. . . Exactly correct. And when it comes to hostages, there is a clear U. S.  policy. We do not pay ransom. We do not make concessions. When it comes to political prisoners, it's much more murky.

To your knowledge, was any money given to North Korea in association with the release of Otto Warmbier, however it's characterized?

Not that I'm aware. I would personally be surprised if the Trump administration actually paid that invoice. However, again, when we were negotiating and trying to put the framework together for the release of Otto Warmbier, we were coupling it with a bigger package of bringing back remains of U. S.  servicemen, of helping a little bit with flood-related areas in north North Korea, which was back then hit really hard - not to the North Korean government, but through humanitarian organizations. And that compiles this package of humanitarian interest, mutual humanitarian interest that - it's a bunch of gestures of goodwill that ends up getting with what you want.

What does this week's news tell us about how the Trump administration deals with these types of situations?Because the president likes to suggest that his techniques are very different from that of his predecessors.

turn 2 : The U.S. government used a package of humanitarian gestures to negotiate the release of Otto Warmbier.

How was the release of Otto Warmbier negotiated?

Answer: Humanitarian


This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Secretary of State John Kerry has joined world diplomats in Geneva today in hopes of reaching an initial agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program. His arrival suggests a deal may be within reach this weekend, but it's still not there yet. NPR's Peter Kenyon is in Geneva and joins us now. Peter, thanks so much for being with us.

Hi, Scott.

So, how do we read the tea leaves on this?The talks were supposed to finish yesterday, but now the secretary of state has flown all the way across the Atlantic to join them.

Well, it should be a positive sign, although the very latest comments from British Foreign Secretary William Hague are along the lines, well, the gaps are narrow but they're important and not easy to resolve. So, I think your point that we're not there yet is still very much in play. But I think there's also a high-level presence, which means there's a growing sense of urgency about wrapping up these talks. I mean, this is supposed to be the easy part - a six-month deal that's entirely reversible in just about every respect if something doesn't go right. So, hammering out a lasting comprehensive deal is going to be much harder than this. And if this one takes too long to negotiate, there's a fear the whole diplomatic enterprise could just collapse under pressure. We've already heard from both parties in Congress that more sanctions may come up next month if these talks fail. So, I'd say there is a feeling of some kind of a deadline. Maybe not this weekend but soon.

turn 2 : The expression "read the tea leaves" is used to describe gathering subtle clues to gain an understanding of a situation. In this context, it means to interpret the events to gain an understanding of the likelihood of an agreement being reached.

Which expression is used to describe gathering subtle clues to gain an understanding of a situation in turn 2?

Answer: Read


And I saw that with just kids I knew at public school that were gifted. A lot of them struggled as they got older because they've been told they were smart. And so when they failed, they felt let down, they felt confused, and they blamed themselves.

So I think you see that on a much grander level with a child star where they get this level of fame and success and they think that that's going to last forever because they get used to it. And as they get older it's taken away from them, and they're not sure who to blame. And they don't know how to do anything for themselves.

And almost inevitably taken away from them by a disease called adolescence.

Yes, exactly. I mean I think that child stars are - they're used, in a way, to - their cuteness is used. And a lot of child actors - I mean people often ask me, they say why were you in so many kids' movies. And one was that my mother and father believed that there weren't enough good kids' movies out there. Now, I wasn't always in the best kids' movies, but they thought that that was important. And another thing is that there can really only be so many "To Kill A Mockingbirds" out there.

turn 3 : There can only be so many award winning, great movies out there for children.

How many "To Kill PersonA Mockingbirds" can there be out there?

Answer: One


Yes. In all three cases, she raised both significant, substantive problems with granting these people a security clearance relating to things like foreign influence, business conflicts of interest, personal conduct and so on. And then she raised very serious problems about what the process was. In fact, it sounded like she was trying to explain to her supervisor how the process worked. He could indeed overrule her, but he needed to write out an explanation of why and explain why the specific concerns that she raised were addressed by other factual evidence that he had available to him. Apparently none of that ever happened. And that's obviously a very dangerous breach in the protocol.

This whistleblower, Tricia Newbold - she spoke of at least 25 instances where the Personnel Security Office was overruled by more senior members of the administration. Is 25 a lot?Do you know?

Well, it seems like it's a lot historically. That's one of the things we wanted to determine.

It seems more frequent than the usual. . .

turn 1 : This turn is not actually requesting a confidence score or any other numerical rating. Instead, it is a prompt for the person to provide their own interpretation or response to a previous statement or situation.

How did PersonA describe the process that Tricia Newbold's supervisor had to follow?

Answer: He


And then we have a Congress who just passed a bill knowing full well that this was the most likely outcome, and they chose not to even try to stop it. But now that the bill has passed, the shutdown has been prevented, the government has been funded, the president can come out and say he's going to do this now. And you have people saying that we're shredding the Constitution, that this is the end of the world, that we need to act, that we need to stop something.

Well, the time to act was before you pass a bill to give the president money to fund the government. The time to act - if you want to force a vote on this, if you want to force Republicans in the Senate to go on record if you're a House Democrat, for instance, then you put language in the bill saying the president can't use national emergency powers to build a wall.

You mean senators - well, we could list their names - Susan Collins.

Right. I mean, don't vote for a bill that is going to make something that you think is really damaging to our country, to the Republic, more likely to occur. Just don't do it, No. 1. No. 2, actually go out and try to put things in the bill to prevent the thing that you think is so damaging to our republic from happening.

turn 1 : Passing a bill without measures to prevent negative consequences is not taking action.

How was action defined in the context of passing a bill according to the statement?

Answer: Preventative


And to tell you the truth, I still feel so very, very sorry for that little girl, you know, for her utter helplessness. And that has made me really empathize with children and with situations where human beings become like children in terms of becoming utterly helpless. If anything good came out of that incident, was realizing that you need to empathize with these situations, and you need as much as it is in your power to try and prevent such things happening, not just child molestation, but being put in a position where you have no choice.

I mean, it's interesting that your previous book was ostensibly about the book "Lolita. "

Yeah, you're right.

Well, I'm just wondering, I mean, do you see yourself personally in Lolita?

turn 0 : to feel sorry for someone means that you feel sad for someone, or showing compassion

How did the incident make PersonA empathize with situations where human beings become helpless?

Answer: empathize


(Laughing) I have no regrets at all about the path I followed. But a balanced life ought to have more than just a, you know, a central focus of a career. I think it's healthy to have other interests.

So, it's therapy in a way.

Yeah, it's sort of stress management, I guess. It's difficult for me because I'm a beginner, so it's frustrating and humiliating. But at the same time, when a painting comes out good, you feel pretty good about it. So, it's - yeah it's good.

Now, as I said at the outset, you were controversial during your tenure at the CPA running Iraq basically right after the war ended. And I'm just wondering - I don't want to go back and forth through the allegations, but I'm just wondering, you know, it's been several years since you've returned and I'm wondering, do you have any regrets or would you do anything differently?

turn 0 : The person has no regrets about the way they have lived their life.

How does the person feel about the central focus of their life?

Answer: Healthy


That's quite a big change. Now either at this point people just think the Master of the Universe have all crashed, but they haven't, they haven't yet.

And I'm sure they'll figure out a way to survive and thrive.

I'm not - I don't - I'm not asking for anybody - tears for them because nobody is going to - a lot of these people have already put away the necessary nut, they call it. That is an amount of money that you've salted away in weather proof investments, that will yield enough interest for you to live a very high life in a place like Greenwich. I would say though that today, that nut has to be at least $40 million. If interest rates on bonds sink low enough, you might need 50 million. But I think it wouldn't hurt to live a little more simply, you know.

Tom Wolfe, he's the author of "Bonfire Of The Vanities". Thank you very much.

turn 3 : THERE IS A BIG CHANGE THE PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR MONEY

How much money might be needed for the necessary nut in a low-interest rate scenario?

Answer: $40


So tell us why. Why is it that some parts of the country are so twister prone?

Yeah. Well, the United States itself, we have this dubious honor of sitting right in the collision zone between really cold air masses coming down from Canada and moist, warm air that comes up from the Gulf of Mexico. And so the well-known Tornado Alley is a convergence zone, couple that with the position of jet stream and other factors that we as meteorologists look for, a dry, mid-layer or wind sheer, and you have the perfect ingredients for tornadoes.

Most tornadoes affect the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. And in fact, there is another alley we call Dixie Alley because if you look at a map of climatological occurrence of tornadoes, there are areas in the South as well that seemed to get quite a few tornadoes. But certainly this region, as you were leading into the story, was an area that we would've expected tornadoes for May 20th based on climatology.

Well, let's talk about the forecasting because one of the amazing parts of sort of science of this story was that hours before, the National Weather Service locally issued a warning that there might be a tornado. And it was pretty spot-on, it sounded like.

turn 0 : They want to k now why some parts of the countries have twisters a lot.

How does the United States' location contribute to the frequency of tornadoes in certain areas?

Answer: Collision


It doesn't really seem to be dominating conversation here. I mean, there is an Israeli election coming up, and Netanyahu's opponents are using this to kind of accuse him of flip-flopping. But I think it really shows that, as Netanyahu faces reelection next month, he needs Trump's support. Trump tweeted that he didn't want to see these congresswomen going there, and I think a lot of Israelis see that as Netanyahu bowing to Trump's will.

That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv.

Thanks, Daniel.

