Last week, the French ended their rotation at the head of United Nations Security Council. Their permanent representative, Ambassador Gerard Araud, had one preeminently difficult issue on his agenda while in charge. And, of course, that was the question of what to do about Syria. Ambassador Araud joins us from his office in New York City. Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for being with us.

Good morning.

Mr. Ambassador, first, of course, there seemed to be more reports of civilian deaths every day in Syria. How frustrating were these last few months for you?

It was extremely frustrating because we have seen Syria sinking into what is now a real civil war. And we have desperately tried to avoid it because this country has an incredible potential for violence, violence within Syria and unfortunately also beyond the borders of Syria.

turn 2 : The turn whose actual meaning is different from its literal meaning is (3) where the interviewer asks the French Ambassador how frustrating the last few months were for him.

What was the main issue discussed by Ambassador Gerard Araud during his rotation at the United Nations Security Council?

Answer: Syria


You know, we don't do a lot of cookbooks on this show. Hugh Acheson's latest cookbook fits right in. It doesn't show much cooking. The chef is shown reading in a lawn chair, taking a hot bath, even playing the cello - at least holding the bow over one.

It's a book about what you can cook - if that's quite the word - while you do something else, even for hours. "The Chef And The Slow Cooker" is by Hugh Acheson, the acclaimed Canadian Southern chef who owns big-name restaurants in Georgia and is a judge on "Top Chef. "He joins us from WABE in Atlanta.

Chef, thanks so much for being with us.

It's great to be here, Scott.

turn 3 : It's great to be here, Scott. Implicated meaning: The speaker is expressing enthusiasm and gratitude for being present in the current situation or location, likely in a broadcast or interview setting. The statement is not solely focused on the physical act of being in the specific place mentioned.

What is the speaker expressing by saying "It's great to be here, Scott"?

Answer: Enthusiasm


And eventually the crowd around him - the crowd of press, kind of got a little bigger. And he sort of looked around and said, maybe this is not something I should be laughing about because, you know, we are in a different age.

Mark, I've got to tell you - this is why I watch the Super Bowl, but I can't watch football during the regular season. It is hard for me to look at those talented athletes and think half of them, if not more, are going to wind up being permanently damaged by what I'm watching them do on the field.

I will tell you, Scott, that the National Football League is very worried about the likes of you and people like you, of which there are many, who are taking a more closer moral look at what they're watching. I mean, football, for many years, has been the great spectacle of American life. Every year, it's, like, 70 or 75 of the most watched television shows in America are almost always football games. We love football.

Having said that, there are a lot more people, and it happens every year. And you have research that comes out every week, it seems, and testimonials from retired players and researched brains from dead players that tell us a little bit more. And as we get smarter, I think the league, you know, has to try to keep up with some kind of rule changes and equipment changes.

turn 1 : The speaker feels guilty about watching football because of the permanent damage it causes to players' health

What is the reason for the PersonA's guilt when watching football?

Answer: Permanent


No, because the guys used to sit on the porch and play their guitars and (unintelligible). And then would beat to the tap of their foot. So I kind of adapted that tanta-ta-tan-tum, tanta-ta-tan-tum(ph). I mean, because - I mean, my people - my relatives, most of them were from Jackson, Mississippi. So when they migrated to Indianapolis, they kind of brought a lot of that feeling.

When he said write a hit, that one song people know me all over the world, in Russia, Africa, Japan, all over the world, people, the first thing they say when they see me, "Red Clay. "

In the course of your career, you had, obviously, highs and you had some lows, and they've been described as personal problems. Without going into detail, are we to assume that those problems were substance abuse related?

Well, substance abuse, I wouldn't really say I had a problem with that. I mean, I would say that at one period in the '70s, I started partying, I was in Hollywood A-list(ph). And everybody would come up there, I mean, all kind of movie stars, all kind of football stars, basketball stars, actors. And I had a spot right there in (unintelligible) overlooking the (unintelligible). And the people that I had coming up there - now, the substance abuse, it was around because a lot of people who would come to see me would bring it. But I would never really say I had a habit or anything like that.

turn 0 : My relatives brought the feeling of Jackson, Mississippi to Indianapolis.

Which city did the PersonA's relatives migrate from?

Answer: Jackson


And, of course, it's irresistible to point out Franklin Roosevelt, who, as you rightly point out, is considered one of our greatest presidents, still put Japanese-American citizens in internment camps. Lincoln, our greatest president by universal acclamation, crushed civil liberties in many areas to prosecute the war. Are you just focusing on what Buchanan did wrong?

Look, nobody's perfect, of course. And, of course, one of the things I like to point out in the book is that Buchanan had some good traits, too. He wasn't just some evil jerk. He was the greatest party giver in mid-19th century America. He - even though he hated Douglas, there's nothing I could find in any of his papers where he bad-mouthed anybody.

He was a very civil guy. And so people liked him. So that's a plus, I would say. But his negatives was he had no knowledge of how to lead in any case. He waffled when we really needed him - the lead-up to the Civil War. And this was a really crucial time. And he really blew it.

Robert Strauss - his book, "Worst. President. Ever. "Thanks so much for being with us.

turn 2 : (3) Implied meaning: Despite the fact that Buchanan was liked for his civility, he was still an ineffective leader and failed to take action in a crucial moment.

How was Buchanan's leadership during the lead-up to the Civil War?

Answer: Ineffective


So I always tell people, look at your many choices. Don't close any doors. But the fact is that, you know, take your passion, take it as far as you can, but understand you've got to make a living, and you've got to pay the loan back.

What about people like you, who are college presidents?What challenges are you facing in trying to make sure that you can get a broad variety of students from different backgrounds?

Farai, you know, what keeps me up at night is the young women who want to be admitted but don't have the dollars, the young women who are students who are continuing, who are saying, I need more financial aid, the young women whose parents can't take out another loan. That literally keeps me up at night. If you see me again and I'm gray, that's what did it.

I mean literally. I mean, I wake up in the - you know, I wake up in the middle of the night and say, how can I find money for these young people?It is a challenge.

turn 2 : Financial difficulties faced by young women seeking admission are causing immense stress to me.

Which group of people is causing stress to "A"?

Answer: admission


So this will help the basketball players and then also the track events. But the good thing is obviously with these developments - the wheelchairs (unintelligible) through the people, you know, everyday people that use wheelchairs, and it will mean it's more lightweight for them to lift, say, in and out of vehicles.

And some of this stuff then filters in back to the general public.

Yeah, I mean, and that's a great thing, you know, the flow sort of from elite to high street, as we refer to it, is great. So you start seeing that, for example, with push bikes. We see a lot of that now available, helmet design from bikes, you say that. Swimwear is another thing that we see a lot of technology flowing into the high street.

Let's talk about swimwear because there was a kind of swimwear that was used and is now banned, and something new is taking its place.

turn 2 : "the flow sort of from elite to high street" - The literal meaning of "elite to high street" refers to the movement of trends or products from exclusive or high-end markets to more accessible ones. The intended meaning is that technology used in elite sports is being adapted for use by everyday people.

Which market benefits from the technology flow referred to as "elite to high street"?

Answer: High


Well, it occurred to me very early on in my career that there's no story to equal the story of Moses. At least, you know, to me and my background. So, I wrote some notes - this is back in 1951 - about something called the lawgiver, which I would hope someday to write. And I put these papers aside and glanced at them now and then, but I never thought I'd be able to do it because Moses was just beyond my reach.

Mr.  Wouk, I mean, I don't think telling the story of Moses is beyond you. But I do want to point out that it's been done.

Well, that really was the trouble. It's been done to utter perfection. There's no matching the tale exactly as it's told in the five books of Moses. The key to writing it was there was no narrative voice so that, quote, "Herman Wouk," unquote, is taking no responsibility for what's being written. It's just various voices around a production rather of a movie about Moses.

Every time in this book I read an email or a conversation that seemed to kind of be mocking Hollywood, I thought about the movies that have been made of your books. And they've been pretty good, haven't they?

turn 0 : He as not reaching for Moses but means that the story was something he could not write.

How did PersonA feel about writing the story of Moses?

Answer: good


Andrew, Ivan Golunov has been a vocal critic of the Russian government. But his arrest is, apparently, unusual.

Right. Yeah, I do think it's unusual. You know, when - attacks on journalists do happen in Russia and, you know, journalists have been beaten. They've been killed for their reporting in certain cases. But the idea that drugs would be planted on a journalist, that's a more unusual case here. It leaves sort of very little daylight between the journalist's reporting and kind of direct pressure being put on him by the government. So to be honest, I've been here for eight years, and I can't remember a case similar to this one. And I think that that in particular is what made people so angry about what's going on.

There wasn't even a requirement to sort of exact violence against him, but this idea that if Ivan can have drugs planted on him while he's walking through Moscow then literally anybody could have drugs planted on him, as well. And I think that that's what made people so nervous about the case, specifically among journalists, and that's why we've seen such a backlash.

Andrew Roth is Moscow bureau chief for The Guardian.

turn 2 : The backlash means that people are complaining about the situation.

How did people respond to Ivan Golunov's case?

Answer: angry


I'm sorry. Yeah.

So what to do?

