UNESCO must have known in July when they declared the old city in Hebron a Palestinian world heritage site that Israel would object because they say that Judaism has a lot of links to Hebron and that this would create problems in the United States.

One should make a difference. In UNESCO, there are different bodies. So when you say UNESCO took a decision, I think the more precise will be to say that the World Heritage Committee took a decision. But on my side, I have done many - implement many initiatives to strengthen the - our ties with the Jewish people. I think if you look at the bigger picture, you will find also these important activities of the organization that I think makes it a little bit more complex just to be one-sided when when you judge us.

Well, I mean - I wasn't asking if you or UNESCO were anti-Semitic. I was asking if you didn't realize in July when the Heritage Site committee made the declaration.

Well, I personally realized it. But as I said, I'm not taking these decisions to the World Heritage Committee. But I did realize it.

turn 3 : the speaker is implying that they personally realized the potential consequences of the decision when it was made, even though they are not part of the decision-making process.

Answer: Decision


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

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

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

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

turn 0 : "almost ethical minefield" implies a morally controversial topic

Which word describes the potential conflict discussed by A?

Answer: Ethical


Earlier this week, a man walked free from a court nearly 30 years after he'd been wrongly convicted of a murder. David McCallum was 16 years old when he was sent to prison along with William Stuckey. Both men were convicted of murder in 1986. William Stuckey died in prison, but Mr.  McCallum continued to fight to clear his own name. In January, his lawyer sent a letter to the Brooklyn District Attorney, Kenneth Thompson, who'd just taken office. The DA looked into the case and decided to reopen it. And since then, he's instituted review of a number of cases from the 1980s and '90s. District attorney Kenneth Thompson joins us from our studios in New York. Mr.  Thompson, thanks so much being with us.

Thank you for having me.

What did you see that led you to move to reopen this case?

What I saw was that there was no evidence linking David McCallum or Willie Stuckey to the abduction and to the murder of Nathan Blenner other than their confessions. And their confessions were very short and they contained false-fed facts. That led me and members of my conviction review team to conclude that the confessions were false.

turn 3 : “The confessions were false” but not “The confessions were short and contained false-fed facts” which is the literal meaning of the turn.

What was the reason for concluding that the confessions were false?

Answer: confessions


No. And this is just a temporary fix. We're now about to put in some type of permanent action to help them further.

Boy, you know, I know it went viral and there are a lot of people to thank, but I can't get over the fact that it began with you. And there are just so many of us who say, oh, that's terrible. Someone should do something. You decided to make yourself that someone.

Yeah. I mean, there was a lot of people pulling up, dropping off food, blankets, and that's fine. Well, below zero, the food was getting cold as soon as someone set it out there.

Yeah. Well, sounds like you've changed their lives and they've changed yours.

turn 2 : It is being implied that setting out the food was a temporary fix.

Which action was considered as a temporary fix?

Answer: Setting


And I think my - like, I never liked the term African-American. I think it's a horrible term because it all-encompassing. It's just African-American, you know?What African?African where?African - you can't just say that, you know?When you look at white Americans, it's very specific. You go, oh, he's Italian-American. Yeah, I'm an Italian-American. And you've got, you know, you've got your Jewish Americans, and you've got your Irish Americans. Everyone's proud of their culture. The African-American, it's just - it's, you know?African where?

But exactly. But I think that the first step to - I guess to finding peace, I find, is knowing where you are from. You know, where you are from determines a lot of who you are. And so for me, you know, Ghanaian American, Nigerian, you'll discover so much in your culture when you know just a little bit about where you're from.

Do you find it interesting that we have a president who is literally African-American?

turn 1 :  "Well, for so long nobody really knew where they were from." - The literal meaning of this turn is a response to the previous statement, but the actual meaning is an acknowledgment of the historical difficulties African Americans have faced in tracing their ancestry due to the legacy of slavery and displacement.

How does turn 1 acknowledge the historical difficulties of African Americans?

Answer: acknowledgment


Well, the Chinese vice premier, Liu He, who is very high up in the government, came to Washington Thursday. The two sides met Thursday evening, then again on Friday. They broke off rather early in the afternoon saying they would meet again at some point in the future. But there hasn't been any meeting scheduled at this point, although President Trump is supposed to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan in June.

You know, at the beginning of the week, President Trump put out some angry tweets accusing the Chinese of reneging on some commitments they had made. What do we know about that?

I think, in general, there's a real feeling in the Trump administration that China has a history of making promises about changing its business practices and then not following through on them, especially on issues like intellectual property theft and the forced transfer of technology. So there's been a lot of unhappiness about that. And then, this week, the president said because of the - China had reneged on its commitments, he was prepared to raise existing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 to 25 percent. And that actually happened on Friday.

And the president said today that he wants even more tariffs on China. Would it be fair to assume that China might retaliate, and, if so, how?

turn 2 : This statement implies that the Trump administration strongly disapproves of China's behavior regarding intellectual property theft and the forced transfer of technology.

How does the Trump administration feel about China's business practices?

Answer: Unhappiness


That Sean Combs did. Were you guys benefiting from that?Was your family - was your son actually able to get some of the money that came out of that project?

Excuse me. Well that was actually the only reason that I decided to do the record with Paul, because this was still at a time when I was - I just kind of shut everything down. I have been working on my second album prior to B. I. G. 's death.

And I didn't go back in the studio, until he called me and asked me to do this record. And the one line that, you know, that caught - got me and hooked me was all the money is going to go to the kids. All the royalties will go to CJ and Siana(ph). So yes, they do have trusts set up where the royalties from that song go into that trust. . . TEXT: CHIDEYA: What is the thing that you're most proud of, that you've done as a writer and a recording artist?

Mm. Most proud?Wow. I think that I'm proud of the fact that I didn't even really - you know, when I actually got my record deal with Bad Boy, Puff heard me sing one line, and I wasn't there in any capacity of auditioning or anything. I was just the baby's mama in the lounge, and my opportunity came.

turn 1 : The speaker agreed to do the record for the money, not for personal reasons.

What was the reason for the PersonA's decision to do the record?

Answer: Kids


Sounds like a fun gathering.

Lots of pollsters in a room - I'm sure there's jokes. What makes this new effort such a big deal?

Look, this is the first time since 1992, when all the media organizations bought into one National Election Pool, that there's going to be competition. And it's a totally different approach to measuring the electorate. They're launching it, by the way, they announced, in all 47 states where there are elections this fall for statewide elections in these midterms. And it's a massive undertaking that really is - you know, just talking to people here - starting a crackup of American election polling.

That's fascinating. What is different, though, about what Fox News and the AP are doing?

turn 2 : The NEP is not a pool but an organization that gathers information from groups of people.  The approach was not launched but newly began for the fall season.

Which season did the approach start for?

Answer: fall


Hey, thank you very much.

Everybody who is an average taxpayer wants to know, how does this bailout affect me?So how does it affect the average taxpayer?

Well, it affects you in a couple of ways. One of which is is that, if it that if it works and the financial system does in fact stabilize and move forward, we're all better. We've averted a vast crisis. But it also does mean that probably down the pike you might be seeing higher taxes, you might be seeing higher inflation, you might be seeing a lower dollar. All of these things are potential possible fallouts from the bailout.

To follow that point a little bit further. Let's say you have a person who pays his bill on time - his or her bills on time - has a mortgage, has a small savings account and no major investments. What does this mean to that person?

turn 2 : The bailout could have potential negative consequences for the average taxpayer

What are some potential consequences of the bailout for the average taxpayer?

Answer: Taxes


Yes. So I had shut what was left of the door, and I go outside. The waves are, like, 7, 8 feet above me, crashing over my head.

How did you survive that?

So a few days before, my sister made me promise to get a life vest. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get one. But I didn't. And I was removing a dock ladder just so it wouldn't get damaged in the storm. And I was removing it, and a life vest floated up to me.

A life vest just came to you. That's incredible.

turn 0 : crashing over my head means that the waves were so big they were above the person's head.

Answer: 7


I mean, there have been some high-profile examples recently of sort of ethically questionable journalism, you know, maybe at best. Do you think that - and this is sort of tangential, but do you think that that, the definition of plagiarism needs to be updated for the Web?

I mean, given that I started this thing, you mentioned the curator's code, I think about that a lot. I think plagiarism is kind of a harsh word that comes from the publishing world, you know, kind of a legacy term. And there are many layers to it. It's a little bit of a grab bag.

But online, one of the things that I think about a lot, which I think is a form of sort of neo-plagiarism as this idea of OK, you know, we live at a time where there's almost infinite information, and it takes time to find the meaningful and to separate it from the meaningless, and that's effort, and that's sort of creative labor.

And when someone does that, and let's say - you know, for example, one of my favorite sites, Open Culture, run by Dan Colman out of Stanford, he finds amazing archival stuff. You know, and he spends time in the archives looking for it. And then it gets sort of reported on, say, Huffington Post or Business Insider, just sort of regurgitated.

turn 1 :  "curator's code", which refers to a set of ethical guidelines for curating content on the web; "legacy term", which refers to a term that has been inherited from an earlier time and may no longer be entirely relevant or appropriate; "grab bag", which is used here to describe the various components of plagiarism that don't necessarily fit neatly into one category.

How does PersonA describe plagiarism in the publishing world?

Answer: Harsh


You have to understand; at this point Mr.  Treviene was in his late 70's. This is a man who is used to building houses and repairing houses, and had been a younger man that might have been a challenge to him. But as an older man who was basically retired before the storm, this was an insurmountable challenge and so much of his story is the story of elderly New Orleanians.

