed with the first President Bush. But it allows for some discretion at the state and local level. And some states allow individual districts to set their own policies. And so we at The Trace of reported on districts in Ohio that allow certain designated teachers and other school staff members to access guns. Texas is another state where that happens. So, in fact, there are some states where there are guns in schools accessible to some teachers and staff members.

Have there been gun laws that have been rolled back by the Trump administration?

The big picture under Trump is that not much has changed, which is interesting because Trump had such strong backing from the National Rifle Association. And they have two big priorities. One is something called concealed carry reciprocity. And the upshot is that if you have a license to carry a concealed gun in your home state, every other state would have to honor that license and vice versa. That does pass the House in December - not taken up by the Senate.

turn 0 : The legal age for purchasing handguns and long guns is different, with handguns requiring a higher age limit.

What type of guns require a higher age limit for purchase?

Answer: handguns


And you basically called this a zero sum game?

That's right. You have these bad assets, and what we're doing is moving them around from one place in our society, in our economy, to another. It doesn't change the nature of the losses. The banks lent money in a bubble. The bubble is broken. Collateral value of the assets is limited, and these are bad assets now. Now, it's not quite a zero row sum game, because if we have bad incentives, which result when you have a misalignment between ownership and control, when you provide insurance, you can have a negative sum game.

And I think that's the real worry that we are about to wind up in a negative sum game.

So given what the banks are facing now, what would you suggest?

turn 1 : The banks lent money to people and other banks without anyone knowing or monitoring them.

Answer: Limited


You had to actually take the thing apart to change games.

Take out the battery and everything to change games.

That would be a drawback.

That's a drawback. And number two - they didn't have any games. There was, like, two games that were worth playing.

turn 2 : : (3) and (4). The implied meaning of (3) is that it would be a disadvantage to have to take the thing apart to change games. The implied meaning of (4) is that there were only a few games available which were worth playing.

How many games were worth playing according to A?

Answer: Two


What would happen in a civil contempt is that you would basically be trying to hold the attorney general - get a court order that he was in contempt. And the court would have a hearing. And Justice Department would intervene, and they would fight the contempt citation. And then the court would have a ruling. And that's how the process kind of operates theoretically. What normally happens is the court does not like to step into executive legislative disputes, and they will urge both sides to try to accommodate one another. I think it would only be if the court determined that the Justice Department was really in bad faith would they then hold the attorney general in contempt.

Let me ask you this. If this matter does land in court, if litigation is actively pursued, that could take months. It could take years even. And if the goal is to get information from Attorney General William Barr, how is this an effective strategy?Pursuing a contempt case could result in a huge delay, right?

I think the reality is is that the rules of subpoenas right now as we're discussing in many ways work in favor of the executive for the exact reason that you are hinting at in your question, which is they can run the clock. They can probably run the clock on the enforcement question for months, if not years. And they might be able to even run it up to the next election.

Right. So if the White House intends to stonewall, do you think it's even a wise strategy on the part of the Democrats right now to be talking about contempt?

turn 0 : bad faith implies that the Justice Department is acting improperly and knows they are doing so

How would bad faith be defined in this context?

Answer: Improperly


It was like a scientific menagerie. It was just amazing.

And they have a cockatiel or. . .

Yeah. The main - a cockatiel. The main activity that day was happening in the wind tunnel. So this is - it's huge. I think - I hesitate to do the actual length, but I think probably like 40 feet, not the actual enclosure, but between the fan on one side. And they blow wind through this sort of enclosure and put the birds in, and then they can change the wind speed to make the birds flap, at sort of the equivalent of different speeds.

So they're like flying in the wind tunnel with the wind in the face.

turn 3 :  In turn (4), the speaker describes the birds "flying" in the wind tunnel with the wind blowing in their faces, which is not a literal description of flight but rather an approximation of the experience.

Which word in turn 3 describes the birds' experience in the wind tunnel?

Answer: describes


Well, Freedom Caucus has 40 votes. There are more than 200 House Republicans. Shouldn't you compromise with them?

Well, sure, and we're more than happy to. The way this will end up is that we will end up with a speaker that all of us support. It may be Paul Ryan. It may be somebody else. But keep in mind that the things that we're arguing for are things that most people in the conference want. One of the things that struck me since we started this debate I guess about two weeks ago now are the number of moderates and centrists in my party who have said to me, you know what?

We want the same thing. We're frustrated with this lack of process. We're frustrated with just being a rubberstamp for somebody else's idea. And I think that's why you're seeing such a difficult time replacing Mr.  Boehner is that this lack of satisfaction with the job, the lack of satisfaction with what it means to be a member of Congress runs much, much deeper than just the conservative wing of the party.