You're welcome.

turn 0 : bowing to someones will means to give in to what they want, in this case people are giving into trump

What is the reason for Netanyahu's opponents to accuse him of flip-flopping?

Answer: Trumpsupport


Next week, hundreds of thousands of students, armed with number two pencils. . .

. . . will sit down to take the SAT. An important section of the college entrance test is the essay portion. And students have just 25 minutes to write it. Anne Ruggles Gere, who oversees the writing program at the University of Michigan, is not a fan of the essay section. She says that high schools now teach to the test and as a result encourage a generation of bad writers. We spoke with Professor Gere, who was in the studios of WUOM in Ann Arbor, and we asked her how the SAT encourages sloppy prose.

I think that it does it in several ways. Because when you're writing in only 25 minutes, you don't have time to develop a clear, complex idea. You don't have time to think about an audience. It makes students think of writing in the most simplistic, reductive ways. It emphasizes length of writing. It emphasizes use big words and be sure to follow a very simple formula.

So, the students will use it as an opportunity to use the word sesquipedalian over and over or show off their vocabulary and stuff?

turn 0 : Pencils are not an actual weapon, unless they are used to write things against the system.

What word describes how the SAT essay section encourages students to write?

Answer: Formula


You know, this is a very opaque system in Iran. And it's tough to sometimes know to what extent an action was sanctioned from the very top. And in some ways, President Trump gave Iran an out by saying that this was just a big mistake. This was a misunderstanding.

Could have been a junior officer somewhere or something like that.

Exactly.

Could it have been a junior officer somewhere?

turn 1 : The speaker suggests that a junior officer may have been responsible for the action, not a higher-ranking official.

How does the speaker imply responsibility for the action?

Answer: Junior


Add to the troubled auto industry a rise in unemployment. Weekly jobless claims benefits are at 16-year high. Wall Street isn't happy either. The Dow Jones Index plummeted below 8,000 yesterday.

To find out how advertising agencies are dealing with the current economic climate, we are joined now by Romi Mahajan. He's the chief marketing officer for the digital ad agency called Ascentium. They manage marketing campaigns for big, big companies, including Microsoft, Nintendo, and AT&T. Welcome to the program, Romi.

Thank you very much, Alex.

Yesterday, General Motors announced that it would review its contracts with ad agencies to see whether or not they should even be renewed. Let's say you were working on a car company advertising campaign. What should they do to actually get American consumers to buy cars?

turn 0 : The auto industry is experiencing trouble and unemployment is rising. The Dow Jones Index's drop below 8,000 has Wall Street concerned

How did Wall Street react to the Dow Jones Index's drop?

Answer: Concerned


And we shall not - I certainly won't see his like again. He was also incredibly fun. And so that's the thing to try to hold onto.

He wrote a lot of letters by hand, didn't he?

He wrote tons of letters. I bet there are a hundred thousand - hundreds out there signed, all the best, George Bush. Many of them are compiled in a lovely volume he did. His - you know, he was the son of a mother who insisted that he not talk - that one not talk about oneself. He was - so when it came time to write a book after he left the presidency, he didn't. . .

Oh, right.

turn 1 : tons of letters implies a very large number and not to full a ton

Answer: Tons


We don't presume when we cover the news. But we see estimates. For instance, FiveThirtyEight has her close to a 90-percent favorite in terms of their poll aggregation. If we're just projecting forward - and again, we don't know - this could be a very bitter aftermath.

Forget about honeymoons. You know, I was talking - I convened a roundtable of former campaign chiefs of staff yesterday - Republicans.

And two of them mentioned to me that they thought within the first year of her being in office, Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, would be under great pressure to bring articles of impeachment.

During that debate, Hillary Clinton kind of deftly avoided any real response on the Goldman Sachs speeches, on her husband's transgressions, if I might put it delicately, and accusations of pay-to-play relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department. Do you think these are the kind of issues that might persist after November 8, whatever the result?

Absolutely. And, of course, the email issues, as well - we saw this report come out last week of a, quote, unquote, "potential quid pro quo" between the FBI and State Department investigators. This is something that I think Republicans are going to use to unite themselves.

turn 1 : (2) "Forget about honeymoons" - This phrase implies that the situation is not positive and that there is no opportunity to start off on a fresh and positive note.

Which phrase suggests a negative start and a lack of opportunity for a fresh beginning?

Answer: Forget


Well, we'll have to wait and see. The purpose, obviously, is to send a signal that those members of the armed forces that choose to work with the opposition, if they are under sanctions, will have those sanctions lifted. And those who might be facing sanctions would not face them if they chose to work with the opposition. We're going to have to wait and see how that's received.

How important is the support that this government has received from Cuba, and Russia and maybe other countries, as well?

It's important. On the Cuban side, some of the support has been exaggerated in terms of numbers. But without a doubt, the support they provide in the area of counterintelligence has been critical to. . .

They send intelligence agents to help work the streets of Caracas, or wherever.

turn 3 : Cuban intelligence agents work in the streets of Caracas

Answer: Signal


He's had some injuries for most of the last two or three years. He's had a bad shoulder, he has to wrap his elbow a lot, but no injury has caused him to miss a game since September 2001, since he took over the Patriots' quarterback job.

So, is there any suspicion that the injury he sustained yesterday was a result of an unfair hit?

I think some people in the Patriots thought it was, but you know, most of the people I talked to, including a future Hall of Fame safety, John Lynch, who used to play for the Patriots and is a very good friend of Tom Brady's, said there's no way it was a dirty hit. Things happen too quickly on the football field for some guy to say, I'm going to, in a calculating way, aim for Tom Brady's knee and try to put him out for the year. First of all, I think that's vastly overrated. That might have happened in 1968, but it doesn't happen in 2008, because there's too much respect among players to try to intentionally hurt another guy.

So, who is possibly going to fill these gigantic shoes?

turn 2 : Football players today have too much respect for each other to intentionally hurt another player, despite injuries occurring on the field.

What did John Lynch say about the hit on Tom Brady?

Answer: No-way


So, you know, it was a very, very gutsy move because he and I, we didn't have a quarter. And I'm sure you're saying, well, how did you open up a restaurant without any money?Well, my grandmother, who was in her 90s, was gracious enough and had enough faith and confidence in us to use her house as collateral, and we took out a small 20,000 dollar loan, opened up a 2,000-square-foot restaurant in 1988.

And, the first day we opened, we were dead broke. We didn't have a cash register. There were so many things that we didn't have that I wouldn't dare try to open up a restaurant in today's time without. But in less than the two years - we leased the building for two years - in two years, not only had we paid my grandmother her money back, but we had saved 40,000 dollars. And we took that money and used it as a down payment and purchased our first restaurant.

Well, you know, I want to go to you, Gina, because I understand that there was a reunion at which you two reconnected. Tell me about that, first of all.

Pat and I dated in high school. As a matter of fact, our parents went to the same high school, and we got back together - we dated all through high school, we broke up, of course, and then we got back together at our 10-year reunion.

turn 3 : "got back together" - This means that they resumed their romantic relationship, rather than literally getting back to the same physical location.

What did PersonA and Pat do at their 10-year reunion?

Answer: dated


What does Disney get?I mean, what that had the label Fox on it goes over to Disney?

So this is a $71. 3 billion deal, and it involves two of the biggest studios in Hollywood. So there's a lot of names involved in this in TV and film that folks will recognize. So Disney gets outlets like 20th Century Fox Television, which produces shows like "Empire" and "Modern Family. "They get Fox animation and National Geographic partners. Now, Fox, meanwhile, has created this slimmed-down company to include a lot of the stuff that Disney didn't buy. So they have Fox News Channel, Fox Business network, the Fox broadcast network and Fox Sports. And in fact, the former speaker of the House Paul Ryan was named to the board of that new Fox Corporation.

So Rupert Murdoch's family which, of course, has controlled Fox - Murdoch keeps the stuff which, we can imagine, is closest to his heart, like the Fox News Channel and gets rid of some of this other stuff.

Right, a company that's a little more focused on news and sports.

turn 2 : Rupert Murdoch's family has given up some of their media outlets, like 20th Century Fox Television, in the deal, but kept the outlets closest to their heart, like Fox News Channel.

What outlets did Rupert Murdoch's family keep in the deal?

Answer: Fox-News-Channel


I was singing that one time, and that line came out. I was like, we will always sing. We will always sing. And it's because when I think about the struggles that black Indigenous people of color face, that line of, we will always sing - that just kind of shows, no matter what, we're always going to be standing back up.

(Singing) Even when you look at me, your heart so full, I'll think of you from a nice place.

I know that you've been pretty vocal about being uncomfortable with white men at your shows.

Oh, yeah.

turn 1 : not a heart literally full of something, but full as in happy or content

Which type of heart is being referred to in Turn 1?

Answer: Metaphorical


The protests haven't been as widespread as people have expected. But nonetheless, these protests are continuing. And it's a show and a sign that the world is not standing by Trump and his declaration and his pronouncements and certainly not his positions.

Well - and yet the Saudi crown prince is reported to have urged Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to accept a very limited state noncontiguous with most settlements remaining. And we've also heard sort of similar backroom discussions from Egypt and other countries in the region.

Yes. You're absolutely right. There hasn't been a time in - since 1967 where Saudi Arabia has been on the right side when it comes to Palestinian rights. The real question is whether Mahmoud Abbas is going to sign something like that. And as much as he's somebody I criticize and I'm not a fan of, this is not an agreement that I see him signing onto because it doesn't even ensure that Palestinian rights are being protected.