When I looked at his face, it looked literally as if the life just seeped out of it.

That was the feeling that we got sitting there. After he had gone into the house, we sort of sat there and kind of cleaned up a little bit and talk, but there wasn't a whole lot to say.

And he didn't live much longer did he?

turn 0 : "before the storm" implies before the SHTF - Or, before things went awry.

What was Mr. Treviene's profession before the storm?

Answer: Building


What's missing from that?

I mean, a deeper understanding of why Syrians rose up in the first place. I mean, this is a regime that's been in power for 50 years. It has outlasted eight U. S.  presidents since Nixon. Think about that. And Bashar's organizing elections again in 2021, and he intends to run. So there's a chance he will probably outlast Trump, even if Trump wins a second term.

Sam Dagher is author of the book "Assad Or We Burn The Country. "He also contributes to The Atlantic. Sam, thank you so much for being with us.

You're welcome, Noel.

turn 1 : The Syrian regime has been in power for a long time, and there is a possibility that Bashar will outlast Trump.

Which author contributes to The Atlantic and wrote the book "Assad Or We Burn The Country"?

Answer: Sam


The state has also promised that they will do spot checks after the storm to make sure that facilities that have gotten generators have those generators up and running. We've been told that the state has stockpiled additional generators in case some of those generators fail so that they have backups. And we're told that the Department of Health is also helping with that, too - the State Department of Health.

That was Miami Herald reporter Elizabeth Koh joining us from WFSU in Tallahassee, Fla.

Elizabeth, thanks so much for joining us, and thanks for your reporting.

Thank you very much.

turn 2 : joining us implies being part of an activity and not being to mix up

Which word in the dialogue implies that the reporter is involved in some activity?

Answer: Joining


Well, thereafter, we may be singing Christmas carols in the Capitol. It's brinksmanship, of course. They're just trying to get everybody focused and trying to get everybody to actually vote for the basic spending bills, get Congress to do their routine business. It's not routine, though, because Republican leaders can't get enough of their members to vote for spending bills. So they need Democratic votes to get the bills across the finish line. And those come with a price tag, including, for example, the issue of the DREAMers, the. . .

Yeah.

. . . People who were brought here by their parents when the parents came to the country illegally.

And how do they breach the differences between the House and Senate bills, when the promises some Republican Senate leaders made to get the votes of, say, Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona, seem to be no longer - are not contained in the House version?And the House leaders say nope, we're not going to have them.

turn 0 : price tag implies there's an exchange of favors for passing bills

Which term describes the exchange of favors mentioned in turn 0?

Answer: Exchange


Do you have any concern, Mr.  Levin, that if some of these alternatives you're talking about are used more frequently that you might have a situation where - and I'll be apocryphal here - a white college kid with access to means and a good lawyer can get a very light sentence and a kid from the inner city that lacks both will still have the book thrown at him.

Well, you know, that is an interesting question because this decision by the attorney general was one based on discretion. The public has as very low opinion of elected officials and so it's certainly the case is if you don't think much of Congress, you wouldn't want Congress' judgment to be substituted for your own if you're on the jury, especially given that it's the jury that has access to the specific facts of the case.

And certainly, though, as you mentioned, race should absolutely not be considered and we need to make sure every offender has quality representation for those who have appointed counsel. Ideally, they could have some say in choosing their own counsel with some type of voucher or something so we can make sure they get vigorous representation in court, that evidence that may exonerate them is presented.

Marc Levin is director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation Center for Effective Justice speaking with us from Austin. Thanks so much.

turn 1 : The speaker is expressing concern that the justice system might be unfairly biased against certain individuals based on their race and access to resources.

What is the PersonA's concern regarding bias in the justice system?

Answer: discrimination


Yes, they are in re-settlement areas. For example, in Mozambique you have 258,000 people, 90,000 of whom have been displaced over the past month or so. In Malawi you already have 700 cholera cases that have been reported. You have about 152,000 people who have been affected. So they are moving away from their home areas into re-settlement camps.

Let's move to Kenya in the east of Africa. The talks between President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga continue today outside of Nairobi and the negotiations are being mediated by former U. N.  Secretary General Kofi Annan. Since the post-election violence began in late December, more than 1,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. There are also reports of a wave of sexual violence against women who've been displaced by this turmoil. So Cassandra, what's going on here?

Since the violence after the disputed elections on December 27th, we're seeing that this situation has put women and girls at great risk of sexual assault. We know that always in situations of conflict women and girls are in danger. And in Kenya it is no different. We are hearing reports from Nairobi, from the Nairobi general hospital, that there may be as many as double the number of cases of rape within the days following the eruption of the violence.

And what we know is that for every case that is being treated or is being reported, there are many more victims who fail to seek help.

turn 3 : Many victims of sexual assault in Kenya are not seeking help or reporting the crimes.

Which country is experiencing a wave of sexual violence against women who have been displaced by the turmoil?

Answer: Kenya


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

Right, right.

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

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

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

What is the alternative solution to the car czar that PersonA proposes?

Answer: Loans


I don't know if I'm that much different than a journalist. I just - it's like a mystery that I want to solve that I think everybody's interested in solving. What has gone on and what is going on with Trump and his orbit of people he's dealt with over the years and ties to Russia and Ukraine and all these different matters?

Often when people are doing this kind of thing, they have fact checkers, and they have editors that go over their information, especially if you're a journalist. Do you have anyone that edits you or anyone that you work with that helps you verify the information?

There's some fact checking. But the interviews that I do, I publish them exactly as they're transcribed. I'm not writing an article, per se.

Can I ask you, has your shop - your restaurant, which is very well known here, helped you in your endeavor?Do people walk in to give you tips, try and contact you through that?

turn 3 : (4) Implies that the speaker is asking if the restaurant that the person they are talking to owns has helped them in any way with their endeavours.

Which endeavor is PersonB referring to in their question to A?

Answer: Endeavor


. . . I think, who was - who was poisoned by, we think, we believe, some of his former colleagues. Yes. I think it was partly inspired by that. But it was partly, I think, inspired by the fact that Russia and particularly the Russian intelligence services seemed to be getting more aggressive. And now I'm an outsider, you have to remember, so I have no inside knowledge. But we read that there are just as many Russian intelligence officers in London, in the West in general, as there were during the Cold War. And you have to ask yourself what they're all doing. And that's one of the things I do ask myself when I'm writing fiction.

We have to crack open the story of this week. U. S.  security services this week say they're convinced that it was Russian hackers working for the government who hacked into the files of the Democratic National Committee. And they leaked material to have some palpable effect on the elections. Does that strike you as plausible?

It's plausible. But then there are many people who could have hacked into those files, not only the Russian intelligence service. So you have to remember that, you know, there are many people with that capacity and many reasons for leaking. I very much doubt that it's all as straightforward as it might appear.

I've read that you were the first official from British intelligence to meet with the KGB after the change.

turn 3 : The implication of this turn is that the speaker was one of the first British intelligence officers to meet with the KGB after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Which intelligence agency did the speaker meet with after the change?

Answer: KGB


Oh. . .

. . . Believe and understand it should be.

. . . A large number.

But. . .

turn 2 : It implies that A believe and understand what B means to a large extent.

What does turn 1 suggest about PersonB's opinion?

Answer: Implication


You've been on this beat for a while.

I have, a decade or so.

Any - ever seen anything like it?

Wow. I think this is a story I will tell the grandkids about covering.

turn 0 : being on this beat for a while implies that someone has been known with a thing or regularly involved in activity

What does being on this beat for a while imply?

Answer: Familiarity


Well, here's the interesting part. The scientific heavyweights like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration didn't fare any better than the almanac last year, which makes you wonder: Is seasonal prediction even possible?Here to talk about it is Jason Samenow. He's a chief meteorologist for the Capital Weather Gang at The Washington Post. He joins us from NPR in Washington. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

Thank you for having me on.

So what are the predictions look like this year, and then should we pay attention to them?

There is a ton of uncertainty about what this winter's going to bring across much of the country. And that has to do with the fact that El Nino - which is the episodic warming of the equatorial Pacific, which was predicted to develop by now - really hasn't behaved as expected. So when we have an El Nino, we typically see warm and dry conditions across the Northern Tier and wet and cold conditions across the Southern Tier. But it has pretty much baffled forecasters in that it hasn't developed as models have predicted.

turn 3 : The weather forecasters are uncertain about this winter's conditions due to the unpredicted behavior of El Nino

Which meteorological event is causing uncertainty about this winter's weather forecast?

Answer: Meteorological


They have an obligation to do what I have done my whole life. I came from a family that had nothing. I worked hard all my life. In fact, the way I made my living was representing the kind of people that I grew up with, people who didn't have much of anything, and fighting against very entrenched, powerful corporate interests. And we were able to win and be successful. I did well by doing good. And what we have a responsibility to do is to make sure we don't pull the ladder out from behind us.

That everybody gets - in fact, it's the core reason that I am running for president is to make sure that everybody in this country gets the kind of chances and opportunities that I've had in my life. That's what drives me every single day.

A lot of your supporters mention that you really have a commitment to ending poverty, but could there ever be an America with absolutely no poverty?What would that country even look like?