OK. There are a couple of solutions. I would first offer the Solomonic solution - take them both out. Or perhaps you would want to put the girl in back of the bull or standing alongside the bull. In fact, Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" begins in the first paragraph with Ishmael wandering down right on this corner, having his nose lead him to water. I'd rather have a sculpture of Melville there. I think the point is most public sculpture is bad because there are too many people involved with making the decision. It's too democratized because of, necessarily, where it goes.

Jerry Saltz is senior art critic for New York Magazine. Thank you very much.

turn 0 : I'm sorry.Yeah." Implicated Meaning: The speaker is not genuinely sorry or apologetic, but rather dismissive or sarcastic. The use of "yeah" indicates a lack of sincerity.

What was the PersonA's tone when saying "I'm sorry.Yeah."?

Answer: Dismissive


And how do you do that?

Well, on the behavioral side, that means helping them go from being in this setting to open air and open - eventually open water. We would take them through a very careful process of getting used to the transport units, getting used to being on a crane and in a truck and then in a tank on the dock. Eventually, they might even take drives around Baltimore to get used to the idea that they're going to be mobile since they've have not done that before.

The other aspect is the physiological adaptation, and that's a very complex and laborious process. Every - all living organisms have a microbiome associated with them. That's all the microorganisms that live around us and on us - bacteria, fungus, spores, larvae, et cetera. Dolphins do too and, in fact, in seawater, it's quite present. And the water that they live in now, which is man-made saltwater, it's fairly sterile. And of course, the ocean is not sterile.

So we will go through a long process, once we've selected a site, that will begin to integrate that water into the water they live in here so that eventually, when they leave here, they will be in water that almost completely matches the water that they'll be moving to.

I gather, Mr.  Racanelli, you've known dolphins, worked with them in a sense, since you were a teenager.

turn 1 : The process of helping dolphins adjust to open air and water involves not only helping them cope with changes in their environment, but also teaching them how to be mobile and transport themselves.

How does the process of helping dolphins adapt to open air and water involve mobility?

Answer: Mobility


And yet despite all this, is Sisi still a popular figure?

Yeah, he is a popular figure. The military is seen as the most trusted institution in Egypt. He comes from that institution. He was elected in an election that maybe wasn't really fair, but it wasn't rigged in a wide scale manner. He was voted in with more than 95 percent of the votes here. But it's an election that took place in an atmosphere of fear, where you're basically with us or against us. And if you're against us, the idea of against us lands you in jail.

What are the challenges that he faces?

The biggest challenge he' got is the economy - the foundering economy. Egypt is in debt and needs to dig itself out of that hole. And there are constant power cuts going on right now in the soaring summer heat. And the way he's doing that is lifting the subsidies, which take a huge part of the budget. But that will also possibly lead to protests against him, possibly, because that means people are going to be paying higher gas prices, which have already been lifted, and higher food prices.

turn 1 : That statement implies that Sisi's election may not have been fair and that there was an atmosphere of fear during the election.

Answer: Election


The Staples Singers, Booker T and the MGs, Isaac Hayes and more - but the Stax tale isn't just one of another record company that became an international sensation. It's a story of tragedy - business and personal. But most importantly, it's a tale that features racial harmony in a city with a troubled racial history. In the late '50s and early '60s, Memphis, Tennessee was a city divided.

It was a city that you might say had hate pulsing through its veins.

That's author Robert Gordon. He lives in Memphis. His new book is "Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. "But Stax didn't start as an explosion of soul. The owners of Stax Records, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, set out to do something very different.

They were two white siblings. Jim was a white country fiddle player. You just wouldn't believe how far black music was from their minds at the time.

turn 3 : "black music was from their minds" - The literal meaning of this turn is that Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton were not thinking about black music at the time. The implied meaning is that they had no previous interest or exposure to black music, which makes their eventual success in the soul music industry all the more surprising.

What was far from Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton's minds?

Answer: Black


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

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

Yeah. That would be a phenomenal idea.

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

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

Which turn in the dialogue mentions a suggestion for labeling phone boxes?

Answer: 1


So how do you think we should be thinking about this?I mean, are you personally prepared to say this warrants an impeachment inquiry at this point?And we only have - I beg your pardon - about 30 seconds left.

Well, I don't think there's any question that this whole issue needs to be investigated. And frankly, the Republicans ought to be working with the Democrats on this issue. This is a question of checks and balances. Are we going to prevent a president and limit a president from abusing his powers as president?That's something that's not just in the Democrats' interest. It's in the Republicans' interests because one of these days, there'll be a Democratic president, and they will be very concerned if that president behaves as this president is and is not held accountable.

That was Leon Panetta. He's a former director of central intelligence. He's a former secretary of defense and has held a number of important posts, as we have said.

Mr.  Secretary, thank you so much for speaking with us once again.

turn 2 : He is a reliable source of information and is knowledgeable and qualified and what he says can be trusted.

Which former government positions has Leon Panetta held?

Answer: Director,Defense


We got hit pretty hard with the recession. And when people aren't making money, they're not spending money.

And they're certainly not eating ice cream.

And they're not eating ice cream. So the more people make, the more they come down here and vacation from all over the world - general improving in the economy. I think there's a lot of confidence in the new administration that's in there. It seems like it's pro-small business, you know?There's a window manufacturer right next to where we're at, and they are swamped right now. And they say the same thing. It's, you know, people are confident. They're not holding onto their money. They're investing it in the economy.

May I ask you, did you vote for President Trump?

I didn't vote Democrat or Republican because I just - I'd had enough of the spatting back and forth. I'm prior military, so I support our president no matter who it is. But I didn't like the personalities of it, so I didn't vote for either one of those two.

Some of the owners that were surveyed were saying that there were some concerns - cost of health insurance, lack of qualified workers. Well, what are the things that you're concerned about right now that may hold back your business?

turn 2 : Eating ice cream is a luxury item that people can't afford during a recession.

Which item is unaffordable during a recession?

Answer: Ice-cream


Well, the evidence is that the Islamic State is behind this. In addition to French President Francois Hollande saying that the attacks were the work of ISIS, the group itself claimed responsibility in an online statement a short time ago. And they say the attacks were a response to French airstrikes in Syria and that France would remain, in their words, a top target as long as it continued its current policies.

This has been independently confirmed by intelligence officials you've been able to talk to.

Well, my understanding is that officials first started to suspect ISIS was behind this late last night. There were some cellphone conversations or texts that the gunmen were exchanging while the attacks were going on. And they mentioned ISIS. And here's why that's important. You remember the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that were - those were attacks on hotels and Jewish centers and a railway station. Well, one of the ways that they traced it back to the perpetrators was by picking up phone conversations between the gunmen and their handlers in Pakistan. The information is still coming in, but it appears that something similar happened here.

turn 0 : Story's still unfolding, we understand. What are you hearing?  Implicated meaning: B is acknowledging that the situation is still developing and they are aware of that. The actual meaning is that B is asking A for any updates or information they may have heard.

Which word did PersonB use to acknowledge that the situation is still developing?

Answer: ISIS


OK.

We're in a tent at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. So if you hear some extraneous sounds that you wouldn't normally hear in Studio 3A, please forgive us. But it gives us the opportunity to do some things that we wouldn't ordinarily do. We want to hear from comedians today. How do you translate your material, which comes from a certain time and place, to a wider or different cultural or even ethnic group?Give us a call: 800-989-8255. Email us: talk@npr. org.

And Trevor Noah, what did you find translated well?Is there a material that you did in Cape Town that you can do in Los Angeles, or Baltimore for that matter?

Not really, no. Because the points of view changes, you know?I think the one - well, I could talk about Oprah. Oprah is worldwide. Yes.

Oprah is worldwide.

turn 2 : And Trevor Noah, what did you find translated well? Is there a material that you did in Cape Town that you can do in Los Angeles, or Baltimore for that matter? (This turn has a literal meaning of asking Trevor Noah if his material translates well across different cultural settings)

What did PersonB ask Trevor Noah about his material?

Answer: Material


I don't think it's new that they're supporting Assad at all. I mean, they have been pretty consistent from the beginning of the uprising, initially peaceful protest against the regime. And then as it descended into civil war, Russia has all along provided weapons, provided support, political and diplomatic efforts to shield Assad's government from action, for example, at the United Nations where Russia has a veto. I think what's new now is that they're looking at the situation in Syria as becoming more and more dire.

But you know, there's a difference between U. N.  vetoes and supplying - and military supplies and actually putting your own combat personnel or potential combat personnel on the ground.

I think that they're looking at the situation and understanding that right now there's a real danger that Assad's government can fall. And if that happens, what will replace that and how do you prepare for that when you're invested as heavily as they have been?Again, this is not new support. They've always had the naval base there. They've always had advisers on the ground. I've heard a lot over the summer about the increasing Russian concern about the imminent fall of Assad.

Well, the U. S.  had - at least as far as we can judge - had considered the potential fall of Bashar al-Assad to be good news and something that could lead to a better situation.

turn 3 : In (4), the speaker is implying that the U.S. is not necessarily looking forward to the fall of Assad, but rather is trying to prepare for it.

How does speaker 3 feel about the potential fall of Assad?

Answer: Damage


What does it mean to put your hat in someone's ring?Does it mean that you are, for example, trying to lead your constituents that you're trying to lead other people, who are a part of the Congressional Black Caucus or part of Congress?What exactly does you putting your chips on the table mean?

For the past 20-something years, I have been putting out a sample ballot. And if people don't get it at the time that they think they should, my office is inundated with calls. You know, through the media, through your sample ballot operation, I let people know what's on my mind. And I try and let them know why I'm doing what I'm doing and then they make their decision.