Instead, it legitimates the settlements that are illegal. It removes Jerusalem - Palestinian Jerusalem. And it is effectively doing away with the Palestinian right of return. So this is not something that any Palestinian leader, including Mahmoud Abbas, is going to sign onto.

turn 0 : The protests are still significant despite not being widespread

What does the agreement urged by the Saudi crown prince do to Palestinian Jerusalem?

Answer: Removes


I gather - at first, you thought this might be a short book. Why?

Now, our research team tells us split pea soup is a dish that reaches across the region we're talking about.

It is. One thing that ties the whole region together is the fact that you'll have four very distinctive seasons, and at least one of them, regardless where in the region you are, is going to be a season where you can't really harvest any plant materials for food. So a lot of those dishes that are based on something that can be stored really well through winter like, for example, the dried peas for the split pea soup, they are actually dishes that you can find, if not in the whole region, at least in parts of it.

turn 1 :  I thought, and actually, at first, I didn't want to do it when it was proposed to me. And I was even a little bit offended by the fact that someone wants to kind of lump this very, very large region into one book. You know, the Nordics is a geographical region. It's not really a cultural region.  In this turn, the speaker is expressing their initial reluctance and offense towards the idea of creating a book that encompasses the entire Nordic region. The literal meaning of the statement is clear, but the implicated meaning goes beyond the words themselves. The speaker implies that the cultural diversity within the Nordic region is significant and should not be oversimplified or generalized.

What was the PersonA's initial reaction to the proposal of creating a book about the Nordic region?

Answer: Offended


Yeah. And, of course, the child actors and their parents want success, too, don't they?They're ambitious.

They're ambitious. They want what it appears is coming easily to everyone else. I was incredibly lucky. My mother was not a stage parent. The boundaries weren't blurred between her career and mine. There are a lot of parents out there willing to look away to let things happen.

The more heartbreaking one to me - no, it's just a different form of heartbreaking - are the parents who are just ignorant to how this business works. And they can be told something like, oh, we all go out to dinner together. Oh, now it's just me and the boy, or now it's just me and the girl.

Among the sentences in your article that chilled me was this one - sexual predation has been part of the movie business since "The Great Train Robbery," and since then, it has been systematically swept under the rug.

turn 3 : 4) "B: Every now and then in the family, if we want to gently or comically upbraid each other, we go, (imitating accent) your ganache lacks shine." implies that B and their family use the phrase "your ganache lacks shine" as a comical way of teasing or joking with each other. The literal meaning is just a description of B's words and actions.     Was this response better or worse? Better Worse Same

What phrase does PersonB and their family use to gently or comically upbraid each other?

Answer: ganache


If I hear you right, you're saying the process worked. Somebody who thought they saw behavior - not - I'm not asking you to characterize it - but thought they saw behavior that they were uncomfortable with or that crossed a line - that they were able to report it through the proper channels. It maybe took a little while, but it has reached the people it was intended to reach.

That would be correct. As a whistleblower fan, I think the process worked the right way.

Given that, can you speak to the delay that it took to reach the intelligence committees?The DNI knew about this for a while, and it wasn't reported.

Yeah, unfortunately, I would not have optic to that, which is a good reason because I think the individuals that are in the center of that circle need to remain small and precise in - to protect the whistleblower.

turn 0 : The behavior was unacceptable to what the people would accept.

Which behavior crossed a line according to the turn 0?

Answer: behavior


Good morning.

So why do you think the jury could not make a unanimous decision?

Well, obviously, it was - there was a split. We don't know what the split was because, apparently, that's confidential under Pennsylvania law. But, you know, who knows?Even though jurors are not supposed to speak about other jurors, that may end up leaking out.

The prosecution did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. On the other hand, the defense also did not get an acquittal. And so this case is going to be tried again. I did represent one - the other accuser who was permitted to testify, Kelly Johnson. And I admire both Kelly and Andrea for their courage in testifying in such a high-profile case. And I've said, you know, we can never underestimate the blinding power of celebrity, but justice will come.

turn 2 : "But, you know, who knows?" - The literal meaning of this turn is simply acknowledging the uncertainty of the situation. The implied meaning, however, could be interpreted as a sarcastic remark indicating the speaker's lack of faith in the legal system's ability to keep information confidential.

What was the PersonA's reaction to the legal system's ability to keep information confidential?

Answer: Lack


And what they're suggesting is that you can lose spin from the Earth-moon system and transfer it to the sun-Earth system. And it's a very complex calculation. I mean, it's not just trivial that it took 30, 40 years to figure this out. But once that is on the table, and you say hey, I can start with an Earth that's spinning with a period of two hours, now you have an Earth, that if you were to look at this - and you can download the simulations from Science magazine - and you can see that - or from Harvard - and you can see that this Earth looks kind of like a muffin.

It's spinning so fast, it's got kind of a two-to-one axis ratio. And so their solution is hey, I can make the moon out of Earth's mantle, I'll just sort of hit it with a tiny projectile - you know, not tiny but much smaller than we thought previously - so Theia becomes smaller.

And you hit it, and off of the equator of this rapidly spinning muffin comes this stuff, and it's mostly Earth's mantle.

Little muffin that becomes the moon.

turn 3 : The moon was once a part of the Earth.

Which celestial body was once a part of Earth?

Answer: moon


Not defend - or explain it or, like, make a joke out of it. Or. . .

Well, I mean, that's what we - that's what a comedian does anyway. We're just making light of things that are going on. Or we're pointing out an injustice and trying to make it funny. Or we're trying to ultimately entertain. But, you know, sometimes, some comics - you know, they want to be social justice warriors. I don't ever feel like I have to 'cause I'm already multiracial, multiethnic as it is anyway?

What is your background?

Well, I'm just mixed.

turn 3 : The literal meaning of this turn is to state that the speaker is of mixed racial and/or ethnic heritage. However, the actual meaning is to downplay the significance of the speaker's racial and ethnic identity.

Which identity trait does the speaker downplay?

Answer: speaker


They're very abstract. I talked with Heather Heckman, who's at the University of South Carolina Libraries, and they loaned us some of this Vishniac footage. And she was, like, it's almost like avant-garde film because, you know, you look at these oyster larvae pulsating, and you don't know what they are. They're just - but it's really beautiful.

So we talked - so we learn about Vishniac and also sort of figure out how things have changed since the '50s, '60s and '70s, which is when he was doing his work. And we spoke with Wim van Egmond, who's this Dutch photographer who wins all these Nikon Small Worlds contests. I think people who follow this will know his name. But he makes these beautiful, microscopic videos and videos through the microscope and photos, too.

And they're all one-celled creatures?

Not all of them.

turn 0 : "it's almost like avant-garde film" - this is a figurative expression meaning that the footage is very abstract and unconventional, similar to avant-garde films, rather than a literal comparison to a specific genre of film.

How would you describe the Vishniac footage?

Answer: Abstract


But second, I said you have to step up, Mr.  President. The moment you jump into this issue, you learn how complicated it is, how many decades in the making it is. But this is on our watch. This is our time, and these are your constituents, Mr.  President, just as they are mine.

And so to me, this is an opportunity to educate, an opportunity to pressure. And whether it is out of his heart or out of the movement that we build or just out of some people's disgust - because disgust for all of us should be in our hearts right now that we let Americans live on our streets and in shelters in the richest country on the face of the earth. So we will push, push, push this president and this administration to join this fight until the last day we're around.

That is the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti.

Mr.  Mayor, thanks so much for talking to us.

Great to be with you, Michel. Thank you so much.

turn 0 : "Step up," "jump" and "our watch" are all figurative, not literal. They mean that the President needs to take action on the issue and, in the last case, that the political party is in control now and has to take responsibility for governing.

What do the figurative expressions "step up," "jump," and "our watch" mean in the dialogue?

Answer: Figurative


Well, what are some of the alternatives that have been proposed?

The prime minister, John Key, here is a big fan of the silver fern. We have a symbol that we use on our sporting outfits. And one of our major teams, which is literally of a plant, a wee fern plant on a black background. For others, though, that's a bit too much like a brand or a logo than really a sovereign flag. There are artists who have come up with sort of designs of white skies and - 'cause, you know, it's also known as (Foreign language spoken) in Maori, the land of the long white cloud. There are Maori, the native people here, have independence flag that are talked about. So, quite a lot of options on the table to be debated.

Who gets to choose?

turn 0 : It is largely an age distinction. There are younger people who think that our geography has now trumped our history. We are in the world where it's more relevant than the ties we used to have. But for an older generation, those ties are really important, especially when it comes to war, and World War I and World War II, and New Zealand lost more soldiers per the population than most countries in the world. And they died and served under that flag.  In this turn, the implied meaning is that the younger generation values geography and current circumstances more than historical ties, while the older generation places significant importance on the historical connections, particularly in the context of war and the sacrifices made under the existing flag. The literal meaning would simply state the generational differences in perspective and the historical significance of the flag.

How do younger people view historical ties compared to older generations in regards to the flag?

Answer: Geography


From NPR News, I'm Farai Chideya. For Wednesday, February 13th, this is News and Notes.