It would be a country where everybody has real economic opportunity. I mean, is there always going to be a circumstance where somebody could fall into poverty?Of course. I mean, because that's the real world. But if we do the things we need to do, we wouldn't have the kind of systematic, endemic poverty we have in America. I mean, we have 37 million people, which is roughly the population of California, who live in poverty every day in this country. It's not a small number.

turn 3 : In (4), the speaker talks about the possibility of a country with no poverty and states that it's not possible for everyone to avoid poverty. However, if they take the necessary actions, they could reduce poverty significantly. The implied meaning is that the speaker is committed to reducing poverty and improving economic opportunities for everyone.

Which state's population is close to the number of people living in poverty every day in America, as mentioned in the dialogue?

Answer: California


So every time that you have, you know, even life in a - in the House of Representatives means you need to be there. You need to deal and wheel and pork(ph) and everything. Grillo's going to be at home. So what is going to happen?His 150 MPs will go on the phone and say, Beppe, what are we going to do with this?It's ridiculous. So that's one point.

And the second point is Beppe Grillo's people and Beppe Grillo's deputies are actually younger, much younger, and I suspect much wiser and quieter than he is.

So expect some of them to say, look, we promised Italians to change this country, we're going to do that. And so they already proved that in Bologna, where I am, actually. It's - they've been successfully here in Emilia-Romagna. They were successfully in Parma and in Sicily. They cut deals all the time, American style, really cutting deals on the legislative floor without the parties, and they were very successful.

Well, you've said what you thought should happen. What's your best guess as to what you think will happen?

turn 0 : They mention that the House of Representatives done everything in their power to make sure they needs are met.

What does Beppe Grillo do when his 150 MPs call him?

Answer: Treasury


Patricia is moving over Mexico, downgraded from the most powerful hurricane ever recorded to a tropical depression. She was less damaging than expected. Hurricane force winds were spared to the coastal cities like Puerto Vallarta. Daniel Lozano, the director general of the Mexican Red Cross, is overseeing the emergency response. He joins us from Mexico City now. Mr.  Lozano, you must be very busy. Thanks very much for being with us.

Thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure to be with you and the audience.

Can you tell us what's going on there now?

Well, as you mentioned, fortunately the hurricane downgraded very fast and we were expecting a greater impact in several cities and communities of Jalisco, Colima and the states around that area. But fortunately no major damages have been registered so far.

turn 3 : The director general of the Mexican Red Cross is relieved that no significant damage has been reported and is thankful for the quick downgrade of Patricia.

How is the director general of the Mexican Red Cross feeling about the impact of Hurricane Patricia?

Answer: Relieved


Yeah, a little bit. But, you know, he's not read em(ph) and freak brothers.

That would be a whole different story. That would say something different about his personality, I think.

Something a little more disturbing, I would say.

Yeah.

turn 0 : "read em" could imply reading the comic book series "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers", but it's possible that the speaker means something else depending on the context of the conversation.

How could "read em" be interpreted differently?

Answer: Differently


One of the main things that the sheep people face is the predators. And coyotes, wolves will impact your herd and kill lambs and so forth. It's kind of hard to imagine. But, at one point, I was trapping as many coyotes in a year as when I had sheep running on the land. And this is one of the things that this Barrasso bill seemed to address is the threshold level and not letting that level be like a mirage that you never really get there.

I apologize in advance for my city kid naivete, but isn't there something you can do to prevent the coyotes from getting to your - do I say flock or herd?

It's difficult. You got to remember, you know, it takes 30 acres to run a cow on my place. And you just can't be every place at once. So consequently, the cows have to kind of take care of themselves. And predators are very hard to offset in that instance.

How would increased state involvement, which is called for in the Barrasso bill, improve things as far as you're concerned?

turn 2 : Despite efforts to protect livestock, it's difficult to fully control predators and their impact on the herd.

Which aspect of livestock management is challenging?

Answer: Livestock-management


Diddley first began performing on street corners, and by 1951, he'd lined up a regular spot at the 708 Club. He also took on the name Bo Diddley, which some say is a play on the Southern slang for the term, nothing at all.

In 1955, Diddley found his way into a recording studio and recorded the song "Bo Diddley. "That song became a number one hit for Chess records. "Hey, Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?"followed.

(Singing) I walked 47 miles of barbed wire. I Used a cobra snake for a neck tie. I got a brand new house on the roadside. Made from rattlesnake hide. I got a brand new chimney made on top. Made out of a human skull. Now come on, take a little walk with me Arlene and tell me, who do you love?

Who do you love?Who do you love?Who do you love?

turn 1 : This implies the days of humble beginning of Bo Diddley in the music industry.

How did Bo Diddley begin his career in music?

Answer: Street


I gather bitcoin's created through mining but not, like, chisel and cloud of dust mining. Right?

Yeah. So mining is the term that bitcoin people use for the process that computers use to kind of run the bitcoin network. There's a global shared record of who has made which payments to whom. And the computers that participate in this process get a reward of new bitcoins. Right now, every block, which happens about 10 minutes, you get a reward of 12. 5 bitcoins, which is worth more than $100,000. And they call it mining because you're creating new bitcoins in the process of running the network.

And that takes a lot of energy, I gather.

It does. One recent estimate said that the bitcoin network as a whole consumes about as much energy as the nation of Denmark.

turn 0 : One of the things you can buy with bitcoins is illicit products, like drugs, for example. And it has proven to be a particularly attractive application for bitcoin because if you tried to set up a black market for drugs and accept credit card payments, the credit card networks would shut you down right away. But there's nobody who runs the bitcoin network, and so there's nobody the authorities can go to and say, shut down this network or reverse that payment.  In this turn, the actual meaning implies that bitcoin allows for anonymous transactions in illicit markets because it lacks a central authority that can control or shut down the network.

What is the advantage of using bitcoin for purchasing illicit products?

Answer: Anonymity


It is.

Why do you think that will be effective?I mean, if someone's about to say something cruel (laughter), saying think about it - like, I don't know.

I think it's going to be somewhat effective but not very effective. I actually think that's true of all of the work that we're going to do. All of these problems are not solved by any one solution. They are complicated. I've also seen in the actual data that a minority but a significant minority of people do rewrite their comments, and they rewrite them in a much more pleasant way. Now, do most people rewrite their comments?No - because if you have an intent that's really intense to harass an individual, a polite comment from Instagram is not going to prevent you from doing so.

But sometimes people get caught up in the moment, and a lightweight reminder can actually help them rethink what they're doing or what they're saying. And so it's not supposed to be the solution that we hang our hat on for all of bullying. It's supposed to be one of many tools to try to prevent bullying from happening in the first place.

turn 3 : To "hang your hat" is a common metaphor that implies you have something you can rely and depend on, so here the speaker is saying that this solution isn't necessarily going to fix everything but it could definitely help.

How does the speaker describe the solution in turn 3?

Answer: somewhat


We're now going to take a look at another flood and what lessons it may have for Houston and other cities facing the possibility of disaster. Twenty years ago, 50,000 residents were evacuated from Grand Forks, N. D. , when the red river burst its banks. At the time, it was the largest displacement ever in an American city.

What followed was a painful process of raising homes, redrawing maps and building flood walls. The town has been well-protected ever since. Michael Brown has been the mayor of Grand Forks since the year 2000. And he joins us now. Good morning.

Good morning.

So can you remind us, first, of the devastation your city faced in 1997?Take us back.

turn 1 : "a painful process of raising homes, redrawing maps and building flood walls" implies that the recovery efforts in Grand Forks were challenging and required significant investment and resources, rather than a straightforward or easy process.

How would you describe the recovery process in Grand Forks?

Answer: Challenging


And could you please describe the dish for us?

Yeah, without getting into all the controversy surrounding the dish, basically it consists of guanciale, which is the cured, salted cheek of a pig, tomatoes, usually tinned or jarred, not fresh tomatoes, pecorino, which is sheep's milk cheese, and a little bit of dried hot chili pepper, which the Italians called peperoncino.

And it was, at one point, distinct to this area of Italy.

It's hard to be absolutely hard and fast about these things. But, yes, I mean, there was a version which is currently called pasta Gricia, which is without the tomatoes, and that's definitely from this region. And it's probable that the version with tomatoes, which is called Amatriciana now, is from the region. But some people think that the tomatoes happened in Rome. Rome has certainly taken the dish to its heart, and you'll often find it described as a Roman pasta.

And what's the controversy that you were trying to avoid?

turn 4 : Implies that the speaker has knowledge of a controversy related to the dish, but doesn't want to talk about it.

What was the speaker trying to avoid discussing?

Answer: Controversy


God, I know, the torment of it. You know, it's weird to be an artist who works really slow. I mean, we have a country that does not like people to take the time. We have a country that even its artists are on the punch-clock. So someone like me really stands out, you know. But you've got to do what you've got to do. And hopefully I can just finish it, forget how long it takes. As long as I can finish the darn thing, I'll be grateful.

Yeah, the last book took - I know it was sort of a painful process for you, wasn't it, this most recent book?

But, you know, that process gets lost. No one remembers it. No one - and that's what's the best part about being artist. There's all the sweat you break, all the dust you raise, all the sort of things, all the internal emotional timbre that goes in the work. No one will remember. That's the best part. All that's left is the actual work.

And, you know, my books, I try to keep the sweat off the books. So people read it, and they're like wow, this feels like this was effortless. That's a great - for me, more than anything, that's the best part of this. My work, that what I put into it doesn't show on the page. That's, like, great.

turn 0 : A feels pressure to work faster as an artist in a society that values speed and efficiency.