Congresswoman, I've had a chance to come to your offices in South Los Angeles and you have a multi-racial coalition of staffers - black, white, Asian…

That's right.

turn 0 : In turn (1), the speaker is asking for clarification on the meaning of the phrase "put your hat in someone's ring." The literal meaning of the turn is that the speaker is asking for a definition of the phrase. However, the implied meaning of the turn is that the speaker is curious about the context in which the phrase is used and wants to understand the implications and nuances of its usage. The turn implies that the speaker is interested in the social and political dynamics that underlie the phrase and wants to gain a deeper understanding of its meaning beyond a simple definition.

What is the speaker interested in understanding beyond a simple definition in turn (1)?

Answer: Context


And it's interesting, your book had pictures of the hands of some of the great catchers of those days, gnarled and twisted. Anybody who played catcher could expect to be crippled - their hands - for the rest of their lives.

Exactly. And people would say, you know, I don't know what this guy looks like but just look for a catcher's hands. And as soon as you'll see - you see those hands, you recognize, oh, that's - that must be who it was.

Are there stories about Deacon White?You mentioned he traveled from team to team. I guess he had one fantastic year in Boston. But what kind of a man was he?Do we know?

He was a really high-character man. In a time when baseball had a lot of guys who spent their evenings drinking and carousing, Deacon - he was known as Deacon because he went to church and he was a Sunday school teacher. And family came absolutely first for him.

turn 0 : Playing catcher is a dangerous position that can cause permanent physical harm.

Which position in baseball can cause physical harm?

Answer: Catcher


Exactly.

At the same time, she's this very sassy character. And, you know, so many of the characters here are very, you know, just sexy, kind of contemporary figures. And there's a joie-de-vivre about this, and even though she touches on a lot of heavy themes, including race and patriotism, there's a certain sass to this. Is that what attracted you to her work?

Well, I was astounded at her work. I was actually looking for something else in her cartoon that is in the late '40s. Most of her cartooning was done in the late '40s and early '50s. This one year of '37 was kind of a little different thing.

I was looking for evidence of a doll. I knew that she created a doll, and I thought I could find some evidence of that in her cartoons. And then yeah, I found the doll, but then I went on to see all of the different topics that she took on, and that got fascinating.

turn 1 :  B's turn contains figurative language, as "sassy" and "sexy" are not meant to be taken literally. They are used to describe the personality and appearance of the characters in the cartoon.

How does PersonB describe the characters in the cartoon?

Answer: Personality


Here's a small piece of the big picture. We ask you our listeners to write in with stories about how you're doing these days financially. We call the series The Real Economy. We've heard from more than a 150 people, among them Jon Diebold in Cincinnati. Jon, what station do you hear our show on there?

91. 7 WVXU.

Well, thanks for listening. And you lead a pretty busy life there at work and at home. You own a small restaurant. How are things?

Well, it's been rough. The economy, I think, is affecting everyone and certainly those with discretionary disposable income.

Yeah. Do you do a lunch business there?

turn 3 : The restaurant is experiencing a decline in business due to the current economic situation

How has the economy affected the restaurant?

Answer: Rough


Exactly, after Dennis. And the greatest compliment a button-maker can get - she used it in her speech to the 1996 convention in Chicago.

You, of course, we'll stipulate, produce buttons for both major parties, yes?

We are an equal opportunity offender. We did I liked Hillary four years ago, but we did a very nice Chelsea button: don't tell mama but I'm voting for Obama.

Oh my God. Now, who pays for a button like that?

turn 2 : The implied meaning of this turn is that the speaker is a supporter of Obama and is not afraid to express it publicly, even if it goes against the expectations of his mother.

Which candidate did the speaker like four years ago?

Answer: Hillary


You know, I always love - to me, there are two parts of the Olympic competition, A, the Opening Ceremonies and the 100-meter and the 200-meter dash in - men's and women's. That, to me, that's the Olympics, and I think that's going to be fascinating. It's just going to be fascinating. And there's always - there's always someone - there's always someone who comes out of the blue, and I don't think it'll be someone from China, but you just can't tell. They have been waiting for this for a long time, Tony. It's kind of what we did to the world in 1984, when we just ambushed everybody. So, I think it's - I think the competition is going to be phenomenal.

I can't let you get away from here, Bill Rhoden, without talking about - guess who - Brett Favre.

He's coming to your town.

Eh. . .

turn 1 : Brett Favre is a hot topic and cannot be ignored.

Which athlete's name is mentioned in the dialogue that PersonA and PersonB are discussing?

Answer: None


This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Flora Lichtman. If you're listening to our program over the radio today, you have Nikola Tesla to thank. Many of the things we take for granted now - electricity, radar, X-ray technology - come from research done by Tesla about a hundred years ago. But even though he's been come - he's come to be known as the father of the electric age, Tesla died penniless and largely forgotten in 1943.

Skip ahead to present time and enter Matthew Inman, creator of the website The Oatmeal. You may have seen and laughed at his comics, and if you haven't, to get a flavor of them, go to our website at sciencefriday. com to see his one about Tesla. Inman partnered with a nonprofit called the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe on a mission to raise money to buy Tesla's lab in Shoreham, New York, and turn it into a museum. And here's the amazing part: they did it. They raised over $1. 3 million from the public to fund a science museum. There's hope yet. Matthew Inman joins me from Atlanta. Welcome to the program and congratulations.

Oh, yeah, thanks for having me.

Who are these people that gave to your campaign?

turn 0 : Tesla's research contributed to modern inventions, but he died in poverty and obscurity.

Which scientist's work led to modern inventions but died in poverty and obscurity?

Answer: Tesla


Well, I think on the third CD you definitely want to show some level of growth. I think your first album is your introduction. Your second album needs to show consistency. And your third album has to show growth in order for you to have a fourth album.

(Singing) You are a star, and you are perfect just the way you are. Keep on dreaming, keep on shining. . .

So, "Keep On Dreaming," one of your songs, folds in the loop from Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner. "And you have echoes of songs by other artists throughout the CD, but not samples per se. Why did you choose that approach?

You know, I think people want to be able to hear something familiar while hearing something new. It kind of ties it all together, like the "Tom's Diner" sample, it's just, it's like, she managed to be able to convey a certain feeling just off a melody that she had. She didn't really even say anything, but "duh duh da da, duh duh da da. "You know what I'm saying?And I think that's something that I wanted to mimic in this song. It's not a lot of words, but it's really just a feeling that I was trying to convey.

turn 3 : The artist prioritizes conveying emotion over lyrics in their music

What does the artist prioritize in their music?

Answer: Emotion


Part of it was that in four years, there are some voters who believe he was tone deaf, too arrogant, too bossy, not collaborative. But you're right - he raised $30 million over the last four years. The president came in and gave him what everyone called a bro hug, and all of the newspapers endorsed him, including The Chicago Defender. . .

Yeah.

. . . The African-American newspaper. And none of it worked.

Only 34 percent of the voters went to the polls this week. Isn't that usually the kind of election in which a well-financed campaign with a good ground campaign is supposed to win?

turn 3 : Implied meaning: The speaker's choice of language or communication style may reflect their level of education, social status, or personal values, and may carry additional implications or associations beyond the literal meaning of their words.

What kind of implications may the PersonA's language or communication style carry beyond the literal meaning of their words?

Answer: Associations


Yeah. It's very strange. We are being admonished to go everywhere and spend. And we're also told that spending is what got us into this ditch in the first place. And further, that once we're done spending and get out of the ditch, we really need to stop spending so much and start saving.

So it gets even more confusing because there's going to be some magical moment at which we are to stop shopping and start saving.

Seems like we're in that magical moment, but it's not magical.

(Laughing) No, it's not magical. But I think we're still at the moment where we're supposed to be at spending. And of course, that's not happening.

turn 0 : The advice we receive about spending and saving is contradictory.

How is the advice about spending and saving?

Answer: Contradictory


Well, when the storm stops, and they give the all-clear to leave, the first thing will be to see if we even have a car that we can get into because they're expecting flooding in this area. And then we'll go from there - one step at a time.

Well, thank you very much. Susie and Ben Black talking to us from the maternity ward at HealthPark Medical Center. . .

Thank you.

. . . In Fort Myers, Fla.

turn 0 : The situation is uncertain and they need to take it one step at a time

Answer: Step


So - but they did these kits, which also are - each one of them is a box that contain a lot of evidence that could be tested. And so yes, we have a problem in this country with rape culture. You see that going on right now. It's never been more evident than it is now - rape culture, sexual harassment culture, all of that.

And so training was also needed. Back then, when we first started, we had found police reports in some files that we pulled where police officers were writing very disparaging things about our victims - not believing them, dismissing their cases, not bothering to work on them. And so that was a part of it as well - not just the neglect, not just no money but just active rape culture in play, where they just did not care.

Based on your expertise, this is happening in a number of cities and counties. Isn't it?

Yeah. There are estimated to be over 400,000 untested abandoned rape kits in this country. And I don't know if you're familiar with Michigan Stadium right here in our state. It seats over 100,000 people. When I tell people that the amount of untested kits in this country that they're estimated to be - you can fill up the biggest college or national football stadium in the country four times. And that's if each kit represents a victim - which it does - and you think of game day at Michigan Stadium four times over, that's how many we have in this country. And that's probably a conservative estimate. It is absolutely horrible. And hopefully, it is changing, albeit very slowly.

turn 3 : There is a significant backlog of untested rape kits in the country.