From NPR News, This s News and Notes. I'm Farai Chideya. The White House race only gets hotter, especially if you're John McCain. Yesterday the Arizona Senator picked up the Potomac primary wins in Washington, D. C.  and Maryland. He also took Virginia, where Mike Huckabee put up a good fight. The victories are edging McCain closer to the GOP candidate seat, and as for the Democrats, yesterday was all Barack Obama. He swept the Potomac Primaries and stacked up key delegate points. Joining me now to sort through the numbers is Ron Elving. He's NPR's senior Washington editor. Hi, Ron.

Hello, Farai.

So how many delegates did McCain pick up?

McCain picked up a little over a hundred, possibly as many as 113, depending on how they sort out Maryland. But he got everything in Virginia, all 30 delegates, despite the fact he only won by nine percentage points. That's the way the Republican rules work. You can win certain winner take all states, no matter what your plurality or majority may be, you get all the delegates. So he did that in Virginia and the District of Columbia and he'll get virtually all of the delegates in Maryland. So he picked up somewhere between 100 and 113 delegates. It puts him pretty much out of sight. He's got more than three times as many as Mike Huckabee.

turn 1 : John McCain is doing well in the Republican primaries.

What is the name of the NPR News anchor mentioned in the dialogue?

Answer: Farai


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 2 : "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." - The literal meaning is that John Edwards has pushed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to be more progressive in their policy proposals. The actual meaning is that John Edwards has had a significant impact on the policy proposals of the other candidates and has influenced the overall political discourse during the election.

What impact did John Edwards have on the policy proposals of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the election?

Answer: Influence


It's a pleasure to be here. And I'm one of many people who are running the Dog Aging Project.

What do you folks hope to learn?

We're trying to create the largest long-term study of aging in dogs that anyone has ever done, with the goal of trying to understand how genes and environment determine healthy aging in dogs.

So it's not just that old rule of thumb that one year is seven years in a dog's life?

turn 3 : In turn (4), the speaker is not actually asking if the study is disproving the old rule of thumb that one dog year is equivalent to seven human years. Rather, they are asking if the study is more complex and nuanced than that oversimplified rule, and if it takes into account factors such as genetics and environment in determining a dog's age.

Which factor is the speaker asking if the study takes into account in determining a dog's age?

Answer: Genetics


Well, no, I don't think so, but it's really not just about resignations. What people really want to see is a change of the system, not just a personnel change. But what we know is that even if we magically fixed Ferguson overnight, it would be an island of justice in a sea of injustice.

At the same time, Mr.  French, how do you keep the public safe?How do you get anyone to become a good police officer if they're getting - if they feel they might be shot by the citizens?

You're absolutely right. I mean, the tragic thing here - and this is the crisis that we find ourselves in in St.  Louis - is that communities need police; especially communities with high crime, like many of our communities do have it in St.  Louis. We need police. And an order for police to be effective they need the trust of the community. And so what I feel like is we have not acted quick enough. That in fact we had an opportunity over this fall and winter to do a lot of this hard work before we get into what is traditionally the high crime times of spring and summer. And it's been warm here for a couple of days and we've already seen a very high spike in crime, including the tragic death of a 5-year-old boy. So we've got a lot of work to do and we need to get to the business of doing it very quickly.

How has the protest movement changed - maybe in terms of what its objectives are - and are there different factions now?

turn 2 : The community needs to act quickly to restore trust and safety in the community.

What is the main concern of the community in St. Louis?

Answer: Safety


With us now, author and economist Julianne Malveaux, she is president of Bennett College. Welcome, Dr.  Malveaux.

Greetings, Farai. How are you?

Well, people are looking ahead and they're very uncertain, and that's what we see in markets. We see people laying people off. We also have some challenge in financial market. Certainly, the Bear Stearns' crisis raises all kinds of questions. The housing market, of course, we've talked about that on this program several times, but the fact is that we see a stagnancy. We don't see growth. We see houses that are overvalued. Lots of people in mortgage crisis. People who bought homes within the last five years finding that they overpaid for their homes and they couldn't sell them in what they paid for them, so they're stuck. That removes liquidity.

turn 2 : "I'm doing well, but some people aren't. And let's talk about these figures and really, what is shifting in our economy right now in terms of the different sectors where people are losing these tens of thousands of jobs?" - The literal meaning is a statement about the current state of the economy and its impact on employment. The implied meaning is a suggestion to discuss the economic issues and the resulting job losses.

How is the state of the economy impacting employment?

Answer: employment


Eastern Congo may be the most dangerous place on Earth, and it's getting worse. A rebel army is moving on the biggest city, Goma. Hundreds of thousands of people are running for their lives. This is the region of infamous ethnic killing between the many people who call themselves Hutus and the far fewer Tutsi.

Hez Holland is a correspondent with Reuters. He's been reporting from Goma. He joins us now. Hez, welcome. And remind us, this is also a region of enormous wealth - timber and minerals. People have been fighting over it for a long time.

At least. It's historically been a curse, what with the mineral wealth and, as you said, the timber, has been something that has been fought over for - since the Belgians. It's always been a place where minerals have been extracted and exploited, and the people have always been just pawns in the great game of any kind of colonial power, really.

Well, now, there's this rebel group led by a man named General Nkunda. He is a former Congolese general. And it is moving on the city of Goma. What are you seeing there now?

turn 2 : The statement implies how resourceful and economically important Goma is, unfortunately it never served it purpose.

What has been the cause of the fighting in the region?

Answer: Mineral


There was a point at which radiation was all the rage for everything.

It was. And it wasn't that long ago. In the early 1900s, Marie Curie had discovered radium. Everybody thought it was the biggest and best thing. So they put it into water, so people would drink radioactive water. It was a treatment called Radithor that was sold all over the place. People could buy their own crocks that were impregnated with radioactive compounds so that when you put water in it, you could drink your own radioactive water at home.

What were they trying to cure?

They thought that it would make them young again and give them youthful vigor. People would take it for aching joints, restoring ill health. I mean, it was all these vague complaints and problems.

The cures didn't really take, right?

Well, no. It didn't help at all because you can't actually use radium to cure hypertension or diabetes or rheumatism. What happens is when you ingest radium like that, unfortunately, one of the places that the body likes to take up that element is in the bones. And so people would get bone cancers, and they would get anemias. And it was pretty deadly.

turn 1 : People in the past used to consume radioactive water as a cure for various health problems, but it turned out to be fatal.

Which treatment was sold all over the place and made people sick?

Answer: Radithor


I think, given what we know about the internal divisions within Iran on some of these issues and the - their negotiating behavior in the past where they've made outrageous public statements and then in negotiations walk right - walked them right back, I wouldn't put too much credence in those statements at this point.

How much confidence do you have that the sanctions and the negotiations are going to be fruitful?

I think that this is going to create the best opportunity we've had in many, many years to test the seriousness of the Iranians and whether they're willing, you know, really, they're - they have a choice between either saving their economy and being part of - a viable part of the region or pursuing a nuclear weapons program that will make them a pariah, even more of a pariah than they are today. That's a pretty fundamental strategic choice. And I think we'll know in the coming weeks and months what choice they make.

Why won't deterrence and containment work with Iran?

turn 0 : "walked them right back" means retracting or withdrawing from a previously stated position, rather than physically walking backward

Which phrase is used to describe the act of retracting or withdrawing from a previously stated position?

Answer: Retracting


He had a very special place in the music pantheon.

He really did, and those people live forever.

Absolutely.

People like Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway and Nat King Cole and Luther Vandross. That's why we say the late, great. And people used to say that about my dad, and I didn't - I only heard it about daddy, you know, the late, great, Donny Hathaway. And I say it about Luther as well. You know, his - it's such a void created that it will never be filled again.

turn 3 : The person being referred to was a great loss to the music industry and cannot be replaced

Answer: Music


Yes, I - my mom has a cleaning company, and she cleans for a lawyer here locally. And once she started working there, it just turned into, like, a really big place. Like, it was not easy for her to do by herself, so. . .

You pitch in after school or on weekends or. . .

We took Sundays and sometimes Fridays to clean up the office, which was probably the best days for us because after church, we'd just head towards the office and clean.

And that all went to your quince fund.

turn 0 : A's mom's cleaning company grew rapidly after taking on the lawyer's office as a client

How did PersonA's mom's cleaning company expand?

Answer: A


So for a couple years now, Topps has had an app - say it ain't so - for baseball card-collecting and trading cards. These are virtual cards, not the cardboard ones that come with a stick of gum. I mean, it's called a Bunt, and you've tried it out. Tell us what you think.

Oh, it does - I should point out the packs do come with a stick of gum. It's just a virtual stick of gum.

Don't try to chew that gum.

No, that's what I was (laughter) - the whole thing is basically just an exercise in using your imagination, if you're old enough that you need to imagine for this stuff. If you're 13 to 25, which is, like - 80 percent of the Bunt users are - then I don't imagine there's anything weird about a piece of virtual gum showing up on your phone, exploding and then turning into baseball cards.

Well, it's been around for a while. I mean, can Topps call Bunt a success?

turn 3 : "an exercise in using your imagination" has a figurative meaning. It means that the app requires the user to use their imagination to enjoy the experience, rather than relying solely on the physical aspects of collecting and trading baseball cards.

Which phrase describes the virtual stick of gum in the virtual card-collecting app?

Answer: Virtual


(Laughter) There might be. You know, they're a team that plays an entertaining brand of hockey. Their head coach, John Tortorella, is entertainment in and of himself, sometimes a blustery, yelling guy. So there is something scrappy about this team. And there's also something scrappy about this franchise. They've been around for a very long time, and this is the first time that they've even won three games in a playoff series.