What is the best part of being an artist for A?

Answer: Effortless


I know I'm going to get emails, perhaps you too, from people who say, look, I am an agnostic or an atheist really specifically because I thought organized religion had a hand in racializing in our society and a history with slavery and has not had a good effect on U. S.  history.

Sure. I'm not in any way suggesting in this article that I'm telling people that they need to go to religious services. I do think we know that civic connection more broadly tends to help people weather difficulties in their lives. There are many other ways other than doing it through religious institutions.

It just happens that the church has been probably the most central form of civic engagement that Americans have had. And so when Americans disengage from church, for many of them that essentially becomes de facto disengaging from any civic institution. It's not like they're replacing church with some other form of civic institution that might fill some of that same function.

Peter Beinart of The Atlantic. Thanks so much for being with us.

turn 1 :  (2) Suggesting that people don't need to go to religious services implies that they don't need to be part of an organized religion in order to engage in civic activities.

Which form of civic engagement has been the most central in America?

Answer: Church


. . . And because I've written certain things. And now I know that certain people in Saudi Arabia that I can't even name, people who work at the Royal Court, are putting names on a list, people like me and others. And these people are now blacklisted in this country. And we know it. I mean, we all know it, OK?So this is it. This is what's at stake.

Why do you think this is happening now?

What's different now is certain regimes, even if they were fierce and bold and sometimes ruthless with their own opponents, did not do this level of things abroad or in the daylight, OK?Mubarak could make opponents disappear in Egypt. He would never dare to touch someone in the streets of London or Berlin. The Saudi leadership used to kidnap some princes for family reasons in Switzerland or elsewhere, but they would not kill someone in the streets of Paris or Rome, OK?So this is now different. These countries today feel that they have withered an extraordinarily enormous storm, which is the Arab revolution that started in 2011, OK?So they are today on a full-blast quest and hunt against anybody who could threaten their political existence.

If the West specifically and the United States don't react forcefully to Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance, what do you think the effect will be?

turn 2 : They would not do bad things were most people would find out about them.

How did previous regimes differ in their actions compared to the current Saudi leadership?

Answer: Actions


How was that?

Well, it was astonishing. I think that the grown-ups around us were much too confused themselves to be able to sort of sit down and tell us that when they said that television sets belong to Satan, maybe they hadn't been right. Suddenly, we've got a television set in our house. Suddenly, we've got a radio. . .

Oh, boy.

. . . (Laughter) In our house. And suddenly, we're being taken to go and see "Gone With The Wind" in the cinema.

turn 2 : (3) - The speaker is expressing surprise and disbelief at the changes that have taken place in the household.

What is the PersonA's reaction to the changes in the household?

Answer: Surprised


Oh no. I think the debate is a crucial - the presidential race, even if you look at state by state. The key battleground states going in to November - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, all those states, very, very close. We saw in 1980 a very close race between Carter and Reagan. Once Reagan did really well on that debate, it boosted him and gave him a landslide victory. People are - even though there's three debate plus a vice presidential debate, people are expecting that the presidential race will be won or loss in these debates.

I saw CNN running a poll of expectations a little earlier today. People thinking that Senator Obama might do much better than Senator McCain in these debates. So, how will you know who's won?

Well, because I will tell you, you'll hear me on NPR. No. But I think the real reason is look, a lot of people thought that Al Gore would wipe the floor with George W.  Bush in 2000 and then somehow the media focused on Al Gore's sighs. Not a size, but sighs. His audible sighs during it. So, it's very interesting how we decide to focus on what's important and what's not important, which is unfortunate many times. But I think, it won't be after one debate you'll have three debates and then everybody will sit back and decide what happens.

Ken, I'll be guided by your wisdom tonight. NPR political editor, Ken Rudin. Thanks, Ken.

turn 1 : wipe the floor with George Bush implies a lot of people though Al Gore would win by a wide margin

What did a lot of people think about Al Gore in 2000?

Answer: Win


Joined by David Albright, he's president of the Institute for Science and International Security, speaking with us from Germany. Mr.  Albright, thanks so much for being with us.

Glad to be here.

We're a weekly show, so let let's go back a few days. Before North Korea said it would fire test missiles near Guam, before President Trump said the U. S.  is locked and loaded or vowed fire and fury, there was the news that North Korean had figured out how to put a nuclear bomb on a missile. Now, that's despite talks under the Bush administration or the 1994 deal with the Clinton administration. What's to be done?

Well, I think one is that I think there's time. I mean, the goal, I think, of everybody is to get negotiations going that can lead to denuclearization. People don't want North Korea to have nuclear weapons. It's just too dangerous, and it could cause further proliferation in the region and just constantly create instability that could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. So I think the goal is clear. How to get there is very difficult. And the Washington Post story kind of created a shock that somehow we don't have the time, that we're already in the bull's-eye of North Korea's nuclear weapons. As we sit in Seattle or. . .

turn 3 : Well, I think one is that I think there's time... And the Washington Post story kind of created a shock that somehow we don't have the time, that we're already in the bull's-eye of North Korea's nuclear weapons."  The literal meaning of this turn is that there is a perception that there is enough time to engage in negotiations for denuclearization, and a Washington Post story caused concern that time is running out and the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons is imminent. However, the implicated meaning is that the perception of having enough time for negotiations is in contrast to the urgent and imminent threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons. The Washington Post story has highlighted the need for immediate action.

How did the Washington Post story affect the perception of time for negotiations?

Answer: Immediate


Happy birthday NASA. Fifty years old today. Wonder how that feels?A former NASA engineer thinks this now middle-aged agency should try something new. Solve the energy crisis by collecting solar power through a space-based energy system. He's Glenn Smith. He oversaw science and applications experiments for the international space station when he was at NASA. We spoke earlier about his proposal.

You have very large solar cells, solar rays in space, probably 22 thousand miles out, so it circles the earth at the same speed that the earth rotates. It stays above one spot on the earth, and you convert that electric power into microwaves, and you beam it down near cities where large amounts of power are used. Receives it, converts it back to electric energy and feeds it into the existing power grid.

And that wouldn't be dangerous to anyone who got in the way of that ray coming down, or airplanes flying by, or anything?

Well, I've got a lot of questions about that. But here's what we have. The highest power level of the beam is only about one-fifth of the energy density of summer sunlight at noon. One-fifth. Tests have been run on bees and birds twice that level and they haven't found any effects yet.

turn 1 : Space-based energy system could potentially solve energy crisis.

Which crisis could potentially be solved by a space-based energy system according to the dialogue?

Answer: Energy


What is your guideline?When do you tell an officer he or she has to start recording?

NOPD policy requires them to record the entire encounter until any police action has ceased. So what we're finding out though sometimes the cameras aren't on. Sometimes they aren't wearing the cameras. And those are clear violations, but then there were also supervisors telling officers things like turn it off during, you know, sensitive matters, but not defining what a sensitive matter could be.

We're also hearing complaints that only parts of interactions are being recorded. That's one of the things we're hearing now. So the misconduct is occurring off-camera, but then they're recording, you know, perfectly professional encounters on camera. So that's one of the things we're also hearing now. And. . .

That's a big complaint and, of course, you wouldn't have any - ironically or incongruously - you wouldn't have a video record of that misconduct, but you would have a video record of them doing it right.

turn 0 : Implied meaning: The speaker is indirectly suggesting that they may have information or opinions that they are hesitant to share openly.

Which turn implies that the speaker may have undisclosed information?

Answer: Indirectly


You know, we like to be considered a young couple.

We are a young couple.

But I don't know about role model and the word role model, but I like the word responsibility. And Gina and I do feel a tremendous amount of responsibility in terms of the images we project, and the fact that, hopefully - you know, we get letters all the time, and I think one of the nicest letters we received was from one of our fans that watched the show that said, you know, you gals have really enhanced my marriage. Me and my husband, we get in the kitchen, we cook, and we spend time together. And it's those types of testimonies that really motivate Gina and I, and make us feel real good about what we're doing.

turn 3 :  All right. Now, I want you to make my taste buds jump. I am not in front of any of your food, but I want you to describe this dish that sounds so intriguing, barbequed spaghetti. What does that taste like?  The phrase "make my taste buds jump" is an idiomatic expression that means to describe something in a way that sounds so delicious that it creates a physical reaction in the listener.

How does "make my taste buds jump" create a physical reaction in the listener?

Answer: Delicious


Yeah, Charles Bergquist is usually the victim of doing it.

Well, thank you, Charles.

And this year, it's September 20th?

September 20th. It's a Thursday night and the winners are going to be coming and great secrecy from five continents.

turn 0 : Charles Bergquist is often blamed for mistakes or problems.

How is Charles Bergquist usually perceived?

Answer: Blamed


And, of course, a lot of the Democrats are aware of these shortfalls. And there are counties with only one insurance company and counties where it's not clear there are going to be any insurance companies. And some of that's been overblown, but there are real problems. And, of course, any bill, any large program, any law needs to be revisited and amended, and the parties need to get together to do that.

These insults this week flying back and forth between the president and Kim Jong Un - lunatic, frightened dog, dotard. I don't know about you, I had to look that one up.

We all did.

This is this just scenery chewing or are people in official Washington worried it could encourage something more destructive?

turn 1 :  (2) implies that the speaker was surprised by the unusual words used in the exchange between the president and Kim Jong Un, and had to look up the meaning of one of them.