So the way you explain it, this isn't over conservative principles. It's over mundane House rules.

turn 1 : the speaker says "we're more than happy to compromise with them" but in reality, there is no indication of compromise being made or even attempted. It is more of a rhetorical statement aimed at making the speaker appear reasonable.

What is the PersonA's true intention behind saying "we're more than happy to compromise with them"?

Answer: Rhetorical


Has this ever been done before, I mean, even with other types of energy like oil and gas for example?

That's not how we have historically done oil and gas use or exploration. Again, we're talking on public land. It's not been how we've done it. It is the way we've tried in recent years to think about the Endangered Species Act. Instead of looking at each little place when a question comes up and say is this an endangered habitat, is this a problem, look at large areas, ecosystems, chunks that make sense together.

Try to highlight what the problems are in that area so that subsequent development proposals are not - don't start from ground zero. Information's been gathered and looked at in a more systematic way. I mean, programmatic environmental impact assessments have been allowed ever since NEPA passed back in the 1970s.

It hasn't been used very often. I think that the Interior Department should get a lot of credit for using it this time.

turn 3 : The Interior Department deserves recognition for using the programmatic environmental impact assessment method more often.

How does PersonA think the Interior Department should be credited in this situation?

Answer: More


Now, recent satellite pictures show that they are putting these things back together - the buildings, the rail system, the launch pad. It's not exactly clear when they started. It could have started in mid-February, before the summit. Work could have been going on as recently as over the weekend, after the summit finished.

OK. So the timing of this is a little tricky about whether this is North Korea responding to those summit talks falling apart.

That's right. A couple things to remember. First of all, you know, they can launch missiles from mobile launchers. So this site is not that big a deal. Another thing is that when North Korea made these gestures and said, now, why don't you reciprocate?People were just dismissing these as insignificant concessions. They were saying, you know, North Korea's just trying to hand us their junk. These sites are outdated. They're not worth much. Well, by that token, then people should not be too alarmed about them being reassembled.

OK. So I mean, but we've always talked about that North Korea's nuclear capabilities are, you know, something to be reckoned with. So explain exactly why we're not supposed to be so concerned about this one move.

turn 2 : In this turn, the speaker suggests that people should not be too alarmed about North Korea reassembling certain sites related to their nuclear program. The literal meaning of the words suggests that people should not be worried about these sites because they are outdated and not worth much. However, the implied meaning is that people should not be too concerned about North Korea's actions because the sites are not critical to their nuclear capabilities, and because North Korea may have already been working on them before the summit talks fell apart.

Which site is not critical to North Korea's nuclear capabilities according to the speaker in turn 2?

Answer: Sites


And the president did a victory dance in the end zone on Twitter after he was fired. He said Andrew McCabe being fired is a great day. He said he knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI. Then what happened was even more significant because the president's private lawyer John Dowd released a statement saying that now that McCabe has been fired, he hopes that acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow Jeff Sessions' lead and bring an end to the Mueller investigation. Now, at first, Dowd said he was speaking for the president when he issued this statement. Later, he backtracked, although it doesn't really matter.

Yeah. It's not news, though, that the president hates the Mueller probe. He's been pretty vocal about that on Twitter. Why is his lawyer statement so important?

It's important because it's a change in the legal strategy. Up until now, Donald Trump has always stopped short of saying something that could be perceived as an order to Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller. He's always said, no, I'm not going to fire him. He's even said he looks forward to talking to him. Now it looks like they're opening a new phase, openly calling on the Department of Justice to shut down the Mueller investigation.

The Democrats have been pretty vocal. I've been seeing a lot of their reaction. Do we know what the Republicans in Congress have been saying or doing?

turn 2 : Trump is now openly calling for the Mueller investigation to be shut down

Which investigation is Trump calling to be shut down?

Answer: Mueller


Lu was raised in North Carolina as a Jehovah's Witness. When she was 18, she broke with her religion and left home to study cello. On her debut album "Blood," she explores those decisions. She started by writing about the people she left behind - her parents - in the song "Rebel. "

A lot of my parents' life are going to reveal to me later on in my own life. And in the making of this record, I feel I was doing a lot of reflecting on home and on my relationship. . .

Yeah.

. . . With them and the life that your parents lived before they're your parents.

turn 0 : Lu's decision to leave her religion and family is explored in her debut album 'Blood'.

Answer: Blood


Dual loyalty is something that relates to the potential conflict between clinicians' duties to their patients and their obligations to their employers. When these organizations have sometimes questionable tasks to fulfill, that becomes a very, very serious almost ethical minefield, I would say.

You and I have both been to immigration detention centers. What do you imagine the work will be like?