Can they keep this going?

I think so. There's no reason that this team can't beat anybody if they can beat one of the single greatest hockey teams in the regular season that the NHL has ever seen in over a hundred years.

Greg Wyshynski is senior NHL writer for ESPN and co-host for the fantastically named Puck Soup podcast. Thank you for speaking with us.

turn 0 : Turn (1) has an example of a phrase whose actual meaning is different from its literal meaning. When the speaker says "their head coach, John Tortorella, is entertainment in and of himself," they mean that John Tortorella is very entertaining to watch or listen to, rather than that he is a form of media or content.

How does the speaker describe John Tortorella's personality?

Answer: Entertaining


Right.
Just a little.
You could put honey. . .
Yeah. Agave just. . .

turn 3 : "Agave just..." This turn is not complete and lacks context, so its meaning is ambiguous. It could be interpreted as a response to the previous turn, where "Agave" is being suggested as an alternative to honey, or it could have a different meaning depending on the context of the conversation.

Answer: Agave


Well, they do. But what people don't always realize about the Affordable Care Act is it's not just a discrete program in and of itself. It changed other government programs, too, and that includes Medicare.

What was the biggest change for Medicare?

Well, the one that's gotten the most attention is the change to prescription drug coverage. You may have heard about something called the doughnut hole. That's where Medicare would get you a discount on prescriptions but only up to a point. After that, you had to pay full price for drugs until you shelled out around 1,300 bucks. Then Medicaid would help you out again.

Now, some people never really reached that point because when they had to pay full price, they just started skipping some of their prescription meds. So the Affordable Care Act has been phasing out this gap. It saved people on Medicare more than $23 billion. But this program could go away with the repeal of the law.

That could go away, and we should say, once again, that we don't know yet what any replacement will look like. What have you heard among the ideas being proposed that might affect older Americans?

Well, a few members of Congress, Republicans, have circulated their own proposals for replacing the Affordable Care Act. And one thing that comes up in some of them, including in House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan, is a major change to Medicaid. Now, that's known as the program that provides health care for the poor. But it's also the program that pays for long-term care for a lot of older people. In fact, Medicaid pays the bills for most nursing home residents.

turn 0 : "it's not just a discrete program in and of itself" This turn means that the Affordable Care Act is not a standalone program, but it also affects other government programs, indicating a metaphorical meaning of "discrete," which means separate or distinct.

Which program did the Affordable Care Act change, besides itself?

Answer: Medicare


Yeah, I believe there's a certainty of it. I started out my career as a journalist covering races in Mississippi, and every year people would try to give black people bad information, and we at the local black newspaper would find ourselves, you know, working with the NAACP, trying to get out good information. They would go through black neighborhoods and pass out flyers saying don't forget to vote on Wednesday, for instance. I'm sure that tactic, which is one of the tried and true, will be tried again somewhere in this country.

Well, Benjamin Jealous, thank you so much.

Thank you. It's a real pleasure.

Benjamin Jealous is the president of the NAACP.

turn 0 : to cover something in this context means to report on something

What organization did Benjamin Jealous lead as mentioned in the dialogue?

Answer: NAACP


Are there specific goals you all are trying to achieve in terms of advancing one policy or another?

Yeah. So the overarching mission is really to support science for the public good. I think it's really important to say that when politicians attack science, it's not necessarily across the board. It's certain types of science. So if you look at climate change or public health, they're under attack from certain groups because, you know, they involve regulation or some businesses have an interest in them or there's some political thing to be gained for them. And so what we will be doing after the march is putting out a policy platform on all of these specific areas.

Is that a little like herding cats?I mean, I'm guessing the scientific community (laughter), like any other, is hardly monolithic in what it thinks is the way forward.

Well, this is what we have to do. Right?So if, at the end of the day, we get bogged down in research grants, we get bogged down in having to write the next paper - but we do science 'cause we care about improving society. And if that's what it takes for us to really, you know, bring all of these diverse voices into the room and figure out, you know, how we can be unified and how we can be a political force, that's where we're at at the moment. And we're going to push for that hard after the march.

turn 3 : The implication of this statement is that the scientific community needs to come together and use their collective power to push for change.

What is the ultimate goal of the scientific community's policy platform after the march?

Answer: Change


So along the way, you met a lot of interesting characters. And I want to particularly talk about a sommelier named Morgan Harris. He plays a big role. He's kind of like your wine shepherd. Tell us a little bit about him.

Ah, my wine fairy godmother. I mean, he's just amazing. He was my - he was really my mentor. He had this magnetic passion for wine. I mean, the first time I met him, I basically sat through a 2. 5-hour monologue that was an ode to everything from the great Rieslings of the early 20th century to the $1,200 bottle of champagne he thought would be a religious experience.

So this is a question - because he is this sort of wine evangelist if you will, he believes wines can recontextualize people's places in the universe. First of all, what does that mean?

And second of all - I mean, do you think that wine really has the power that he says it does?

turn 2 : "he believes wines can recontextualize people's places in the universe." Here, the speaker is using the metaphorical phrase "recontextualize people's places in the universe" to describe the transformative power of wine to change people's perceptions, experiences, and understanding of the world. The literal meaning of "recontextualize people's places in the universe" would be related to astronomy or physics, and not to the sensory experience of wine.

How does Morgan Harris view the impact of wine on people's lives?

Answer: Transformative


So you have worked directly with children at the Homestead Shelter in South Florida. Can you take us through one case, one specific type service that you provide now that you wouldn't be able to if and when these cuts go forward?

Generally we provide a Know-Your-Rights presentation to every single child that is detained in an ORR facility in South Florida. Next we provide a one-on-one legal screening with every single child that is in one of these shelters. That legal screening has two purposes. One is to let us know, is this an emergency?Do we need to file this child's case right away?Or are they eligible for relief and are going to be released to another location?If they're eligible for relief and going to be released elsewhere, we will work our butts off to try to find them a lawyer wherever they are released to.

What would it look like for a kid without a lawyer, without this type of legal aid that you're describing?

I mean, you can only imagine. There's no way that any child would be able to navigate this system alone. You know, no child is going to be able to represent themselves in court. And, you know, we see that already with unrepresented children.

turn 3 : Representation in court is necessary for children's cases.

How important is representation for children's cases?

Answer: Necessary


I think it is.
Oh my gosh!
I think it is.
This is a huge day.

turn 3 : This is a day where a something very important has happened or is happening.

Answer: Significant


I'm Farai Chideya, and this is News and Notes. Illinois Senator Barack Obama declared he was running for president back in February of 2007. Back then, he was the dark horse, long-shot candidate. Some people looked at him, and talked only about race. Other voters and pundits seem to try to avoid the topic.

Now, the economy is in meltdown, and much of the political debate has turned to mortgages and finance. But race is still there say the polls, and author and commentator Tim Wise says so as well. Wise is an anti-racism activist whose latest book is called "Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male. "Welcome to News and Notes.

Thanks.

So, your latest essay is called, "This Is Your Nation on White Privilege. "

turn 0 : dark horse, long shot implies that he was not expected to win

What was Barack Obama's status as a candidate at the beginning of his presidential campaign?

Answer: Unexpected


Absolutely. You would want the most competent, the most compassionate physician that you can find. But those are not necessarily the physicians that they're trying to hire based on the ad that I was looking at.

As you were talking about dual loyalty. . . .

Yeah.

. . . Is there a specific example you can give us to help listeners understand how this plays out in the real world?

turn 3 : NO NEED OF GIVING ADVERTISEMENT TOTHE GOOD THING,IT SHINE BY ITS OWN

Which phrase describes the best physician that one would want to hire?

Answer: competent


Does this mean human beings could return and be healthy?

I think our data don't really lend themselves to addressing that specific question for a number of reasons. Humans are much more long-lived than wild animals, so I would be cautious to extrapolate those findings to humans.

How do you explain that this area, that I think most of us consider to be a wasteland, has so much wildlife?

It was well-established that when you create large reserves and protect wildlife from everyday human activities, wildlife, generally, tend to thrive. So our study did not look at any specific health effects of animals. I think that's important to note. But what our study does suggest is that even if there are potential, subtle genetic effects, those effects are greatly overshadowed by the impacts humans have on the environment.

turn 3 : The speaker is emphasizing that any potential genetic effects found in their study are insignificant compared to the overwhelming impact of human activities on the environment.

What is the PersonA's main point regarding the potential genetic effects found in their study?

Answer: Main


Well (laughter), I was on Capitol Hill. I was actually at the White House. And President Trump didn't meet with us. He was out of the country. But, you know, honestly, I think it was campaign rhetoric. I'm not asking for a handout. I'm just asking for a helping hand - not only Pennsylvania, but West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama. There's a lot of mines prior to this mine closing that have closed, and you just don't bring coal back. So we need to look outside of the coal industry in the future.

Your region supported Trump this past election. Am I right?

That's correct. You know what?He said the right things. He said, I'm bringing back coal and talked about the Second Amendment, not taking away guns. And that's the big part of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, this corner. And he said the right stuff.

What are people thinking about the president these days?

turn 2 : A believes that Trump's appeal to the Second Amendment and support for coal resonated with voters.

Which two topics did Trump address that resonated with voters according to A?

Answer: coal


How did that affect you and your political consciousness or your sense of your place in Iran?

Well, my father's jailed especially, but also the way my parents were, always made me feel politically suspicious of whoever was in power.