How many untested rape kits are estimated to be in the country?

Answer: 400,000


You know, it's interesting that you should say that because leasing was one of the ways you could get into a car without having to have a huge down payment. So now, if leasing is going to cost more, buying a car already costs more with regard to the down payment, it's going to be really tough for some people, isn't it?

It will be, and you know what it's going to put pressure on is the used-car market, because if you can't get a new one, you go get a used one. But if they have more demand for used ones, that's going to push up, too. So the entire - the love affair that America had with the automobile. . .

Coming to an end?

It may be a love affair that we have to look at again, you know, somebody cheated on somebody, I don't know who.

turn 1 : The increase in leasing and new car prices will lead to a rise in demand for used cars, which will increase their prices as well.

What market will face pressure due to the increase in prices of new cars and leasing?

Answer: Used-car


Well, the justification I think is a good one for nonprofit organizations like Scholarly Societies that really do operate on pretty much a cost recovery model. The commercial ventures, though, that have the profit margins in the 30 and 40 percent range, there really is no justification. They're profit-maximizing businesses, which is fine. The question is, should such businesses be built around information that's vital to the public's good and the public's health?

When these scholars do articles, who gets - do they get any of that money?

They're unpaid. The authors of these articles traditionally contribute the work of writing the articles, the work of reviewing and verifying the information, and they're not paid.

I can see why universities might feel that they were paying too much.

turn 3 : The speaker understands why universities might feel that they are paying too much. Implied Meaning: The speaker implies that universities are burdened with excessive costs, possibly related to the payment or compensation for scholarly articles, which prompts their concern about paying too much.

Answer: Costs


For my country right now, I hope for the best. I really, really hope and I wish that this could have a solution that didn't include war. But honestly, after all these years, I'm really, really scared, really, really sad. But I think that it's the only way.

(Singing in foreign language).

If the military intervention happens, I hope that then - no innocents die in the process.

That was Venezuelan musician Lolita De Sola.

turn 0 : they are trying to imply they want peace not war instead

Answer: Lolita


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.

What was the PersonA's main concern while responding to the interviewer's question about the government's policy on dealing with protesters?

Answer: Peaceful


So it's not unusual for hospitals to sue patients for unpaid medical bills, but there's so much striking about this situation. Like, what are some of the things where - that stands out about this about how unusual this is?

So Methodist is really aggressive in their use of the courts to collect on these debts. Once they get a judgment, they will hound a patient from low-wage job to low-wage job to try to garnish their wages, and that's what we saw with the main character in our story, Carrie Barrett. I call her Ms.  Carrie. So Ms.  Carrie had surgery in 2007, was sued in 2010. And since then, the hospital has actually added $18,000 worth of interest to her debt. So not only do they add, you know, $5,000 in attorney's fees - they're also accruing interest even as they know she works at low-income jobs.

So part of how this works is Methodist gets the judgment, and then they filed a garnishment order. The employer can return that garnishment order saying, basically, this person doesn't make enough to even have their wages garnished. Ms.  Carrie's employer was telling her she's not even making more than enough to have her wages garnished, and Methodist kept after her. It was like they were just waiting to see if she made a little bit more money so they could take it.

And they also are affiliated with the United Methodist Church. I mean, there are three bishops, as I understand from your reporting, that serve on the board. Did they have something to say about this?

turn 0 : Methodist hospital is very aggressive in collecting unpaid medical bills.

How does Methodist hospital collect unpaid medical bills?

Answer: aggressive


Now you know, in this country the housing crisis particularly fed by the subprime mortgage crisis, led to the recession in a - to a large degree. Back in 2007, you did a presentation about Latin America and the Caribbean building what you called an immune system against that kind of housing mortgage-related crisis. What did that involve?

Well, it follow in the several crisis that Latin America had in the 1990's. Bank regulators and supervisors were particularly cautious. So Latin America built perhaps a stronger than in the past certainly, and comparatively to other regions, the stronger frameworks of bank regulation supervision. The systems in Latin America became more conservative and as a result they did not get into these new fashionable instruments - sophisticated instruments - that became popular in the U. S. , in the developed markets.

As a result of being perhaps significantly behind these innovations, the Latin American's financial systems now find themselves with better quality loans, more resilient banking systems, better capitalized. It doesn't mean that this crisis will not affect domestic markets. It will affect but - but the domestic markets are in a better position to absorb the - what's coming to them.

Our final question is this, and I only have about 10 seconds for you to answer, are you confident that things will improve in Latin America, perhaps more quickly than in the United States or elsewhere?

turn 1 : Latin America did not get involved with popular financial loans that America used.

What type of instruments did Latin America not get involved with?

Answer: Financial


Germany - you want to look out for Germany. They've won two World Cups, too. But the Germans are having some issues. The reigning FIFA world player of the year, Nadine Kessler, she's out after knee surgery. One of their star midfielders broke her leg. Of course, we can't forget about Japan. Japan are ranked fourth, but they're the reigning World Cup champions. A talented young player to keep an eye on is 20-year-old Asisat Oshoala from Nigeria. She just won the BBC's female footballer of the year award. Not so young as the Brazilian team, but the team. . .

But Marta - they've got Marta.

Exactly, they got Marta. She's the best player in the world - FIFA's footballer of the year five times. She's so good she doesn't need a last name, Scott. She's just Marta.

She could balance of Volkswagen on her foot. She's that good.

turn 3 : "balance a Volkswagen on her foot" - This turn is hyperbole, an exaggeration used for emphasis, and means that Marta is an exceptionally talented football player, rather than literally being able to balance a car on her foot.

How is the turn "balance a Volkswagen on her foot" used in the dialogue?

Answer: Exaggeration


Do we know what was in these emails?What were they about?

It was basically a whole range of emails - the fast-moving events of the Arab Spring, Afghanistan, the war in Syria. One person told me that emails in question were summaries of cell phone conversations with foreign ministers that wanted to get urgent messages passed along to Hillary Clinton. So, you know, remember, it's cell phone conversations, so not on a very secure line.

One key point to tease out here is that the material here was not classified at the time the emails were sent, right?They were - it was retroactively classified.

That's right, and that's the big question that a lot of these diplomats have. You know, they were a dinner conversation with a bunch of foreign officials or with a bunch of foreigners, and they were writing back to this. Why would that be classified now?And that's a question that a lot of these people are having - why they were retroactively classified. And by the way, I should mention that some were told that they were retroactively classified in 2015, 2016, before the Trump administration came to office. Others didn't know when theirs were retroactively classified.

turn 2 : The key point is made to make people want to learn more about what happened.

Which point was made to create interest in the situation?

Answer: Key-point


Stocks in two major computer chip companies - Qualcomm and Broadcom, two major ones - were down 6% today. Google dropped 2%. And this was after Google said it would stop supporting Android devices for phones made by Huawei because the company was on the Commerce Department's blacklist. Google is a major software provider for Huawei. And if these restrictions went on for months, Google could take a beating.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, Jackie, but didn't the U. S.  back off last year in a somewhat similar way shortly after blacklisting another Chinese telecom company?

That's right. It was a company called ZTE, and they were on the blacklist. And it went on for a while. And they were on the verge of bankruptcy. And this is a major Chinese corporation - almost went bust until the Trump administration reversed that decision and allowed U. S.  companies to supply it again. So it's the same sort of scenario. But, Mary Louise, the Trump administration has been tightening the screws on Huawei for months now in part because it has links to the Chinese government.

And U. S.  intelligence agencies believe Huawei could use its equipment to spy on the U. S.  and its allies. The administration asked Canada to arrest and extradite one of Huawei's senior officials. And administration officials have been fanning out across the world asking allies, pressuring allies not to use Huawei equipment. So up until now, it's been a full-court press by the administration to contain the company.

turn 3 : The Trump administration is actively trying to limit the use of Huawei equipment by its allies.

What is the name of the Chinese telecom company that was blacklisted last year and almost went bankrupt?

Answer: ZTE


Well, that's a big part of the checkout of the - what we're doing for the first month or so is just going through and sort of systematically checking out each part of the rover, all of the science instruments, the basic mobility, capability, the arm, the different pieces just to make sure everything is okay after the voyage to Mars.

And then we'll start doing the science mission and really, in earnest, you know, start exploring the area around Bradbury's Landing. It's - in the case of ChemCam, we also get the benefit with the laser that we were actually able to do some early science measurements, as well. And so, as part of the checkout, we got science data in addition.

Do you have a rock in mind that you want to zap in earnest?

We did, yeah. Well, we actually zapped pretty much the area right around where the rover landed. And it's actually interesting to the scientists because the plume of the rocket engines actually, sort of, scoured out an area on both sides of the rover, which normally Mars is covered, all the surface area is covered, with a lot of dust.

turn 0 : It implies the inspection of all necessary equipment that was used for the voyage to Mars.

Which mission did the rover complete after the checkout?

Answer: Science


The storm was downgraded to a category-two hurricane just as it hit land. So, that's got to be good news for everybody there.

Oh, yes. The staff here, were all looking at the - upstairs in the ops room and stuff - They're looking at the weather, everybody's feeling much confident. Our field units - people who first responded are feeling better about the situation, we'll just wait for the past five - even more so that we can get crews out and do a real good damage assessment of the whole parish including the parts in the lower parishes, which will be closer to the eye itself.