Which word did the speaker have to look up?

Answer: Up


Is there any recourse here whatsoever, and is there any way to see from here on out how companies are actually using this bailout money, to be very clear about where and who it's going to?

Well, if your question goes beyond executive compensation to how the money is being used, yeah, we have a special inspector general that is overseeing it. We also have the General Accounting Office doing some review. We do have a problem with the General Accounting Office; can it get bank records so we know what they're using their money for?No, we need to clarify that in the law. You know, the oversight is meant to be strong through the special inspector-general. As a practical matter, will it be?We're going to have to wait a month or two to find out.

Charles Grassley is the Republican senator from Iowa. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

turn 1 : The oversight of the bailout money may not be as strong as it is intended to be.

What is the potential problem with the oversight of the bailout money?

Answer: Strength


Tell us a little bit about Steve Elkins.

Well, he's a filmmaker. He's an amazing person. He's one of these - he's a true adventurer. I guess he's sort of a kid who never grew up. I'm kind of like that too. I mean, I never stopped dreaming about finding lost cities and being the first one in Egyptian tombs and that sort of thing. And he's sort of like that. And he had fallen in love 20 years ago with this whole White City legend and had been trying to find a way into this valley where this JPL Scientist has been seeing something for 20 years.

And he organized an expedition. It was washed out by Hurricane Mitch. And then he heard about LIDAR, and he said, wow, this is the way to find stuff in the jungle. Instead of sliding on the ground, let's fly over this valley and see if there's anything in there. So he called me up and he said, hey, do you want to be part of this expedition?

And you, of course, agreed and ran down to Central America and ended up as, well, I guess, extra cargo in the back of a very rickety old plane.

turn 1 : He is the sort of person that still acts like a kid even though he is an adult.

Which legend did Steve Elkins fall in love with?

Answer: White-City


A lawsuit was filed this week in federal court on behalf of a man who moved from Puerto Rico to Southeast Georgia in 2017. He applied for a driver's license after waiting at the required 30 days. The man, Kenneth Caban Gonzalez, says that an inspector from the Georgia Department of Driver Services confiscated his documents and asked him a number of trivia questions such as, who is Roberto Clemente, and what is the name of the frog native only to Puerto Rico?He alleges he also asked trick questions such as, where is Caguas beach?There is no beach in Caguas.

The lawsuit accuses the state of violating the Civil Rights Act by holding residents of Puerto Rico to more stringent requirements than it does transplants from other U. S.  states. The advocacy group Latino Justice is litigating the case along with the Southern Center for Human Rights. And with us now is Gerry Weber. He's a senior attorney at the Southern Center.

Welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

turn 0 : The trivia questions asked by the inspector were discriminatory towards Puerto Ricans.

Which group is litigating the case along with the Southern Center for Human Rights?

Answer: Hair


The so-called Energy Climate Czar, I think people are calling it. I suppose if we have a car czar, we have to have a climate czar. This is supposedly going to be Carol Browner, who was the head of EPA in both Clinton administrations, actually, I think probably the longest serving EPA director.

She's a lawyer. She used to work with Al Gore in the Senate. She has earned herself quite a reputation when she was working for President Clinton as a tough regulator, someone who defended the Clean Air Act vigorously against lawsuits brought by industry questioning some of the scope of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. So she comes with, again, quite a lot of green credentials and reputation for being very savvy on how Washington works.

And finally, Chris, can you tell us a bit about who is going to head up Mr.  Obama's EPA?

Again, the name that's being bandied about quite a bit about is a woman named Lisa Jackson. She is a chemical engineer, and she is working currently as the environment - she started working as the environment head for the state of New Jersey in 2006. And again, she also worked at EPA during the Clinton years, so we've got a couple of people here who were Clinton executives and environmental movers and shakers during the Clinton administration.

turn 0 : The term 'Czar' is used to refer to the head of a certain field, although it does not hold any official title or position in the government.

How is the Energy Climate Czar's position defined?

Answer: Undefined


This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Pope Francis issued what's called an apostolic exhortation this week called The Joy of Gospel. And in his exhortation, he upheld church teachings while signaling a new openness to conversation about change. Maybe most notably the pope criticized the way much of the world, including the United States, does business. He warned against what he called an economy of exclusion, arguing that the very structural causes of poverty must be addressed. We turn now to Father James Martin, a noted Jesuit and culture editor of the Jesuit magazine America. He joins us from Philadelphia today. Father Jim, thanks for being with us.

THE REV. JAMES MARTIN: My pleasure.

What's the pope exhorting his church to do?

Well, I would say in this document he's asking us to do three things. Number one, remember the importance of joy. When we preach the Gospel, he inveighs against sourpusses - that's the English translation.

turn 2 : POPE ISSUED THE JOY OF GOSPEL AND HIS EXHORTION,AND TO REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF JOY

How did Pope Francis signal a new openness to conversation about change in his apostolic exhortation?

Answer: Openness


Well, yes, he was. Later I found out what he was really brilliant at, which was lying. He had a physics degree, a mathematics degree and an economics degree, I think, from three different Ivy League colleges. So, why doubt him?Especially once you've seen the props. Once you've seen the art, you buy the person.

He'd married to a successful woman named Sandy who paid all the bills. How could this smart woman be with this fraud?

I can only answer that question by telling you why I bought this fraud. He was charming. He had a story that explained everything. And so when she came into his life, he had perfected his act to the extent that he'd anticipated every question, had an answer for everything. So, it's like a magic trick. After you know how it works, it seems so obvious. But when it happening, you're enchanted.

There was a moment when he gave you the personal phone number of the president, and I forget what the occasion was - but he said go ahead, try it. You'll get him directly.

turn 3 : "He gave you the personal phone number of the president, and I forget what the occasion was - but he said go ahead, try it. You'll get him directly." - This turn is using hyperbole. It means that the fraudster was so convincing that he made the speaker believe he had access to the president's personal phone number. It is unlikely that the president would give out their personal phone number to a stranger.

What does turn 3 suggest about the fraudster's claims?

Answer: Unlikely


And then there's the hurricane season that starts in the Atlantic tomorrow.

Yeah. And of course, hurricanes are changing as the Earth warms. This is sort of the classic, archetypal climate-affected weather system. They're getting larger and wetter. They're dropping more rain. Think Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017. Think Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas last year. This year, the Weather Service predicts a normal year. I'm putting that in scare quotes. That means two to four major hurricanes. But it only takes one of those hitting the U. S.  to do a lot of damage, so it all adds up to just an enormous amount of flood danger for a lot of Americans.

That's NPR science reporter Rebecca Hersher. Becky, thank you.

Thanks.

turn 1 : Hurricanes are becoming more dangerous due to climate change.

Which type of weather system is becoming wetter and dropping more rain due to climate change?

Answer: hurricanes


. . . (Laughter) In our house. And suddenly, we're being taken to go and see "Gone With The Wind" in the cinema.

(Laughter).

So for me, I just remember this incredible sense of vertigo and glancing at my mother constantly, like, is this OK?Are we allowed to do this?

How did working on this make sense of your childhood for you?

turn 0 : (1) In turn (1), the speaker uses the phrase "taken to go and see" to mean that they were brought to see the movie "Gone With The Wind" in the cinema. The phrase "taken to go" does not have a literal meaning that makes sense, but it is a common idiom that means to be brought or escorted somewhere.

Which idiom did the speaker use in turn (1) to describe going to see "Gone With The Wind" in the cinema?

Answer: Taken-to-go


So your position would be that your dean of students would be there, even if there were some Oberlin students who decided to have a Make America Great rally.

Absolutely. The content of the speech isn't relevant. And she's supposed to be a liaison to the police. And, in fact, the police contacted her staff to talk about this particular protest as it was happening. So it wouldn't matter whether they were there for a Make America Great rally or whether they were there to talk about some progressive cause. The content of the speech is not why we're there. It's there to be able to protect the community and to make it a lawful protest.

Racism is an ugly charge. Can you see why the Gibsons were upset by it?

Oh, absolutely. I - absolutely. If you're called a name that you don't believe is true, then I can absolutely see why the Gibsons were upset.

turn 3 : The Gibsons were upset because they were called a name they believed was untrue

How did the Gibsons feel after being called a name they believed was untrue?

Answer: upset


Why the need for this guide?

We know that people are going to be asking themselves is the gift that I'm giving or asking for going to be secure and private?And as you said, most holiday shopping guides are focused on price and performance, and this guide is focused on privacy and security.

It's not just smart speakers, is it?It's a lot of devices that we've quite willingly and comfortably made part of our everyday lives.

That's absolutely right. And we're particularly looking at the area of connected-to gifts because more and more consumer products are connected to the Internet. So one interesting space that we've looked at is this new emerging toy category of drones. I have an 11-year-old who's pretty excited about drones, and it turns out that many of them connect to insecure wireless and therefore can be taken over, both the information they collect but also the device itself. So we think that consumers would want to know information like that when they're considering a drone gift.

turn 1 : smart speakers implies the electronic devices are incorporated or equipped with computer or digital technology

Answer: Insecure


No, he has not. And. . .

How are you going to get him to do it?

Well, I'm not worried about process. We expect to be able to get all the information we want. It'll be sooner or later. I hope it'll be sooner, not later. But I can guarantee you one of the things that we can guarantee is we're not going to sit idly by and allow this kind of obstruction.