You know, and I think that I have kept that in a sense. And to be politically active, not in the sense of wanting to ever myself become part of any political group or clique, but there were certain values, certain principles, that became very important. And I felt that that is the main thing, not to compromise those principles, not to be, as my father used to say, not to be ashamed of yourself. But it's really, really, I think, changed my world forever. I could never ever again trust anything. If my father, who, one moment was one of the most popular mayors Tehran ever had - I was in Switzerland at the time, and you know, we would see his picture with General De Gaulle in Paris Match, or with the king of Denmark, with the chancellor of Germany; you know, he seemed to be top of the world - and the next moment almost, he would be in jail. If that could happen so easily, then I realized that anything could happen and you cannot trust at least the political life.

Azar Nafisi, coming up, we continue our discussion. She talks about the sexual abuse she had been silent about and how that influenced her view of Nabokov's novel "Lolita. "

turn 2 : "Top of the world" is not literal, it just means the man was very successful at the time.

Which word in turn 2 is used figuratively?

Answer: Top


Your own ministry was, at one point, attacked by a crowd. Does the government have a policy, when it comes to dealing with protesters - particularly if acts of violence occur?

Yesterday, as soon as I became aware that the ministry was being attacked, I came back and I asked for reinforcements, which were immediately provided. So, we managed to have a situation where no one was hurt and the crowd was controlled relatively quickly. This kind of degradation or attacks against the building, such as the foreign ministry, which is one that inhabitants of Brazilia and Brazilians in general are very proud of - it's an icon of modern architecture - are entirely unacceptable. And that for manifestations to carry a message that will be seriously heard and taken into account, they cannot include this kind of behavior.

Antonio Patriota is the foreign minister of Brazil, speaking with us from Brazilia. Thanks very much, sir.

Thank you very much.

turn 1 : In this turn, the speaker is not just providing a straightforward answer to the question asked by the interviewer. Instead, they are using the opportunity to condemn the violent behavior of protesters and emphasize the importance of peaceful demonstrations. The implied meaning is that the government does have a policy for dealing with protesters, but the speaker is more interested in making a statement about the need for peaceful protest.

Which type of behavior does the speaker consider entirely unacceptable during manifestations?

Answer: Violence


First of all, there is a lag time of - it's several months before raw material costs work their way all the way through the system. And farmers will be quick to tell you that they only get 20 cents from every food dollar. The rest of it goes to processing and labor and transportation. So all of these other factors also effect what we're paying at the grocery store.

Essentially the department is assuming that the volatility in the prices for energy and commodities is going to be with us for a while, at least through the middle of next year. In other words, the recent trends of lower prices for oil and other commodities isn't going to last, and if you look at today's spike in the price of oil, that's a good case in point.

John, you mentioned how we'll be seeing this at the grocery store. What about at restaurants?

Well, that's interesting. USDA forecast compares prices of food at home with those away from home. And in 2005 and 06, restaurant price and inflation was much higher than in grocery stores, but that changed last year and this year and supposedly will continue next year. Restaurants are now raising prices more slowly than grocery stores. Basically, restaurants are trying to absorb some of their higher food costs to cushion the blow to their customers and to keep them coming in.

turn 0 : "farmers will be quick to tell you" - This is an idiomatic expression that means farmers are likely to agree or acknowledge this statement rather than being quick to say something.

Which group is likely to agree with the statement "farmers will be quick to tell you"?

Answer: Farmers


Oh, absolutely, 100 percent.

Do you ever talk to the students that you went to college with recently, students who were maybe sometimes 60 years younger than you, about what you have lived and what you have gone through?Do you ever tell them these kinds of stories?

In some of my classes, some of the fellows would ask me about the segregated South. I would reveal to them, like in one instance, we had a history major and he was just tickled to death to learn this stuff firsthand from somebody who had actually been through it. Example, I used to tell him that at Norfolk Navy Yard, the drinking fountains and lavatories were all segregated - black, colored water and colored bathrooms, white bathrooms. And the white water always broke down and they drank the colored water.

turn 0 : "So you were ready to stand up for yourself?" - The actual meaning could be, "Were you prepared to defend yourself and your beliefs when faced with opposition or criticism?" It may not necessarily mean the person was physically standing up.

Which yard had segregated drinking fountains and lavatories?

Answer: Norfolk


Well, we got some comments about a story we did on a reported drop of media coverage on the war in Iraq. Charles Durn(ph) in Doylestown, Pennsylvania wrote us this. I am amazed how the various reasons given for the reduced coverage skip the obvious. One of your guests said that coverage switched off the same week General Petraeus said the surge was working. The obvious reason is the press is not interested in success in Iraq, especially if it made Bush look good.

Caroline Madelle Bennett(ph) in Rochester, New York praised us for a guest on that same segment. I don't care for much of what NPR puts on anymore, but I want you to know that I appreciate your having Laura Flanders on this evening. She's one of the intelligent voices of which there are so few on radio, in broadcast news, commentary and analysis.

We got a couple of comments on the monthly series on jazz that we're doing. Last week, we talked about how radio stations were dropping jazz from their programming lineups. Melinda Kennedy, who listens on WMUE FM noted this. It's not the music that keeps me from listening, but the radio personalities that host the shows.

And Don Nickels(ph) from Wildwood, Missouri chimed in, jazz has not suffered. Most of the greats are gone, but other than that it is the same as it's been for decades. It is a black genre and has never made it out of that community. Should it have more exposure on the radio?Maybe. But if no one is listening, who will pay?Welcome to what makes the world go round. It's called capitalism.

turn 0 : The press is biased and not interested in reporting positive news about Iraq.

Answer: Iraq


Well, do you know, patients liked me 'cause I was really jolly and nice and what they didn't realize is they'd probably been much better off with some mumbling introvert who actually knew something. And in fact, I dreaded it. And my only happy day as a doctor was one sunny summer day where we got no admissions at all and I sat on the lawn outside the hospital and read "The Longest Journey" by E.  M.  Forster. That was the only happy day, and in the end, I didn't go back. And I thought, well, what could I do?I'm not qualified for anything else. I thought, the only thing I've done is comedy. And I applied for and got a job with BBC Light Entertainment in radio.

I am among those that think that British humor is one of the great forces for civilization in the world.

(Laughter).

But that being noted, it must be rough to - a challenge to take a comic approach to the Blitz, which is, in a sense, the great national heroic story of Britain.

turn 1 :  The speaker is not only expressing admiration for British humor but also implying that it has been a positive force in the world. (3) The speaker is expressing amusement and agreement with the previous statement, not simply laughing for no reason. (4) The speaker is expressing admiration for the challenge of using comedy to tell the story of the Blitz, not simply noting the difficulty of doing so.

What is the great force for civilization in the world according to B?

Answer: Humor


One of the things that struck me is some of the comments by some of the women. They don't necessarily see themselves as beautiful. They did not see in themselves the thing that you saw in them. Did you find that to be common?I'm thinking in particular of the sisters from Switzerland with the red hair who said they'd been made fun of as children because of the color of their hair. And you were drawn to them.

During the project, I did realize that women that I photographed were not confident in their way of being. So whenever I posted their picture on my social media, we got a lot of comments and positive reaction from the people. So the women that I photographed, after that, they realized how beautiful they are. That was extraordinary for them and for me because it gives them confidence.

How did this project change you?

I'm much more confident. I'm much more respectful of what the other women in the world have to go through every day because the life is so difficult in so many parts of the world. And this project was a huge gift in my life. And this is why I'm trying to put it out there in the world for people to understand that the world is extremely beautiful. And we should really appreciate everything that's happening in our life.

turn 1 : Posting their pictures on social media helped the women gain confidence

How did the women photographed gain confidence?

Answer: Confidence


Oh, absolutely.

You know, like, what are some of the other barbecue don'ts that come up when all of you all get together?

I think hovering is a big one, people who want to jump on the grill before they've been invited to, people who think they're helping out by bringing a side of beef that they figure you have room on the grill to just add that into your menu, any kind of, you know, presumptuous guests.

What about some barbecue do's?Are there some do's that you wish people would do that they perhaps don't think to do?

turn 2 : A is criticizing guests who overstep their boundaries during barbecues

"How is PersonA describing guests who overstep their boundaries during barbecues?"

Answer: Presumptuous


. . . dominated by one single country.

And this in the context of several deals to construct dams with the power going to China, constructed by Chinese companies and virtually Chinese sovereign states that were constructed to accommodate the workers for these facilities.

Yeah. And this is the way that Chinese work all over the region, and then that's why a lot of countries in the region are fearful to Chinese. They're very generous with their loans. Most of the loans don't require any payback. But they send in their own workers to construct the projects, and then obviously, most of the benefits go back to the Chinese. You see that all over in Southeast Asia.

We're talking with Michael Sullivan, the long-time Southeast Asia correspondent for NPR News, now, a freelance reporter based in Northern Thailand and recently returned from another trip to Myanmar, the country also known as Burma. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. And one of the changes, Michael, I have to ask you about censorship in Burma; tightly controlled media for many, many years or decades. Has that begun to loosen up?

turn 3 :  (4) suggests that the government of Myanmar has started to relax its restrictions on the media.