Now that the storm has hit land, what are the projections for where it will go and how it will go over the next twelve hours?

Well, my understanding, it's going to slowly drift north, stretching north west and then a little more to the west, and there's a possibility that it may slow down and maybe even stall near the Louisiana, Texas line.

turn 3 : The hurricane may slow down and cause damage near the Louisiana-Texas border.

How might the hurricane affect the Louisiana-Texas border?

Answer: Damage


Thank you. I - so each morning in my newsletter, I include the schedules for all of the 2020 presidential candidates. And so I'm kind of, you know, kind of scouring the Web to make sure that I can keep on top of all of them. And on Wednesday night, I stumbled upon a Facebook post from a county party in Iowa announcing that de Blasio would be coming there for the first stop on his presidential announcement tour. And that rings alarm bells since he hadn't announced yet. And so I tweeted out and was able to kind of pre-empt his announcement.

That is a huge scoop. And it's great sleuthing. I mean, it's amazing attention to detail. And you also put out your news on the same day you were taking a four-hour Advanced Placement exam, which is extraordinary. That must have been a lot of work.

It was. It was a big day, for sure.

You have been writing this newsletter since you were 9 years old. I mean, you've clearly been a journalism junkie for a long time.

turn 0 : Scouring means to be reading the internet.  Stumbled upon simply means it was an accident to find the information.  Alarm bells did not ring but the person did get alerted to the information.

How did PersonA pre-empt de Blasio's announcement?

Answer: Tweeted


It's really - it's really unlike any other church in the city and, you know, very, very few in Europe. It's not simply a church. It's almost like stepping into a kind of medieval marketplace inside. It's enormous. It's - there's always a hurly burly. And there's always a - you know, numerous things going on in there.

Well, now, we were seeing reports that officials are saying the fire might be connected to the renovation work going on in there. You've reported on the renovations for Time. What kind of shape was the cathedral in before this fire?

Well, you know, for years they have been saying that the church was in terrible shape. And in fact, church officials had taken me up onto the roof not that long ago, when I was reporting this for Time, to show me how pieces of the building were simply dropping off. They described the gargoyles, the medieval faces on the side of the church, as being like ice cream melting in the sun. They would simply, like, drop away. The church had no money to replace them or restore them. And so they were using, like, PVC pipes to just, you know, stick on the side of the walls where the gargoyles had been. And. . .

Oh, my goodness, wow. I mean, Notre Dame is one of the most iconic symbols of Paris. Can you talk about the cultural significance of this cathedral for France?

turn 1 : The cathedral was in poor condition before the fire due to lack of funding for maintenance and restoration.

How was the condition of the cathedral before the fire?

Answer: Poor


Let me move on to another issue. I was covering both the Democratic and Republican Conventions, and one of the biggest applause lines during the Republican Conventions had to do with drilling for oil. Drill now, drill now, drill now. There is a serious set of distinctions between Senator Obama's policy towards energy and the McCain campaigns policy towards energy. Very briefly, very briefly, describe them to me, as they would affect consumers.

OK, I would say three distinct differences. One, the emphasis of McCain has been on drilling. The facts show that he U. S.  consumes 25 percent of the world's oil and has 3 percent of the reserves. So it's obvious that we cannot drill our way out of that problem.

Obama's focus has been on what can we do in the immediate run, and in the long run, to wean our dependence on oil. And that means investing in an extensive program to convert the economy with green jobs and research, deployment, development of alternative energy. And it also means efficiencies, conservation, raising fuel standards and things to reduce our demand.

So emphasizing the whole portfolio of energies and reducing our demand, but we know that ultimately we've got to move to a different source of energy, and that's the only way to do it. And that is a very big difference between the two candidates.

turn 3 : Moving to a different source of energy is necessary and a major difference between the two candidates

How would you describe the major difference between the two candidates regarding energy?

Answer: Source


Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And I think that before Manny was traded, you say that C. C. was the hands-on favorite, but man, I think the impact that Manny has made on what was a moribund Dodgers team is sensational. I think if the voting was held right now and was fair, I think Manny Ramirez would be the MVP of the National League. What he's done there is incredible.

But it's not going to happen, is it?

Well, if there's justice in the world, and as you and I know there is justice in the world, I think it could happen. I mean, look at what he's done. I mean, he's made - he's helped them make shambles out of that race just because of him. C. C. 's done an excellent job, but Milwaukee is fading. Los Angeles is just becoming strong, and then there's the whole irony of Manny hooking up with his former archrival Joe Torre. And just the idea of these two guys grinding an axe against their former teams, which used to be archrivals, I just think the drama is just too - it's just too delicious. That's why I really think it should be Manny.

All right, let's end this with this connection. Since you've talked about Manny, then you talked about Joe Torre, formerly of the New York Yankees, now let's talk about Yankees stadium, which closes it's doors, last game ever in Yankee Stadium this Sunday. I know that you live close to the ballpark. Are you sad, Mr.  New Yorker?

turn 2 : A implies that justice would be served if Manny were to be voted MVP due to his outstanding performance.

Which player does PersonA believe should be the MVP of the National League?

Answer: Manny


Media looks very bad on this. It looks credulous for Justice Department sources. Hatfill had filed suit against the government and, you know, sought to get the names of sources from journalists, taking them to court to do so, and to try to prove that the Justice Department had intentionally leaked this, as they sought to, you know, circle in on him and to capture him for these attacks.

Now, this year, there was a settlement, a legal settlement, for Steven Hatfill from the government.

That's right. Just a few months ago, the government essentially paid out a package - depending on how you value it - but about 5. 85 million dollars to compensate him for lost revenue over the course of his career. He lost a job at Louisiana State University, as a result of this, that he had been offered. Interestingly, the government did not exonerate him directly. Although the entire settlement tended to do that, but it not explicitly exonerate him, and nor did it apologize to him for this. CHADWICK: I don't imagine that we in the media are going to be apologizing to him either. NPR's David Folkenflik, thank you.

You bet.

turn 3 : "You bet." - The actual meaning is "You're welcome" or "No problem".

Which phrase did PersonA use to respond to Chadwick's comment?

Answer: You-bet


Lastly, Mara, I have to ask you because it just seems that, week after week, tensions between this administration and the press grows more hostile. You're in that White House briefing room day in and day out. How would you describe the atmosphere?

The atmosphere is tense and contentious, but it always has been between the White House press corps and the press secretary. I think that the Trump administration has taken this to a new level. You have a president who considers the media a foil, calls the mainstream press the enemy of the people, fake news, dishonest, disgusting, horrible people. So part of his political strategy is to demonize reporters and the media. So, of course, that's going to show up in the briefing room.

That's NPR's national political correspondent, Mara Liasson. Thank you, as always.

Thank you, Lulu.

turn 1 : The president thinks that the media is out to ruin him and makes them out to be evil.

Which group of people does the Trump administration consider the enemy of the people?

Answer: Media


Absolutely. And the blog that you refer to with Melissa Harris-Lacewell is a blog called Down from the Tower, and it's an ongoing discussion between Melissa and Marc Lamont Hill, who is a professor at Temple. And so, one day, you might click on, and Melissa will have the call and Marc will have the response. One day, he may toss out a question to her. He'll have the call and she'll have the response. And it's a very lively - up to now, it has been a political discussion. But they may take on other things. Politics seems to be dominating the moment.

But I do hope that the site evolves into one where our writers are talking to one another and talking to the Web and to communities that live outside The Root, bringing new information and ideas and, you know, creating a vibrant marketplace for idea.

And I also think one of the things that I like about - I'm glad you pointed out the exchange between Melissa and Marc, because it is debate and it is thoughtful, weighty, witty debate. And it's not…

All right.

turn 2 : In turn (3), the speaker praises the exchange between Melissa and Marc on the Down from the Tower blog, describing it as thoughtful, weighty, and witty debate. The literal meaning of the turn is straightforward. However, the implied meaning is that the exchange represents a rare and valuable example of substantive political discourse, which is often lacking in mainstream media. This suggests that the exchange has a broader significance than just being a discussion between two individuals.

What is the name of the ongoing discussion between Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Marc Lamont Hill on the Down from the Tower blog?

Answer: Down


. . . For your research on pulsars and for being a leader in the scientific community. So what does this latest accolade mean to you?

Well, it left me speechless when I got the news because I never, ever dreamt of this, I must admit. And it's a vast sum of money, as well, which. . .

. . . Is, really, I think, a bit hard to believe.

It certainly is. A lot has changed for women in science, but, as I'm sure you know, a lot hasn't. And I think the fact that you're giving away the money for scholarships may be a nod to the fact that it's still hard for certain people to break into the field.

turn 3 : It may be a way to give attention to women trying to break into science.

Answer: Scholarships


I decided to take matters in my own hands and decided to raise the funds that I need to get the materials that the kids need. The budget wasn't going to change. The only thing is, it was going to get worse. I had decided that I should advertise on my test, and I said, well, if you would like to put a quote or an ad at the bottom of my test, then it'd be kind of a mutual - they help the kids, and then I help them get a little bit of PR out of it.

And so the parents, they responded well?

Absolutely. Back to school night, I had one parent give me a $100 check, and she said, I hope this gets you started, and I actually had a lot of good comments, saying that's very creative and thinking outside the box.