If everything goes the way you would like it to unfold in the House - if the president is impeached and then Republicans in the Senate protect him, does that end up playing right into the White House's hands?

turn 2 : They are not going to do nothing while the obstruction is going on.

What is one thing that they can guarantee?

Answer: Guarantee


When we say those reductions are temporary, we have to remember that they go until at least 2025. So for most of us out there, regular working folks, seven years of tax reductions is a big deal. We can have that fight again in seven years. I'm sure the Democrats will be promoting increasing taxes in seven years. That's what the Democrats always promote. The Democrat plan today was to increase taxes by over a trillion dollars. So we have to remember what our alternative option was with the other party.

But why make it temporary for individuals who might need that tax relief when corporations, who are doing very well, get a permanent. . .

Yeah, you and I are on the same page. I think that's craziness. I don't like temporary tax reductions. I don't like temporary legislative fixes, generally. I want to see permanent legislative fixes. So I am against the fact that they are temporary, but I'd rather have, as a person who pays these taxes, as a middle-income person - I'd rather have seven years of tax reduction than what the Democrats were proposing, which was a trillion dollars in increased taxes.

I'd like to talk about the political ramifications. By and large, polls show this isn't popular, and it pushes through some very substantial changes in the financial lives of Americans. Do you think that there will be a cost come 2018?

turn 0 : "I'm sure the Democrats will be promoting increasing taxes in seven years. That's what the Democrats always promote." - The speaker is using hyperbole and making a generalization that may not be true for all Democrats.

What is the party that the speaker suggests will promote increasing taxes in seven years?

Answer: Democrats


There is no good precedent for thinking that these peace talks will work well for exactly the reason that you have said. The Syrian regime and its allies should - have at no point countenanced the idea that Bashar al-Assad will step down. And then the opposition negotiating committee reiterated in London this week that they foresee a six-month transitional period at the end of which Assad is no longer the president of Syria. So that's a pretty big sticking point.

And starts on Monday?

Starts on Monday at sundown, which is also the beginning of the Muslim Eid festival, yes.

Alice Fordham in Beirut. Thanks so much.

turn 0 : In (1), A is expressing a pessimistic view about the chances of success for the peace talks in Syria. A is highlighting a major obstacle to the talks, which is the opposing views on the future of Bashar al-Assad's presidency. A is suggesting that this disagreement is a significant barrier to progress and is indicating that there are no positive examples from the past to suggest that the talks will be successful.

How is PersonA describing the opposition's demand regarding the future of Bashar al-Assad's presidency?

Answer: Transitional


The field is shrinking. That's the first thing that's happened. There are going to be 10 candidates and only 10. And for the first time, you're going to see the top three candidates standing next to each other in the center stage. That's Joe Biden, who's been leading the polls, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. And what most people are waiting to see is if there will be a Warren-Biden clash.

OK. So of those three candidates you just named, Joe Biden remains still at the top of the Democratic field. But he hasn't had really great debate performances. So the one question I have is, how much do debates really matter to the campaign?

You know, you can make an argument that the debates really haven't mattered much because look at Joe Biden. He's still on top of the field even though he has not had a good performance in the debates. Elizabeth Warren has moved up steadily, but not because of anything she did in the debates. It's because she's had all these plans, and she's performed well on the campaign trail. But in one sense, the debates are having an impact, and it's a negative one because the overall image of the Democrats and their policy ideas has gotten more negative among the general electorate as this debate season has gone on.

Interesting. The debates have not been great PR for the Democratic Party. Well, Elizabeth Warren has been gaining support the past few months. She's going to be facing Joe Biden onstage for the first time. What do you think her hardest challenges are going to be onstage?

turn 1 : there isn't a "top" of a field... it just means he is performing the best currently

Which candidate is currently at the top of the Democratic field?

Answer: Joe


Yeah. I mean, you know, I've been all over places talking about this because clearly as a scientist who understands the peer review literature and the president of the AMS, who recently released a 2012 climate change statement, I know that climate change is an issue and there are things that we need to be concerned about with human-caused climate change and the natural climate change.

But on tornados, the peer review literature is just not very mature on this right now. It's much more mature on the link between climate change and drought or heat waves or even the intensity of rainfall, and even more so as well on hurricanes in terms of the intensity of hurricanes, perhaps, increasing in the future. And if I were to cascade along that spectrum, scientific literature relating individual tornadic occurrence in climate change is very immature at this point

I think we have to be careful on that jump, although I know there's a tendency to do it. There is great deal of research ongoing right now at places like Purdue University or even by one of our doctoral students, Victo Gensini, here at the University of Georgia, looking at climate change and the type of environment that might emerge that could support, you know, tornadic storms, wind shear profiles that Jeff Trapp and others at Purdue have been doing this work as well. So that's sort of where we are, and I think we just have to be very careful on sort of causality for individual tornadic storms.

And that's where we have to leave it. Thank you for joining us today, Dr.  Shepherd.

turn 0 : On tornadoes there is not a lot of peer review literature to read. There are more articles and studies on climate change and drought and other things. If the person were to glance at articles in those areas he would still find very few on tornadic activity.

What is the main focus of Dr. Shepherd's caution regarding the link between individual tornadic occurrence and climate change?

Answer: Environment


Same for the rap charts and also pop. I mean, you said that this is a city that has an impact on black music. You know, Atlanta has made black music popular music. These are artists that are on the Hot 100, the biggest songs in the country. So, I am very hopeful.

Dee Dee, same thing.

Right. For me, you know, I look at the new emerging talents like Jazzpects and Hollywierd and Proton. You know, I see a whole new 'nother birth of musicians coming up, and again, just being on the live music scene last night, I was at the Smith's Olde Bar to see Anthony David and Jazzpects and Redlands and Proton and Yellow Wolf, which are all underground artists that are stemming away from the norm.

Jazzpects is fusing hip-hop and jazz. And Yellow Wolf, on the total opposite the spectrum, is a white rapper that is - he has a group called the Dixie Mafia that is a really, really - he is an excellent rapper, that is fusing a lot of the blue grass and country and, you know, middle-America stuff with hip-hop.

turn 3 : Yellow Wolf is blending bluegrass and country with hip-hop

What is Yellow Wolf fusing with hip-hop?

Answer: Country


So, you've got a lot of expenses. How are you coping with those expenses right now?

Well, the thing is, I'm, you know, it's almost paycheck to paycheck. I don't have much savings. In fact, I have very little savings. We eat in. We don't go out anymore. And as far as buying clothing, forget about that. I haven't bought a decent pair of shoes in months.

Your daughter is getting ready to go to college in a few years. Has she thought about where she wants to go, and have you thought about how you're going to pay for it?

Well, we talk about it every day now. And she just, you know, I don't know how we're going to pay for it, but we are trying to find ways. In fact, I told her that she will have to probably do something, to do work-study, because I will not be able to afford sending her on my type of income in my lifestyle, OK?And I won't ever be able to retire.

turn 1 :  I'm, you know, it's almost paycheck to paycheck meaning they don't have much money

Which word describes PersonA's financial state?

Answer: Little.


You know, it's - well, my wife and I are just trying to adjust to whatever kind of a Christmas that we can have. To have this on top of all our - all the other stress and pressures going on, it's just overwhelming.

Originally, the value of your condominium was more than $200,000. Do you have any idea what it might fetch today at this auction?

I believe that the lenders are going to probably try to get the most that they can from it. So there's probably a good chance that no - there may be no takers for it. But I can tell you that the surrounding condos that are similar to that are going for well below 100,000.

So you've known for a while now that it was going to go up for auction today. How have you been getting ready for this?

turn 1 : Auction price will be low and very high

Answer: None


This has been just week one of the trial. And as we noted, there's another Manafort trial ahead. And gosh knows what the fallout will be in reporting about the lobbying industry. But do you - is it possible, do you think, that the lobbying industry - is it some kind of break point, as arguably it was, let's say, a decade ago about the Jack Abramoff revelations?

It might be, particularly for foreign interests. I know that there's a lot of concern from the president on down of people everywhere trying to get at America and learn our interests and learn our secrets. And there may be some attempt to have more transparency about public lobbying for foreign interests.

I mean, the suggestion is, they'd just walk out on K Street, hire somebody, and that's how they'd do it.

Right. That's right. And I think people would say, I think we need to have a little bit more oversight. You know, we don't want individuals - American lobbyists - looking for secrets and then selling them to our foreign adversaries. It kind of reminds me in a way of, like, the 1950s. You know, we're all real nervous about what foreigners are doing, so let's pass some laws to make sure that America doesn't help our enemies.

turn 1 : There may be a need for more transparency in lobbying for foreign interests.

How is oversight related to American lobbyists and foreign adversaries?

Answer: Oversight


What is at the top of your to-do list right now today?

Right now, we continue to monitor Dorian. As you well know, you know, we continue to go up our East Coast. We're positioned to support all four states. Florida is looking fairly good right now, however, they still have some impacts.

But we really don't want our citizens to, you know, fall asleep on this storm. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, they're going to feel the blunt of Hurricane Dorian - a lot of rain, a lot of surge and a lot of wind primarily down on the coast. But, you know, these things can that create weather hazards well inland, so - and they're doing a great job of being prepared for that. So we're focused on supporting our states, supporting our locals.

Four states is a long stretch of coastline. This storm is so big. How does that affect your preparations?

turn 0 : top of to-do list means something the person really needs to do first.

How does PersonA describe the East Coast?