Answer: China


So, people like him, which I believe there are a lot of them out there, you know, and people like Oprah, for instance, you know, people like that. I mean, they need help. You know, $100, 1,000 - maybe $20 you know, it can help people. And people in Africa are human beings just like you and others. So, they feel the pain. They are suffering every day. So, you know, here I am doing music. I'm not rich, you know, I am not rich, but I want to share a little bit of what I have with the ones that we left behind.

What do you want to be your legacy in the world of music because there's the philanthropy you're doing but then there's also the music that you're doing. What do you plan to do in the future?

I want to be able to play music to please Americans, and I want to be able to make them see just the beauty of music, not just African music but just the gift of music. That's my goal — to make people happy, to make them dance.

Well, Shiko, I'm so glad that we got a chance to talk. Thank you.

turn 0 : "people like him...need help" - the literal meaning is that people like him require assistance. The actual meaning may imply that people like him (referring to impoverished individuals in Africa) require financial aid.

What is the issue that people in Africa are facing according to B?

Answer: Suffering


Well, you could say both. You know, in 2010, the parent company declared bankruptcy. There's significant debt surrounding and hanging over National Enquirer's parent company. But you can't separate this from the scandals. The Washington Post, in its reporting, claims that the hedge fund manager who's sort of controlling owner now of American Media says that he's disgusted by what he's learned. This is not really anything new for the Enquirer, but don't forget the legal trouble the Enquirer has been in. You know, it got dragged into the investigation of Michael Cohen and others. It had to, essentially, negotiate with prosecutors in order to avoid prosecution. And indeed, the Bezos scandal may raise the legal stakes once more.

I mean, we've probably all joked at the grocery store checkout stand, like, looking at the headlines - who would ever buy the National Enquirer?Well, now it's like a more serious question. Who would buy the National Enquirer?

Well, you know, in a straight world, you might say TMZ, the digital gossip site. It's hard to know. It's a damaged brand. It is a notable brand. Somebody may buy it as a plaything, or there's been speculation Jeff Bezos would want to strangle it, buy it and put it out. . .

Wow. That would be. . .

turn 3 : (4) implies surprise that Jeff Bezos would consider buying the National Enquirer.

How did PersonB react to the idea of Jeff Bezos buying the National Enquirer?

Answer: Wow


So there you are standing in the checkout line, that one with a big sign above it that says express, 10 items or less. You notice the basket of the woman in front of you. You silently start tallying. OK, eight or nine items, fine. But wait, she has a six pack under her hand, and under her other arm is a bag of pretzels. And then she's going for that pack of gum. And you're fighting the urge to scream: You had no business in the express line.

If that's you, then John Trinkaus feels your pain. He decided that instead of complaining about it, though, he'd study it. Trinkaus researches not only the express line, but how many people stop at stop signs and the average wait at the doctor's office. My next guest is Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the Annals of Improbable Research, and the founder and master of ceremonies for the Ig Nobel Prize. He'll explain the data details and why it's the simple things that count. He joins us from WBUR in Boston. Hi, Marc.

Hello, Flora.

Tell me - give me some other names of his studies, because they're all really funny.

turn 1 : John Trinkaus studies seemingly mundane things, but they can reveal significant patterns.

Which researcher studies seemingly mundane things?

Answer: Researches


It doesn't want to concede to American pressure because it fears that if it concedes under pressure, that's going to project weakness and invite even more pressure. And so for that reason, you've seen, rather than Iran capitulating or compromising, they've begun escalating. But I think the endgame for both sides is - there's really no alternative to coming back to the negotiating table.

And there has been a string of headlines from the region involving Iran in recent weeks. This incident with the British tanker, of course, comes right after the U. S.  says it brought down an Iranian drone. Of course, Iran disputes that version of events. How connected are these events?

They're all interconnected. And essentially, the Trump administration's policy toward Iran has been to subject Iran to significant economic pressure and sanctions in the hopes that either Iran will come to the negotiating table and capitulate over its nuclear program or - I think there's some folks in the Trump administration, like national security adviser John Bolton, who would like to see the implosion of the Iranian regime.

And what Iran has done in response - Iran's supreme leader has been ruling for 30 years, and he's become pretty adept at these escalatory cycles. And he's adept at waving both the white flag of diplomacy and the black flag of radicalism and escalation. So on one hand, he sent his chief diplomat - Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif - he was recently in New York City, and he met with a lot of Western journalists. And he was talking about Iran wanting to pursue dialogue and diplomacy.

turn 2 : There is no actual table, just the hope that Iran will negotiate with them.

How does the Trump administration hope Iran will respond to their economic pressure?

Answer: B


So right now, there are multiple congressional committees investigating this issue. We've got them on the House side. We've got a couple on the Senate side. I guess I want to know why is there a need for multiple investigations, and how do these congressional investigations differ at their core from what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting?

Well, Senate Intelligence looks at intelligence matters primarily. Senate Judiciary looks at matters that fall under the broad scope of the Judiciary Committee. All these congressional investigations differ very much in function from what the Special Counsel Mueller does. Mueller works in secret and long, long deep studies of things like finances. And he doesn't bring his results public. If he finds something that's really important, he won't let you know until it's time to indict somebody. Whereas, the congressional committees when classification allows them to be in the open, they live for open hearings. They want people to know what they found.

And what about compelling witnesses to testify?The subpoena, is that a last resort thing or is it just a negotiating device?

Oh, the subpoena is the basic working tool of these investigations. It can be a single piece of paper that demands that the witness show up on pain of contempt. Or it can also be a subpoena of the kind that seeks documents, including digital material like emails. By bringing in a witness, they cut through a lot of the stalling. And by demanding the documents, they have the materials to pin the witness down in the questioning.

turn 3 : The subpoena is a powerful tool to get the truth out of witnesses and to obtain documents that may be relevant to the investigation.

How does a subpoena help in obtaining relevant documents?

Answer: Documents


Whichever direction the U. S.  is going, it's clearly not great news for the Europeans, who Iran is very close to their borders. It's just next door in the Middle East. And we've seen what happens in the Middle East doesn't tend to stay there and has direct consequences for the Europeans. So the Europeans have been trying to urge, sadly, unsuccessfully so far, for the U. S.  side to show a bit more pragmatism and realism about what it's expecting from Iran.

At the same time, you have said that Iran knows all the, quote, "red buttons. "Can you talk about what that means and how that can contribute to escalation?

Iran has essentially been living as a neighbor to the United States, if you think about it, for 20 years. Why?Since the invasion of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, which are two big, bordering countries to Iran. . .

Where there is an American troop presence.

turn 0 : The Middle East conflicts have a spillover effect on Europe.

How do the conflicts in the Middle East affect Europe?

Answer: spillover


And why do you think Mr.  Mueller should be fired?

Well, I think there have been a number of instances when bias has been demonstrated within the Mueller probe; also, the manner in which the team has been put together, the relationship between Mr.  Mueller and Mr.  Comey; and then finally, some of the details of the intelligence memo that we hope is made public this week would seem to indicate that no prosecution could ever be brought from the Mueller probe. And thus, its utility has been outlived.

Could you cite a single example of bias?

Sure. Andrew Weissman, the No. 2 member of the Mueller probe, attended the Hillary Clinton election night party. You would think with all the talented prosecutors to be asked throughout the federal system, we could likely assemble a team without having to pick the people who were engaged in the 2016 election to the extent that they would be at one of the candidates' election night parties.

turn 3 : The selection of Mueller's team members may not have been impartial

Which member of the Mueller probe has been accused of attending the Hillary Clinton election night party?

Answer: Andrew


Thank you for having me with you.

So, let's start with what exactly they are.

Okay. Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors. They're growth of muscle within the uterine wall. And sometimes they can be the size of a dime, and because of their location, they give you severe symptoms. And rarely, they can get to be the size of a basketball before they're recognized.

That's sounds pretty horrific.

It can be. It's amazing how much difficulty they can give to women that, in general, women can have severe menstrual bleeding - the kind of bleeding that keeps you home from work or keeps you from being able to do your daily activities - or they can press on a lot body structures. And they are very common, and it's surprising that so few women know that they have fibroids and that their symptoms may be related to them.

Now, research shows that about 25 percent of women in America are going to show some symptoms of fibroids, but they occur a lot more often in black women than white women. How much more often and why do scientists think that is?

turn 3 : That's sounds pretty horrific. Implicated meaning: Expressing shock or surprise at the information provided about fibroids.

How did PersonB react to the information provided about fibroids?

Answer: Horrific


Explain what it means that the buyer sees more value in the brand of Sports Illustrated than the magazine itself.

Such a good question. Authentic Brands Group represents a lot of big names, some in sport, like Dr.  J - Julius Erving - Shaquille O'Neal, a lot of icons of culture that have passed - Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley - and some, you know, other sporting figures and brands in culture - Juicy Couture, fashion, the like. And they see. . .

It's a good collection.

It's incoherent, but it's broad. Let's put it that way. They see the ability to do things they think - in live events, in conferences, perhaps in gambling, I guess. Casinos could be branded with - or certain kinds of lotteries could be branded with Sports Illustrated - gaming, presumably - video games and the like. They think that this is a franchise that has a strong name, even if publication of Sports Illustrated is down from its heyday. You know, you think of such an important publication - the journalism of Frank Deford, of Gary Smith, of the photography of Neil Leifer and others - so many impressive works over the years. That's not what these guys are about. These guys want to draw on that intellectual property, maybe sell it, maybe find ways to wrap new products around - that name around new products.

turn 3 : This implies that the collection is not well-defined or organized, but it covers a wide range of areas.