And I've actually gotten emails from parents and one from my school district saying, you know, I am glad somebody is finally speaking up and saying that parents are having a tough time footing the bill for things that should have been paid for through their tax dollars and paid through the school system.

And what did the kids says?I mean, aren't they kind of bombarded by advertising all day long when they are not in school?

They really like the quotes, and they actually look forward to them. I've had students say, hey, what's going to be the next quote, and I tell them, you have to wait.

turn 3 : "I am glad somebody is finally speaking up and saying that parents are having a tough time footing the bill for things that should have been paid for through their tax dollars and paid through the school system." - The actual meaning is that the person is glad someone is raising awareness about the issue of parents having to pay for things that should have been covered by taxes and the school system.

How did the person in turn 3 feel about the issue being raised?

Answer: Glad


Did you think twice?

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

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

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

turn 1 : A agreed to do something but later realized it wasn't what they wanted

What did PersonA realize after agreeing to do something?

Answer: Not


Right.

It's untrustworthy. It's greasy. But that's a stereotype of Chinese restaurants and Asian food that reflects a lot of stereotypes about the people as well, that they're untrustworthy, that they're dirty, that you don't know if they're going to sneak dog meat into your meal, right?That sort of thing.

Exactly. And also, a lot of those stereotypes about Chinese food that we're talking about are about Americanized Chinese food. You know, like, that it's greasy or overly sweet. We're talking about dishes like lo mein, kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork. That's not real Chinese food.

Yeah. I mean, it's food that was adapted by the people who started these restaurants, these working class Chinese immigrants, to fit the market they were in, right?When you think about Joyce Chen, for instance, who was this historic really important figure in Chinese-American cuisine, she brought Northern Chinese food to Boston, to New England. And she was often called the Julia Child of Chinese food. She called dumplings Peking ravioli to fit the market. . .

turn 3 : she is often called the julia child means that she is the most famous chef

How is Joyce Chen compared to Julia Child in the field of cuisine?

Answer: famous


Some people are afraid that the extradition law will basically legalize kidnapping by the Chinese state. And that has already happened with several booksellers in Hong Kong being whisked away and mysteriously reappearing in Chinese detention. And so if this law is to pass, people fear that that will no longer be a news item or will just be a regular thing.

And to that question of how this bill is being rammed through, you know, what about that?Is there something about the way this bill is being, you know, processed, is extraordinary?

There are widespread complaints that there was no real public consultation about this. The legal sector, thousands of lawyers came out in force just this past week, and they marched in black in silence. And these are the people who would understand the law the best. And yet, the government has told them repeatedly that no, you lawyers don't understand the bill at all. And so that just shows that the government isn't really listening to the people, and people are feeling that. And that's why they took to the streets.

And, you know, authorities in Hong Kong did release a statement in response to the protests. What did it say?

turn 2 : The Hong Kong government is ignoring public opinions.

Which word describes the Hong Kong government's response to the protests according to turn 2?

Answer: Ignoring


Oh, no. I love grapefruit.

(Laughter).

It's one of the best things in the world.

Seriously?

turn 1 : (2) Laughter could mean disbelief, surprise, or disbelief in what A just said.

What was PersonA's opinion on grapefruit?

Answer: Love


You know, it's funny because I think the story is very recognizable because - yeah. Because the premise of the story is a similar kind of thing, but all of these Jewish traditions are subbed out for made up traditions. But I think all the arguments - all the conversations about it are just as ludicrous in the real world. And so this story, which, you know, involves, yeah, goat sacrifice and marriage cloaks and promise eggs, to me is one of the more grounded, realistic stories in the collection.

One of the stories in the collection is called "Missed Connection-m4w" - men for women - and it begins sort of like a Craigslist post in missed connections and then evolves from there. And you actually first published this on Craigslist. Is that right?

Yeah. What the story is about is about this guy who can't work up the nerve to talk to this woman sitting on the same train car as him. And in fact, 60 years pass where they. . .

He also can't get up and leave.

turn 0 : when something is grounded in this context it means something is more realistic

Which story in the collection is considered one of the more realistic ones?

Answer: Missed.


I'll say.

Dissection, anger, back and forth, denunciation by both major party presidential campaigns. Do you think that this cover crossed the line of propriety?

Of propriety?Perhaps. But what it - I think it did so for an urgent and good cause, which is to blow this stupid calumny about Obama away, once and for all. It travels as the subtext through all this polite conversation. I just saw some NBC report that was quoting a Newsweek poll saying 50 percent of Americans believe that Obama is or was a Muslim, or was signed - sworn in on the Koran to the Senate seat, and so on. It's madness. And I - it seems to me that showing the fevered image directly will be a possible way of looking at and dissipating that image.

I think as a result it's a fairly brave thing to do, in which the New Yorker's fulfilling its function at its best, which is to make people think and talk. And the New Yorker helped that discussion happen. And it's one of the times where I feel, hats off, New Yorker!They got it right, you know. This is not something that goes away by saying, but it's not seemly to discuss this.

But there are some people who are always going to read this un-ironically and say, well, yeah, he is a Muslim despite, you know.

turn 1 : The cover story in question caused controversy but served an important purpose.

What was the purpose of the controversial cover story?

Answer: Debunking


We often ignore the unevolved brain or what's sometimes called the reptilian brain. So zombies exist in the reptilian brain in the movies. And as it turns out, in the real world, humans have what we sometimes refer to as our zombie brain. And you might think about it as autopilot.

Like when you're driving the car. And you sort of zone out. And you don't even remember the way that you got to where you're going.

That's the perfect example.

And there are real-world applications for this speculation, right?Because there are murder cases where the perpetrator says that they zoned out. And there's a big debate about how conscious they were of what they were doing.

turn 1 : People start to stop thinking of anything while driving.

Which activity can cause people to enter the "zombie brain" state?

Answer: Driving


Well, you know, we've done a bunch of these kinds of stories that run in the body issue. And we've done everything from the importance of the glute to the strange secret ritual of the team shower. And we thought, gosh, we've kind of gone there with every other story. The last thing to explore was pee breaks.

I want to talk about the Tour de France in particular. These guys are on their bikes for hours and hours and hours. But it's the Tour leader wearing a yellow jersey, I might add, who gets to signal - is this right?- when it's time for the riders to pull over for a bit of relief?

It turns out, yeah. One of the greatest honors, according to the riders, of getting the yellow jersey is that you get to control when everybody else who's racing stops for a little bit of a pee break.

Which is extraordinary.

turn 0 : The hosts of the story series in the body issue wanted to cover all aspects of sports, including pee breaks. Implicated meaning: The hosts of the story series were willing to explore even the less glamorous aspects of sports and physical activity in their coverage.

How did the hosts of the story series approach their coverage?

Answer: All


It's really interesting. You know, they've been involved on and off in sort of smaller ways. But you know, they put out a press release. They're filing lawsuits. There's a lot of speculation as to why now. Some of it may be just they feel like these laws have finally gone too far. Some of it may be there's a woman president of the AMA and a woman past president and there'll be a woman president next year. For a group that's long been older, whiter and more male, that's changing.

So what kind of stance had they taken in the past?

Well, the AMA has been kind of everywhere on abortion. The AMA in the late 1800s led the fight to make abortion illegal in the United States. That was part of their effort to sort of centralize power over the medical profession. They wanted to get rid of unlicensed practitioners like midwives, who had traditionally been involved with women's reproductive health. And they really didn't change that position until just before Roe v.  Wade. And even when Roe v.  Wade happened, the effort to liberalize abortion laws in the U. S.  was really led by the legal profession, not by the medical profession.

You reached out to the American Medical Association - seems like maybe they're not so comfortable with this new stance. Can you tell us what you learned?

turn 0 : on and off means in this context that they are doing something then not doing something

How has the AMPersonA been involved in smaller ways?

Answer: Everywhere


The site of the wreck of the Houston's been known for quite some time. Why just the official confirmation now?

Well, the Navy became concerned over the years that the wreck was being salvaged by trophy hunters and commercial concerns overseas. Recreational dive companies have been leading dives on the Houston as well as the Perth, for years. But they began to fear for the integrity of the wreck. And it is a war grave. It's also custody of the U. S.  Navy, even though it's been undersea for more than 70 years now. And so what they did was, they launched an official expedition to document the state of the wreck and the first step in that process was to authenticate the identity of the ship, and so that's what made headlines this week.

Captain Rooks received the Medal of Honor for what?

He led the Perth into battle on that night and was quickly fallen upon by a far superior Japanese naval squadron. They had several heavy cruisers, a whole bunch of destroyers and the Japanese were masters of the art of nighttime naval combat. They would demonstrate this time and again through the early months of the war.

turn 1 : Implied meaning: The Navy was concerned that the wreck was being illegally salvaged and the recreational dive companies were unaware of the consequences of their actions.

What were the consequences of the recreational dive companies' actions on the Houston wreck?

Answer: integrity


It's a delight to be back with you, Scott.

Now, is this just another drip in the FIFA scandal or does this suggest that the Justice Department is any closer to sorting all of this out?

Well, the noose is tightening. Similar scenes in Brazil have gone on in Germany. It's kind of like the end of the "Godfather" movies where the dominoes are all falling, one by one. Sepp Blatter, the farcical little man who's run FIFA for the past couple of decades - FIFA, the nonprofit of a billion-and-a-half cash reserve. It's a wonderful - they're my favorite kind of nonprofit.