Well, I think when you talk about any correctional facility, especially immigration detention centers, there are a couple of hats that one has to wear. One is to take care of routine medical issues - so somebody has a headache, somebody has an infection, is vomiting. But also, we're talking about people who are coming with immense trauma, people who may have injuries, people who have suffered from violence. You need to address that in some ways. There's also making sure that there's no spread of contagious diseases, that people are being nourished well. So it's a very big job.

Isn't it important to have the best medical personnel possible in those facilities?Wouldn't you want somebody extremely qualified to be hired for a job like this?

turn 1 : "a couple of hats that one has to wear" implies performing different duties.

Which phrase describes the various responsibilities medical personnel must take on in correctional facilities?

Answer: Routine


I understand, Mr.  Doyle, that you and other members of the Watergate investigation team still with us - well, you have reunions now and then. And I gather for the first time you had a reunion on the actual anniversary of the Saturday Night Massacre. What are the - my 15 year old now says, you know, what's the tea?What went on there?

Three weeks ago, Saturday night October 20, the Watergate Special Prosecution Force held a reunion. It was the 45th anniversary of the Saturday Night Massacre. None of the senior leaders are any longer with us. But the young idealists who had been in their 20s back when we began, they all showed up in their 60s and 70s as earnest as ever, as idealistic as ever and still full of hope.

Sorry.

No, I think someone was talking to you, telling you that, I think, we're running out of time. But did you want to make the final point?

turn 0 : The 15-year-old is asking for the details of the reunion, not the tea

How old is the person interested in knowing the details of the reunion?

Answer: 15


Thanks very much for inviting me along.

Could you tell us about these horses and their riders?

Absolutely. These four horses, they're all based on the foreshore of the River Thames, just next to Vauxhall Bridge in central London. And it depicts four large-scale horses, based on the London working horse or the Shire horse. And each one of them has a rider on top and also is a kind of hybrid structure. So it's half horse and half oil pump. And they're also in a very tidal zone, so depending on what time of day you visit them, sometimes they're almost concealed and sometimes they're, you know, completely revealed by the water.

turn 3 : The turn that has an actual meaning different from its literal meaning is (4): "How do you cast sculptures in what amounts to an underwater gallery, not just this installation in the Thames, obviously, but some that you've done all over the world?"

What is the question that PersonB asks about creating sculptures in unique locations?

Answer: Underwater


From NPR News, this is NEWS AND NOTES. I'm Tony Cox. We begin today with some important economic news. Last week for the very first time oil jumped past the $100 a barrel mark. Since then prices have dropped but only slightly. And now there's more news of instability in the Middle East with the Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. With Middle Eastern tensions controlling what we pay at the pump, the chance that the cost of oil will continue to rise seems all but inevitable.

But how will rising oil prices affect you, and what can we do about it?Meanwhile, the current economic strain is hitting some people pretty hard. Folks are tapping into those 401(k) nest eggs to pay bills and buy gas and groceries. But is that any way to manage your retirement fund?With me now to talk about oil prices and your 401(k), we've got Author and Economist Julianne Malveaux. She is president of Bennett College. Julianne, nice to talk to you as always.

Always a pleasure, Tony.

Let's begin with this. Folks were waiting for oil to hit that $100 a barrel mark. It came and it went. My question is going to be how you thought folks felt the strain, because I did notice, Julianne, that my gas went up again in the last couple of weeks. Is that why?

turn 2 : Julianne is expressing appreciation for Tony's invitation to the conversation.

Answer: President


Absolutely. This is probably one of the most consequential elections in Israel in the last 10 years, since Netanyahu has been in power.

Daniel, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

That's NPR's Daniel Estrin.

Which election is being referred to in the dialogue?

Answer: 0


It takes a whole lot of land to produce meat. If you think about it this way, imagine around the globe all of the crop land out there - one-third of it is used to grow food not for people but for animals. It's animal feed. And when you combine the land needed to graze animals and feed them, this is just a whole lot. The World Resources Institute has estimated that for every gram of protein, producing beef can require 20 times the land and emit 20 times the emissions compared to what it takes to produce beans.

So are there certain types of meat that are better in terms of environmental footprint?Or basically is the suggestion that we should not be eating meat?

There are definitely better choices, and it does not have to be all or nothing. I just mentioned cows and other ruminants. They require a lot of land and feed. But they also release a lot of methane into the atmosphere. Every time these animals belch, a bit of methane goes up into the atmosphere. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas.

So from an environmental perspective, options such as chicken and turkey can be better. It takes less animal feed to produce meat from these animals. They grow faster. They require less land. So when it comes to reducing the environmental footprint of your diet, you don't have to completely give up meat.

turn 0 : Producing beef has a significant impact on the environment.

Which animal emits methane into the atmosphere?

Answer: Cows