Answer: Broad


Pleasure to be here.

How was your lab affected by this?

Well, pretty severely. We lost the great majority of our mice. And I guess probably the clearest way I can put it is to say mice are very - are quite literally our partners in discovery. We really rely on them to inform us on pretty much every aspect of what we learn about how the brain functions.

I mean, I was trying to think about this, too, how - what the right analogy is. I mean, you don't - they're encoding data, as well, right?

turn 2 : The loss of mice was a great setback as they are vital for research purposes

Which animals are crucial for informing scientists about how the brain functions?

Answer: Mice


What happened was there was this terrible murder in a house on Runyon Street. It was called the Runyon Street murders. Four people were killed. And the police set their sights on a 14-year-old named Davontae Sanford. He was young. He was alone. He was developmentally disabled.

And they got him to admit to what he said was, quote, "something" with his understanding that he would be let go. He ended up signing a confession to the murders. He was indicted. His attorney, who was guilty of all sorts of misconduct, ended up, in the middle of trial, having Davontae plead guilty to the four murders and get an extremely long sentence.

Eighteen days after he pled guilty - or maybe 16 days - the actual killer, a guy named Vincent Smothers, confessed to the Detroit Police that he had carried out these four murders and eight other murders at the behest of a hitman. So the Detroit Police, even though they had this evidence, didn't free Davontae Sanford. And at some point, the evidence leaked out. I think that was in 2009. And at that point, he started fighting to be released and was opposed at every turn by Prosecutor Worthy.

We contacted Prosecutor Worthy, who didn't come in for another interview. But she - there is this statement. And let me read it.

turn 1 : Davontae Sanford was coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit and his lawyer was guilty of misconduct.

How was Davontae Sanford's confession obtained?

Answer: Admission


Well, it's definitely run by individual nations but individual nations with their systems tied together. And that happens both geographically but also temporally. You know, one of the key tools for observations that feed the weather models are the polar-orbiting satellites. It's so well-integrated that the European polar orbiters cover the earth in each local time's morning, and the American orbiters come in the afternoon.

I mean, that's a sort of pattern that has been essential to making sure that, you know, we have the latest observations from every part of the earth's atmosphere. It's about this sort of continually humming system to step forward in time and correct slightly and, you know, keep spitting out a changing forecast that hopefully gets better and better.

And so up until now, it's been governments that have been obviously calculating the weather for the greater good. But you call privatization a major threat to weather forecasting. Explain.

Yes, it's a 150-year-old system of governments collaborating with each other as a global public good. You know, in the '60s, it was something that President Kennedy saw as a sort of counterpoint to the space race. You know, meteorology was a way that governments could collaborate. But more recently, we potentially have a kind of bifurcation. You know, we potentially have forecasts for the haves and forecasts for the have-nots.

turn 0 : The weather models obtain information from the satellites.

How do weather models get their information?

Answer: Satellites


Exactly right. The jet stream - if you remember last year, when we kind of had a winter with no winter, we had a jet stream that was very zonal, meaning it came across the time zones from west to east, and it kind of stayed right along the Canadian-U. S.  border, and that's kind of the separation between the cold air and the warm air. So we were on the southern part of the jet stream, and so we were very warm all winter long.

Now with this Sudden Stratospheric Warming event and the disruption of the circum-polar vortex, our jet stream has started to buckle and meander quite a bit. And so now instead of going primarily from west to east, we have a big north and south component of that jet stream, allowing cities like Anchorage to be very warm while New York City or even areas in Georgia are much colder than Anchorage.

Georgia was 32 degrees when Anchorage was 48.

Wow, is this the same thing that happened a couple of years ago, or am I just imagining this?

turn 3 : to imagine something in this context means something was unbelievable to the person but it still happened

What does "imagine" mean in this context?

Answer: Unbelievable


What changed your mind because you did start college for a while?

Well, ever heard of the Three Cs?Civilian Conservation Corps, that was started by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at that time the president of the United States. And he started that program to get young boys like me off the street and try to put them in places where they could learn a trade. And I joined that, and that's when I started to learn about gasoline engine, diesel engines and heavy equipment.

That probably served you pretty well when you went into the military. How did you get into the military and what did you do once you went in?

After I left the CCC camp, I went to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. That's where I learned to run engine lathe and I made part for ships. And I wanted to volunteer for the Army, but I was drafted. And drafted and was sent to Camp Ellis, Illinois where I take my basic training and went to - overseas in a quartermaster service company in Germany, first France.

turn 1 :  "And he started that program to get young boys like me off the street and try to put them in places where they could learn a trade." - The phrase "off the street" does not refer to a literal street, but rather means to get young people away from a life of idleness and potential trouble.

How did the Civilian Conservation Corps aim to benefit young boys like the speaker?

Answer: Learn


Well, that's the thing. Three areas we've looked at - covering about 55 square miles of the jungle - target one, target two and target three. And the first one was target one, and we found these all these archeological features. They covered hundreds of acres, maybe even thousands of acres, and this is gigantic. And then they moved on to target two, and they marked that, and then they moved on to target three. And target three showed even more striking features.

And we've - an archaeologist has been looking at them and a guy named Chris Fisher, who is an archaeologist at the Colorado State University, who's an expert on LIDAR, and he tells us that there is a city in T3 that is comparable in area to the city of Copan. It's absolutely enormous. The track is two square - five square kilometers.

And if these valleys are so remote, how did these civilizations develop in this unforgiving area?

Well, that's the thing. We're only now starting to realize that this so-called virgin or impenetrable jungle in prehistoric times was anything but. It was very heavily settled. There were many thousands of people living in these areas, and it wasn't virgin jungle. It was more like a tended garden. They cleared huge areas for farming. They terraced. They built irrigation canals. They built roads. They built enormous pyramids and structures.

turn 0 : The jungle wasn't as untouched as originally believed and was heavily populated in prehistoric times.

What is the evidence of settlement in the jungle?

Answer: Evidence


But you also said let me reassure you, I've seen the quality of that work. In other words, these plans are viable, credible, ready to go?

Yes, I have. I did say that. Part of my job in the Pentagon was the oversight - civilian oversight of military planning, and one of the things that we've, you know, we're charged with is to prepare options for the president no matter the contingency. And certainly, there are very viable plans with regard to contingencies involving Iran. But again, the judgment is at this point that's not where the focus should be.

And as you know, Israel has - well, has plans of its own - contingencies. And I know a large part of your speech was devoted to the idea that they should hold off and reassuring them the United States would take action if necessary and that Israeli action would be counterproductive. More counterproductive than an American strike?

Well, my point to them was we have a shared objective here - preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons and that, you know, any military action really only buys time. It's a delaying action for one to three years. It sets the program back, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. To do that, you'll need a continued international campaign with sanctions, with negotiations to eventually change their calculus.

turn 2 : "And I know a large part of your speech was devoted to the idea that they should hold off and reassuring them the United States would take action if necessary and that Israeli action would be counterproductive." - The actual meaning here is not about the meaning of the words used but rather about the speaker acknowledging the content of the other person's speech and seeking clarification.

How was the idea of reassuring Israel presented in the conversation?

Answer: Reassuring


There's a couple of things they have to deliver. I'll give you an example. In Jarabulus, 22,000 refugees are there, and the town is dealing with them. There is no international aid there. And so it is up to the townspeople to care for 22,000 people who have descended on this small farming town. They have to take the money out of their own pockets, buy the tents, bring them bread, make sure they're OK. So there is an international aid component to this. There, of course, is also an arms part to this.

But let me tell you, there were two events over the last couple of days that really mean that the rebels don't need international arms. They took two major bases around Aleppo. And as one commander said, I have never seen so much booty. And these were heavy weapons that were taken from the Syrian army.

You know, analysts in the past couple of days have stopped calling this a stalemate. And they are beginning to recognize that the rebels have made significant gains on the battlefield. And the weapons that they took in these two places will make a major difference in the way that they're able to fight. And it also shows that they are more organized than they've been in the way that they are fighting the regime.

We've also - obviously the opposition forces inside Syria have no air force whatsoever. They have been trying to attack Syrian air bases on the ground to limit Syria's air capabilities that way. Is that beginning to have an effect?

turn 1 : The Rebels have gained access to heavy weapons through their victories, and they may not need international arms.

How did the rebels acquire heavy weapons?

Answer: Victories.


And then I decided to come out. Now it's been going on several hours. I'm several streets away from the Champs-Elysees, Scott, but the people - it's like it's the second revolution coming because people are turning over - they're building barricades in the street. We're still - we've got helicopters overhead. They're still firing tear gas. And everyone around me is wearing a yellow vest.

Now, fuel prices have gone up - I have read, I think - 23 percent over the past year. And protesters blame the government for this.

Well, the government - the French pay some of the highest gas prices in the world, like, about more than $6 a gallon, Scott. And the government says it's going to raise the taxes again in January to finance the transition to an ecological economy - you know, more environmentally friendly fuels.

And, you know, for people who have to drive to work - blue-collar workers, just everyday people - this is outrageous. They say they can't make it anymore, so they've come out into the street. And, Scott, this movement has no leaders. There are no unions behind it. There are housewives. There are retirees - regular people. There are people who have never protested before. So it's turned into a movement. No one knows where it's going to go now.

turn 0 : The social safety net is inadequate due to strict eligibility requirements and inadequate benefits.

Which turn mentions the reason for the outrage of the protesters?

Answer: Turn-2