It's the kind of nonprofit NPR should be, but go ahead, yes.

turn 2 : The actual meaning of turn (3) is different from its literal meaning. While the literal meaning suggests that there are similar scenes in Brazil and Germany as in the FIFA scandal, the implied meaning is that there are investigations and consequences in those countries related to corruption in football

How is the actual meaning of turn (3) different from its literal meaning?

Answer: Investigations


Do drones offer the appearance of risk-free combat?

Well, inside our business, Scott, they don't. There's nothing risk-free about anything we do. And when you're talking about decisions that may affect life and death, I think we take this very seriously. There is nothing in this enterprise that discounts the value of life on the ground - all life, by the way - friendly life, enemy life and then, of course, civilian non-combatant life and property. It's something that is very deeply ingrained in our folks as they go through training.

But to press you a bit on this, General, I wonder - does drone warfare offer, to some Americans, the appearance of being able to strike militarily almost anywhere in the world and not have to worry about suffering casualties and consequence?

Yeah, it's one of the reasons that we don't like the term drone warfare, Scott, the - because drone does imply a level of autonomy that is not the case. It does imply a lack of thinking and a lack of human involvement. A primary reason we call them remotely piloted aircraft is because there is somebody flying them. There is somebody in that decision loop. In fact, there are lots of somebodies in it who are adding the human judgments that we think are critical when you're in the business of life and death.

turn 1 : "discounts the value of life on the ground": the literal meaning of this phrase is that the value of life on the ground is not being reduced; however, the actual meaning is that all lives, including friendly, enemy, and civilian non-combatant, are equally important and should not be devalued in any way.

Which term does General PersonA dislike for its implication of a lack of human involvement?

Answer: Term


I'm bullish on it. It's a big change. We're working through all the challenges. One challenge is for creators. They use Instagram to make a living. Likes are a sign of how relevant they are, so we have to figure out some way to make sure we preserve that.

You're talking about influencers. Right?I mean, there are people who now essentially make a living off of their social media presence. And the way they show potential advertisers - look, I'm a good bet - is how many likes I get.

Absolutely. We've actually had a pretty mixed response from influencers. So I think - I'm optimistic to answer your question very directly. We aren't there yet. We're still iterating on the experience. But I am personally optimistic and really personally invested in making it work.

So the boss is bullish. (Laughter) That's the take so far.

turn 0 : The person refuses to change their mind on what they think about the situation.

How would you describe the person's attitude towards the situation mentioned in turn 0?

Answer: Bullish


Well, AIG was a very big and successful insurance company. It did well in insurance products. But it got into a lot of trouble by selling very complex financial products, which, as you know, have lost huge amounts of money because of the housing downturn.

Now, in September, when conditions for the company were getting pretty bad, the Federal Reserve agreed to loan AIG $85 billion. In exchange, it took some stock in the company as collateral. The idea was that, you know, the loan would sort of tide AIG over while it sold off assets. But it's been very hard to sell anything because of the credit crunch.

So, meanwhile, the interest payments were piling up. AIG said it lost 25 - almost $25 billion last quarter. So, this morning, the government said it was going back to the drawing board and trying to work out something else. It's really an admission that the efforts so far haven't worked.

So, how much money is this new plan going to involve, and where exactly is it going to be coming from?

turn 1 :  "took some stock in the company as collateral" - refers to taking some shares of AIG as a security for the loan.

Which company's shares were taken as collateral by the Federal Reserve?

Answer: Crowding


To the tax issues that tanked a lot of the nominees that couldn't go forward. Some of the most common errors are incorrect or missing social security numbers. It sounds so simple, and yet, that something that catches a lot of people. The incorrect tax entered, based on your taxable income and filing status; math errors!Math errors is a huge issue for a lot of people. That's why it's important that if you can to e-file, because that will eliminate one of the major errors people make, which is in the math. And if you make less than $56,000 a year, you can get your taxes e-filed for free. You have to go to the IRS Web site to do it. But also this year for the first time, you can e-file even if you don't meet that. Now, you don't get the tax software that goes along with it that sort of walks you through, but if you already know how to do your taxes and you don't want to pay extra, you can e-file.

OK, let's talk about an issue that seems to be the third rail for a lot of political appointees or nominees, and that is the nanny tax. What should we, ordinary people, know about this kind of tax. . .

When we're hiring people to do stuff around the house?

Well, here's the thing: Most people are not going to have this problem.

turn 0 : The tax issues caused a lot of nominees to not be able to continue. The software helps a person to understand and work the tax filing correctly.

How did e-filing help eliminate one of the major errors people make while filing taxes?

Answer: Math


I - and I have to ask you in the - I'm afraid - half-minute we have left, do you have any idea, Mr.  Driscoll, how much the NRA has been supported by Russia?Aren't they trying to use the NRA to influence or to promote gun violence or division?

I'm not aware of that thread of the story from where I sit. I know that's been a popular speculation in the media. But I have not seen any evidence of that. But, again, you know, I assume others will look into that and see if there's anything there. But I haven't seen it from where I sit.

Robert Driscoll represents Maria Butina. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

turn 1 : The speaker believes that there is no evidence of Russia supporting the NRA.

Which thread of the story does the speaker claim to be unaware of?

Answer: Thread


I'm Farai Chideya and this is News & Notes. Staycation. It's one of those newfangled words that's caught on fast. A vacation is when you vacate. You take off, you stay in a hotel, or camp out, or see the sights. A staycation is - well, you got it. With soaring gas prices and plane tickets, this was supposed to be the summer of staying at home. But was that prediction off the mark?If you're thinking about traveling soon or for the winter holidays, what should you keep in mind?With us to talk about both of those issues we've got Madeline Nunn, senior travel agent with the Richmond, Virginia, branch of the American Automobile Association, or Triple-A. Hi, Madeline.

How are you?

I'm great. So, back in May, a Rand McNally survey found that two-thirds of Americans planning road trips this summer said they would shorten their trips or cancel them all together. Summer is wrapping up, so what actually panned out?

Well, actually, the staycation thing is sort of a myth, so to speak, because Americans are traveling. They're traveling because they are hard-working and they need the rest and the revitalization. They need this vacation. So, what we're finding is that they're not staying home, per se. Some are just staying a little closer to home. And sometimes they're limiting the length of time that they may take for this vacation.

turn 3 : Americans are limiting the length of their vacations.

How are Americans adjusting their vacation plans?

Answer: Limiting


Yeah, so a supernova is the explosion of a star. Stars more massive than our sun - about 10 times bigger or more - will end their lives in a huge explosion where the star first collapses and its center gets crushed down to something called a neutron star, which has about the mass of our sun but is about the size of a city. That's the densest material we know. And the rest of the star flies out in an explosion at thousands of miles per second, shining as bright as a billion suns.

Wow. But this supernova that you have observed - that's not what's happening. Now, let me see if I get this right. Its full name is iPTF14hls. Is that right?

That's right. I apologize for that. We don't have a better name.

I was about to say not very snappy. But it stayed bright for almost three years. Describe what you've observed.

turn 3 :  you imply that something is the case

What did the supernova observed by PersonA and PersonB do for almost three years?

Answer: Stayed


U3 is the classic headline number. What is the total unemployment as most people commonly understand it?It's a somewhat narrow definition of unemployment, and there are actually much broader definitions of unemployment.

So, tell us about those. There's one called the U6, I understand.

Well, U4, U5, U6 and they are all subsets of - each one is the previous one plus another group of unemployed. So, to go from U3 to U4, we add a group of people called discouraged workers. These are people who have given up looking for jobs even though they want a job. Then there's a different group called the marginally-attached worker, and that's somebody who isn't looking for a job but wants one. And there's another group of people who are working part time, but want a full-time job, but can't find them. If you take the broadest measure, the U6 measure of unemployment, we're talking about 11. 8 percent, and those are numbers similar to what we saw in the 1970s. That's an ugly unemployment number.

Well, why doesn't the government count that number or use that number when reporting these numbers?

turn 2 : The U6 measure of unemployment is higher than the commonly understood unemployment rate.

How is the U6 measure of unemployment compared to the commonly understood unemployment rate?

Answer: Stimulus


You're a breast cancer survivor. Your husband passed away. One of your other children was in a serious accident, and yet when you deal with the Imus ordeal, you say I've never felt so powerless in my life. Why did that touch you so much?

You know, Farai, one of the things that maybe people didn't know is that here I had a team of 10 players, and five of those young ladies were freshmen. Less than a year before that, they were sitting on bleachers at a high school graduation. Some of them that came to me had braces on their teeth. They had dreams and aspirations of becoming doctors and psychologists and musicians and all the like.

And here while they had done something that they should be commended for because throughout the year, the year had been a tremendous struggle. They had been pushed to the brink, and yet somehow they survived. And beyond surviving, here they were standing before a national audience and being honored as one of the top two teams in this nation.

And I was so proud of them because I could remember seeing some of them cry or think that they couldn't and then to see their faces on television or USA Today and, you know, this is what it's all about - for us as leaders and as parents and as people that care about our young people - to take them to places that they don't think that they can go, have them accomplish those things, and then with that level of security and confidence, they can take on the world.

turn 0 : Despite facing several difficult situations, the Imus ordeal made the person feel powerless

What was the achievement of the 10 players mentioned by A?