Answer: Up


Yes. That was one of my big questions. Is that's possible?Or do we just make up strategies to pretend that we're leading normal lives?We were all carrying coins in our pockets to be able to call from a payphone if there was a bombing and say I'm OK.  We were spending more and more time indoors. So, we changed our way of living social lives. And we also changed the way we were sons and daughters because we knew that something could happen to your loved ones. So, no, no, there were not normal times. But it's astonishing, this capability humans have to pretend. It's very useful, by the way, but I don't know if it's entirely what we should do.

Juan Gabriel Vasquez. His new novel is "The Sounds of Things Falling. "It's translated by Anne McLean. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you very much, Mr.  Simon. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.

turn 3 : The host is signaling the end of the segment, indicating that the program is transitioning to a different topic or ending.

What is the name of the author and his new novel mentioned by B?

Answer: Juan


Absolutely. I think some Republicans have. The administration has missed a political opportunity to expand their base. They're speaking to a very small portion of the Republican base, and it's a big missed opportunity for them.

You engaged with President Obama and the Democrats on this issue. Explain how you did that.

I was asked by the State Department to travel to India and Germany and meet with mayors in those countries to talk about what the U. S.  is doing and, in the case of India, to encourage those local mayors to influence President Modi of India to actually come to Paris and sign the agreement. That was up in the air for a long period of time.

You know, what the mayors in India told me, for instance, was that the U. S. 's leadership means a lot. It helps them get to where they want to be, and that's probably my greatest fear with this change, is that some of these countries won't come along. And so my message to those mayors I spoke with in India today would be - simply because the federal government isn't going to make progress, our mayors are going to continue to make progress. We're going to keep our word. We're going to honor the commitments made and continue to improve the air quality and reduce our carbon emissions in each of our cities.

turn 3 : "keep our word" - this is a figurative expression meaning to fulfill a promise or commitment, rather than literally retaining the ability to speak.

Which expression used by PersonA means to fulfill a promise or commitment?

Answer: Keepourword


How fair or accurate is the idea that Joan Kroc gave away Ray Kroc's money to a lot of places and causes of which he would not have approved?

A lot of old-guard McDonald's people I've talked to are angry that Joan made gifts that, in their estimation, were more liberal-leaning than Ray, perhaps, would've liked, including her million-dollar gift to the Democrats - now - and her active work in the peace movement and building these peace institutes at both Notre Dame and the University of San Diego.

I don't think she did it to spite Ray or to get back at him at all, although I do know that during the course of their marriage, she said she suppressed her politics and her interests in some ways because she didn't want to seem untoward. And yet, that doesn't square up with the fact that she started this alcoholism education charity while Ray was clearly afflicted. So the dichotomy or the juxtaposition of all these odd facts with Joan is what makes her so interesting to me. She was a very complicated person.

Lisa Napoli, her book, "Ray And Joan: The Man Who Made The Mcdonald's Fortune And The Woman Who Gave It All Away. "

turn 2 : This statement implies the complexity of Joan's personality and the interesting contradictions in her life and actions.

How would you describe Joan's personality?

Answer: Complicated


It's a love letter to my mother. I love my mother very, very much. She gave me everything. She was a wonderful mother. She gave me the most magnificent childhood in Edinburgh, and she had no pattern for that. She was suffering so much as a child. She was kept very closeted. Nobody ever told her anything of love. She was very, very solitary, lonely and unhappy child. And yet she invented herself and became this wonderful mother to me.

And at the same time, I felt that her version of events, which was utter doom and terrible villainy, couldn't necessarily be completely true because everybody's version of their story is slightly different.

Of course.

And so I wanted to turn it and turn it like a kaleidoscope to see whether I could see what these people's motives really were. And was it so terrible?

turn 1 : The literal meaning is that the speaker questions the accuracy of their mother's version of events. The implied meaning is that people have different perspectives and interpretations of events, and that the speaker wants to understand the motives behind their mother's actions.

Which motives does the speaker want to understand?

Answer: Motives


And, of course, in "Hamlet" there's that famous play within a play, which, in my version, was a book within a book. And in this book, in "Romeo And/Or Juliet," there's actually two books within a book. When Juliet is taking that sleeping potion, she's out of the play for 42 hours. And while she's knocked out, she has a dream, which is "A Midsummer Night's Dream. "And you can play through that as Juliet in her subconscious.

And when Romeo's banished to Mantua, he's also kicked out of the narrative for a while. And he can visit the library and read a book called "Fair Is Foul And/Or Foul Is Fair" which is obviously "Macbeth" done in this format. So I tried to cram all the Shakespeare I could into this because I'm not sure there's that many other plays that would lend themselves so easily to this format.

It has to be a play with which people are generally familiar, too.

Well, that's the fun of it, right, because you know what these characters are supposed to be like. And when you kind of push them off the rails a little bit, there's a sense of breaking the rules that's a lot of fun, I think. It's fun to write (laughter).

turn 3 : In turn 4, "It's fun to write (laughter)" implies that the speaker enjoys writing a story which challenges the conventional expectations of the characters.

What does the speaker find enjoyable in writing?

Answer: Challenging


There might be more by tomorrow.

OK. Yes. So do so many presidential campaigns suck up a lot of money and political talent from potential Senate races?

I think it's a good question. I think, on the one hand, yes. I mean, there are Senate races that need top-tier campaign managers, finance directors, field directors. Those folks who may be going to a presidential campaign because they see their opportunity are not taking jobs on Senate campaigns is definitely a problem. I think in terms of resources with the push to really cultivate these small dollar donors and use that to fund these campaigns, there's almost an endless supply of these folks. So I don't know that, from a money angle, they're sucking up resources. I think from a staff angle, it can be difficult. But you hope that on the flip side what you're getting are a lot more people who are engaged in working in politics than they might have been before.

Anne Caprara, formerly the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, now the chief of staff to the new governor of Illinois, thanks very much for being with us.

turn 1 : to suck up in this context means that they use a lot of something, in this case its using a lot of money for campaigns

How does PersonA describe the abundance of small-dollar donors for funding campaigns?

Answer: endless


What has made Megan Rapinoe the standout name for the United States in these games?

Gosh, everything about her, both on the pitch and off. So she scored all four U. S.  goals in these last two games.

Wow.

She has been outspoken throughout her career on human rights and LGBTQ issues. She made headlines for a spicy comment she made earlier this year when she said, there is no bleeping way I'm going to the White House if the team wins the World Cup. And Trump responded with some angry tweets of his own. She is brilliant in play, her strategy, her execution. She is a clear fan favorite. Let me read you (laughter), the headline on Deadspin, on the website Deadspin, when the U. S.  beat host country France in their last game. Here's what they said - "Purple-Haired Lesbian Goddess Flattens France Like A Crepe. "

OK, wow.

turn 3 : spicy comment means in this context that the person said something controversial

How would you describe Megan Rapinoe's comment about going to the White House?

Answer: Spicy


Where to begin the week in politics?The Mooch removed, the White House staff shaken - if not stirred - more leaks, a rally and more developments in the Russian investigation. In studio, we have Molly Ball, staff writer who covers politics for The Atlantic. Molly, thanks for being back with us.

I'm glad to be here.

Isn't that what we got in the news business?It's never dull, is it?

It really has not been. And in a way, this White House is really a gift to all of us in the journalistic community. When we might have traditionally been slacking off for the summer, particularly on the political beat - there's usually sort of a summer doldrums - but no, we have the bounty of news that seems to flood every week out of Washington.

turn 0 : The chaos in the White House is providing a lot of news content for journalists to cover.

How is the White House currently benefiting journalists?

Answer: Content


I'm Tony Cox, and this is News & Notes. Ending a relationship is never easy. The person breaking up often tries to use words to soften the blow. I'm not ready to be in a committed relationship or it's not you, it's me. And the person being dumped is left trying to figure out just where things went wrong. A year ago, author Rachel Skerritt decided that she wanted to get to the bottom of all of her ex-boyfriends' vague explanations for ending their relationships. So, she called the men in her past and asked them to tell her exactly why they stopped wanting to be with her. Rachel joins me now. Welcome to News & Notes, Rachel.

Thanks, Tony.

Rachel, why in the world would you want to know this?

Well, I'm a tough cookie. I should say that first off, but I'm also a writer and the idea came to me after that whole "He's Just Not That Into You" phenomenon, the book not the movie. And a lot of my friends were reading it as if they had found, you know, the answers to everything. Oh, he's just not that into me, that explains it. But there was this whole missing why piece, why not. And as you said, guys seem trained to give these stock answers so as not to hurt feelings, but I really wanted the real deal. . .

turn 3 : Responding to say that A is a tough cookie is implying that she is strong enough to handle the truth of why B or past boyfriends were not that into her.

How would you describe PersonA's personality based on PersonB's response to her in turn 3? (Answer: Strong)

Answer: strong


North Korea is on the verge of a nuclear breakout. It has an arsenal estimated in the mid-teens. It's been assiduously testing ballistic missiles. It does have reach. It could target America's regional allies. The real inflection point here is that by 2020, they could have a hundred nuclear weapons instead of the mid-teens with long-range ballistic missiles that could reach the U. S.  homeland, which would make it a game-changer for the United States.

Well, how?

Well, it would allow them to directly target the United States. And that's a level of vulnerability we've never had from a state like North Korea. I mean, when I got into this business, I couldn't have conceived of a state like North Korea, essentially a failed state, having a nuclear arsenal approaching half the size of Great Britain's.