Answer: Survived


Well, it's really interesting. The word exoneration came to mind, but that's not quite right. I mean, you care if people don't believe you, but it wasn't my job to make people believe me. It was just my job to survive this and push a movement forward. But what I saw - that disgusting document that - you know, her email outlining how they were going to terrorize me. It was just as if, yes, this is exactly what's been happening to me.

And, of course, Lisa Bloom jumps out at many people because she had a reputation as a civil rights lawyer who represented women who had been assaulted or harassed. And she described that work in this memo to Harvey Weinstein. She said, quote, "I feel equipped to help you against the Roses of the world because I have represented so many of them," unquote. What do you make of that?

It's vile. It's just - it's kind of the mark of a psychopath, and it's so cold. And you know what?Yeah, the Roses of this world - we get pushed around. And we get hurt, and we get disbelieved. And to have a woman involved in it let alone a woman who purports to be all about protecting women and protecting people who get abused by power is - it's egregious. It's disgusting. It's despicable, but it's also fitting for I think who she really is.

Well, she says - she has said in subsequent statements several things. No. 1, she says she made a mistake. No. 2, she says she did not understand the scope of the allegations against him, including assaults.

turn 0 : The speaker was falsely accused and wrongfully blamed.

What word describes the reputation of Lisa Bloom mentioned in turn 1?

Answer: Vile


I think that with that time, you just need to map it out and make sure that you stay busy. Because if you don't, there's a lot of other elements, you know, inside, that could possibly corrupt you. And you might not only lose your freedom, you might end up losing your life. So you've got to be really careful while you're in there.

Now your song "It's Real" deals with a really heavy topic: AIDS.

Right.

Let's take a listen.

turn 1 : The song It's Real addresses a serious issue.

How does the song "It's Real" relate to a heavy topic?

Answer: AIDS


Yeah. I think many of us were. But now to North Korea, which is slightly less joyful, as I said. We're seeing, suddenly, a list of demands from the North before this summit takes place - a halting of military exercises between South Korea and the U. S. They want the return of North Korean female restaurant workers in South Korea who the North claims were kidnapped. It seems we're having to negotiate before the negotiations.

You know, this is part of an old pattern of behavior. You know, the North Korea problem is a wicked problem, a deeply impacted, entangled problem. It's frustrated at least two American presidents - President Clinton and President George W.  Bush. And that's for a reason. And the reason is that nuclear weapons have actually been North Korea's business. They've been in the business of developing nuclear weapons, threatening the world with them and then shaking down the world for different forms of aid for them to either, you know, supposedly give up or mute or, you know, diminish their nuclear stockpile. And so it's just so hard for anyone to imagine that, having behaved that way for so many years, now they're about to give them up.

So is President Trump being played?You know, what does the Trump administration want out of the summit on June 12?

Well, you know, part of my reaction to it is - you know, Kim Jong Un, 35 years old - Donald Trump, 71 years old - alone in a room, negotiating nuclear weapons. What could go wrong?

turn 1 : The problem is extremely hard and difficult to understand as well as constantly changing.

What type of problem is the North Korea problem according to A?

Answer: Wicked


Yeah, he was a loner. He was very studious in high school. He was a brilliant student and a bookworm. Obama has a reputation for having been a bookworm himself, so maybe there's something there.

Right. Something.

Yeah, it's a little silly to read too much into this. But it's - if you look too deeply into anything, you'll find metaphors, right?So. . .

Right. Spinning a web, any size. Catching Republicans just like flies. I don't know.

turn 3 : B in the statement made a reference to the Spider-Man theme song, which implies that they find the previous discussion to be overly speculative or not worth taking seriously.

How did PersonB feel about the previous discussion?

Answer: Overly


Well, that's after Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History Of Time" which is a huge bestseller and many people read it, of course, but probably many more people didn't read it. It's sort of famous as a book that many, many people bought and didn't make it all the way through.

How does the index work?And we should also be very clear that this is completely unscientific and totally for fun.

Absolutely, yeah. So what I did was when you highlight books on your Kindle, when you highlight a sentence that you particularly like, Amazon is keeping track of that - I'm not sure everyone knows that - and Amazon records what five sentences in a book are the most commonly highlighted. So in a book that people are reading all the way through, it might be the case, that those highlights are scattered all the way through the length of the book. But if, on the other hand, there was a book that almost everyone was starting and reading a few pages and then putting down, then all of those highlights would have to be clustered in the first part. So what I did was just average the location of the top five highlights in the book - a very simple measure.

And that's publicly available data?

turn 3 : Implied meaning: The speaker anticipates that the conversation with the boss will be negative or unpleasant based on the boss's tone.

How does the speaker anticipate the conversation with the boss?

Answer: Negative


Well, yeah. He calls Obama a bad or sick guy. That is an extraordinary thing to hear from a sitting president about his predecessor. We should note there has been no reaction from President Obama yet and no evidence, no confirmation, to support this claim. But it's not going to calm the waters.

Boy, we have investigations that are unfolding at the FBI. There are several committees that are gathering at Capitol Hill. What's the landscape they're looking at right now?

So, as you said, the FBI is investigating. We don't have a lot of visibility into where they are in that investigation or what the time frame is because they don't comment on active investigations. We just know that they are - they're doing them. On the Hill, we have - we know a little bit more. The Intelligence Committees have the lead on investigating all of the Russia stuff. We know they are reviewing documents. They're trying to think about who to call to come testify. And they confirmed this week - the House Intelligence Committee, for example, confirmed they are looking into links between Russia and the campaigns; also looking into all these recent leaks of classified information.

turn 3 :  "I must say, it doesn't seem like the last scalp has been put on the wall." - This turn of phrase implies that the investigation is not yet complete and that there is still more to be done.

Which phrase implies that there is still more to be done in the investigation?

Answer: last-scalp


Well, we think that the individual insurance markets need to be stabilized. There needs to be certainty. Right now, the insurance companies are putting together their plans for rating the 2018 insurance products, and they have no certainty from Congress regarding the support for insurance premiums for lower income people. Without knowing those, they don't know how to price their policies, and they're going to price them very high. So the bit - that's the biggest thing that needs to be addressed right now.

Dr.  Gurman, I move to ask you a question, both as a physician with a practice and the head of the AMA, how much time do you have to spend on matters that have nothing to do with medicine?

Well, unfortunately, a lot. We know from doing detailed studies where we actually follow doctors and minute to minute with a stopwatch find out what they're doing. The doctors are spending less than half of their time actually taking care of patients. So it's a big problem.

And how would you reduce that bureaucracy, though?Because, you know, bureaucracies run on (laughter) run on a paper trail in a sense.

turn 2 : (3) A: The speaker implies that doctors are spending a significant amount of time on non-patient care activities, which is a major problem in the medical industry.

How much time are doctors spending on patient care activities?

Answer: less


But then again, the Southsider group from Los Angeles, which has essentially a lot of Latino members, will try to exercise dominance in the jails as a message to all African-Americans that there's more of us and we can dominate the situation in the jails and we're going to dominate the situations in the street.

We're talking with L. A.  County Sheriff Lee Baca. Sheriff, is there much difference, as far as racial issues are concerned, between inmates in, let's say, county jail as opposed to state or federal prisons, where the inmates are serving longer terms and there are more of them?

Well, there is a slight difference. You know, the transient nature of the county jails is that inmates have access to each other much easier than in a state prison system, and at the same time, the state prison system is a long-term incarceration and they're more calculated when they're going to do a hit. Whereas in a county jail, they can hit anytime and be spontaneous and virtually disrupt the entire environment in the jail without a real comprehensive plan. Whereas in state prisons, it's more calculated.

Now, in California, particularly in Los Angeles, we have talked a lot about the tensions between Latinos and blacks. We haven't said very much about tensions between blacks and whites or Latinos and whites. How much of that is there?

turn 1 : B is interested in learning about racial issues among inmates and whether there is a difference between county jails and state/federal prisons.

How is PersonB interested in learning about racial issues among inmates?

Answer: Differences.


Yeah. I mean, that is the thing in this country. I mean, I know America quite well. And I think we have to reverse the absolute mirror image of the broadcasting and newspaper. When the debate was around about the beginning of this year about fake news, there was a lot of discussion about how, in this country, people are kind of used to fake news because - not that the newspapers are fictional, but they do take a slant on some stories. But the television media here, in particular, and the radio has been regulated to be unbiased and impartial since broadcasting began in the 1930s.

Some here in America would view this as an agency of thought police. Is there pushback against Ofcom in the United Kingdom?

There have been periods of incredibly busy activity from Ofcom. Recently, they have been turning quite a few complaints across to us and other broadcasters. That is not a reflection of Ofcom. That's a reflection of people who write to Ofcom. They're only making decisions if viewers complain. But it's not a form of thought police. It's a form of being objective. I think viewers in this country expect the television and radio broadcasting to be unbiased, accurate and impartial. And so that is enshrined in law. It's an expectation. And when they feel that the standards of broadcasting have dropped below that, they complain to Ofcom, and then Ofcom investigates us.

Ben De Pear is the editor of Channel 4 News. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

turn 2 :  "form of thought police" - the literal meaning of this phrase would be a physical agency that enforces particular thoughts, but the actual meaning is a regulatory body that ensures impartiality in broadcasting.

How is the meaning of "form of thought police" different from its literal interpretation?

Answer: regulatory