We're left with, really, three bad options - one - you know - bomb, negotiate or acquiesce. And the military option is so prohibitively costly it could lead to a catastrophic second Korean War. And when we can't - when we won't negotiate, we end up in that third box of acquiescing to the development of North Korean capabilities. And I believe there's a moment - a conjunction of factors that call for a pivot to serious diplomacy.

Well, what would that serious diplomacy look like?I mean, I - the United States would have to - what?- accept a. . .

turn 3 : (4) A: "And I believe there's a moment - a conjunction of factors that call for a pivot to serious diplomacy." - The literal meaning would be that the speaker thinks it's time to switch to more serious diplomacy with North Korea. However, the implied meaning is that the speaker believes that the current situation with North Korea calls for a change in approach and a greater emphasis on diplomacy rather than military action or acquiescence to North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

Which approach does the speaker believe needs to be emphasized more in dealing with the current situation with North Korea?

Answer: Diplomacy


Now, when we look at this, what they're doing, there was a - you know, in some ways perhaps a minor incident, but a telling one where the British publication, the Telegraph, reported online that the G8 leaders enjoyed a six course lunch followed by an eight course dinner. African leaders were not invited and of course they're talking about the global hunger situation. There was a lot of static about that. Do you think that, that was symbolic in any way or just, you know, big time world business as usual?

Well, Farai now you're going to draw the cynical side out of me. This was an incredibly stupid, careless move, by the G8 leaders where they basically seemed to have thought off camera they could do whatever they wanted to. And they demonstrated, for all to see, the contempt actually that they have towards the rest of the world.

That they basically - they see themselves, as in effect, the rulers of this planet. So, when they're on camera there'll be the tears, there'll be the concern. Off camera you saw this hideous example of consumption.

What do you think the G8 leaders should be doing in terms of an Africa agenda?I'm going to get to a couple of specific things, specific national issues of Zimbabwe and Nigeria in a second.

turn 2 : G8 leaders' off-camera behavior contradicts their on-camera concern and shows their excessive consumption.

How did the G8 leaders demonstrate their contempt for the rest of the world?

Answer: Consumption


. . . as a humorous guy, for example.

No.

Back in the old days of apartheid.

Although lots of the things the racist rulers said were very funny. I don't think they intended it that way.

turn 3 :  "Although lots of the things the racist rulers said were very funny.I don't think they intended it that way."

How did the racist rulers intend their statements?

Answer: Unintended


Yeah. Yeah.

It could've taken a long time to write.

Yeah. Some playwright, you know, trying to, trying to, you know, solve the Alzheimer's problem. So, yeah.

But it can pull you in, right?You know, these mysteries of science.

turn 2 : The playwright is not really trying to solve Alzheimer's problem.

Which problem is the playwright trying to solve?

Answer: No


But much more would need to be done to know really when the best time of day would be to eat different kinds of vegetables.

OK. So you started with cabbage. Are there any other veggies that look enticing, so to speak, for you to study or sort of similar to a cabbage cycle?

Well, what we did after we found that this result worked with cabbage, we decided to try to see how broad a phenomenon this might be. We started with other leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuce, and we could show that in the lab, we could re-entrain their circadian rhythms also. And then since those worked, we then went back to the grocery store and bought things like zucchini and blueberries and sweet potatoes and carrots. And of all these we could show could perceive these light-dark signals and reactivate their clock and show rhythmic behaviors.

Mm-hmm. Now, I'm picturing a big head of cabbage. And, you know, cabbage has lots of leaves on it.

turn 2 : The vegetables don't have a clock. They have a system that is regulated according to light.

What is regulated according to light in vegetables?

Answer: rhythms


If I had any confidence that another state would follow suit, I would agree with you. But we have watched as, really, only two states in the nation have done truly independent congressional redistricting. Neither of them are what I would call red states. And one of them is California, the state with the largest number of congressional seats in the country. And even though California moved forward with their independent redistricting, not one Republican state followed suit. So if what we're trying to do is have more Republicans in Congress, then I would say, yes, we back Governor Hogan's plan and just change it in Maryland.

But this sounds a little bit like a playground argument. Well, if they're not going to do it, I'm not going to do it, either, regardless of what may be right.

Well, that's what my bill solves. It allows for two states to do it simultaneously. And hopefully, that then moves a process forward that other states can then join.

Is there buy-in from Virginia?

turn 2 : The speaker's bill allows for more states to follow suit in independent congressional redistricting.

Which bill is being referred to in the dialogue?

Answer: Bill


So tell me about this painting. Maybe take us back to 1982, when he was painting it at 21 years old, a few years before he died of a heroin overdose at 27.

It's 1981, 1982. You have this 21-year-old artist having their debut in New York, and it goes off like an atomic bomb. Basquiat, of course, is probably the only artist of color involved in any part of the art world at that time, and he was a spectacle to behold. I saw him on the streets of New York, and he truly was what he was called - a radiant child.

He's of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent. He's been called America's Van Gogh. Talk about his importance to the art world.

Basquiat is an extraordinary example of taking his own identity growing up as a black man in New York, combining it with art history via a lot of expressionistic wild-style painting where every single inch of the surface is activated and coming at you with optical power aggressively so, really hard.

turn 1 : Basquiat faced discrimination due to his race in the art world, and his success was groundbreaking for artists of color.

Which artist was a "spectacle to behold" according to A?

Answer: Basquiat


Well, they basically came to myself, and from what I found out tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of small businesses, and cut our credit limits down to bare bones. We had had a - what they call guidance of $165,000, which they tell you you have no credit limit, but you really do. They cut it to $5,000 which was laughable. We're a company with sales into eight figures and profits into seven figures, never have had a lost, been in business 27 years, and we called to question it. We were treated very poorly. The woman was actually nasty on the phone.

So we thought we don't need American Express, we have Capital One, Visa cards, and MasterCard, and everything else, and so we just closed our American Express account. I personally went from a Platinum card to a Green card just to have in case of an emergency. So I've not spent a penny with American Express in over a year, so I knew why I got the letter.

Well, tell me why they made that decision to cut your credit line from - you said $165,000 to $5,000?

Mm hmm. Yes. They seemed to have just gone into a panic last January, and I've seen comments all over the Web from other small businesses owners who had the same thing happened to them. They did it without warning. They actually refused charges we had made even though we weren't above our credit limit, we weren't delinquent.

turn 0 : bare bones refers to their credit being SIGNIFICANTLY reduced

What was the guidance amount before the credit limit was reduced to $5,000?

Answer: $165,000


Oh, yes. You know, capitalism evolved into the Wild, Wild West form of capitalism in which regulation was relatively lax, I mean, which leverage in borrowing produced the combined phenomena where, you know, everyone assumed that prices of everything would always go up and never go down. Witness the phenomena with housing prices.

Now, all of that's changed. We've understood that there's a need for regulation, for control in terms of lending, and for an assumption of reduced expectations in terms of return. And so, yeah, capitalism as defined over the past 10 or 20 years, in which prices only went down for a year or two, and then they snapped back up and reached for accelerated and new highs, those days are disappearing quickly.

Bill Gross is Managing Director of Pacific Investment Management Company, which has more than $720 billion of investments. Bill, thank you.

Thank you very much, Alex.

turn 1 : The days of capitalism defined by constantly increasing prices and reaching new highs are disappearing quickly.

Answer: Days


The majority of the Secret Service agents were very acceptable of me coming in to the White House detail. There were only a few who were dead-set against any integration policies or equal-opportunity policies that were being enforced by President Kennedy, giving equal opportunity to all people, regardless of race, religion, color or ethnic background.

And I think that President Kennedy was serious, and he was doing these things not for a political purpose, but because he felt it in his heart that America could be a much better place if we didn't have all of these divisions and restrictions on people of ethnic backgrounds and minorities.

So now I foresaw that the weaknesses in the protection on President Kennedy would allow his assassination if any serious attempt would be made against his life, and I did everything in my power to stem that threat against our young president.

What threats did you hear against the president's life and when?

turn 1 : "he felt it in his heart" - This phrase means that President Kennedy strongly believed in the cause of equal opportunity and integration, rather than just thinking about it logically.

What did President Kennedy feel strongly about according to turn 1?

Answer: Equal-opportunity


Let me go from pickles to apples and Poland because the agricultural minister apparently went on TV saying he thought Russia had broken international law with the embargo. And now they're asking the United States to purchase Poland's excess apples, which must be a lot of apples. Is Poland more exposed than, say, Germany?

On fruit, Poland is much more exposed than Germany. If you look at the exposure of countries - Poland on produce, Britain on finance, France has a big military order with Russia and there's a dispute over whether those vessels - those ships should be delivered. And for Germany, Volkswagen - those are the companies that are worried. So the food sanctions business doesn't hit Germany like it hits Poland.

Norwegian salmon - I guess there's also concern there too because even - there's only so much salmon even Norwegians themselves can eat and they need Russia's - that market.

Sure, and that's a big market for Norway. Fish producers in Britain are also very worried about it. But the countries say they will go on. And they also assert who's this going to hurt?If you read the Russian press, there is a view that sanctions against - or the reverse sanctions, as it were, by Russia against the European Union will actually help Russian producers. They say this is the chance for us to produce and to get our own markets going.

turn 3 : "Looks like we have a lot to catch up on" might imply that the speaker and listener have not talked or seen each other in a while and there is a lot of news or updates to share.

What might the speaker and PersonB have missed if they need to catch up?

Answer: Updates