Q: W: I mean, you could lose a few pounds, but I certainly don't think you look fat. Did he suggest anything to help you lose weight? M: He just said the usual stuff, like "eat less and exercise more". I guess I could cut out soda... W: Maybe you should cut out the sweets. M: I eat sweets when I'm stressed out, so that's going to be hard. I guess I should go to the gym tomorrow. I'm a member, but I never go. W: I thought we were going to that new restaurant tomorrow after work. We've been talking about it for weeks. M: Well, it's probably not healthy for me to be going out to eat, you know? The gym seems like a smarter choice. Come to think of it, maybe I'll go to the grocery store tonight and stock up on healthy options, too. What was said before this conversation?
A: M: I just went to the doctor, and he said that according to my BMI, which means Body Mass Index, I am officially overweight. Do I look fat to you?

Q: W: What would you say about our ... our own culture? Would you say we're a culture that's rich in proverbs or one that lacks proverbs? M: I think we, we have a rich heritage of proverbs - the Benjamin Franklin maxims, proverbs, wise sayings have been handed down to us. W: Well, I think the fact that we're no longer creating proverbs today maybe says something ... maybe perhaps explains to some extent why proverbs in certain cultures were not as extended or extensive as in other cultures. M: Mm, hmm. That's true. I wonder why we are not creating as many proverbs as we did in 1700s and 1800s. I agree with you. I don't think there are nearly as many. I can't think of any. I'm sure there are some, but I wonder why this is so. W: Yeah, well, I think we all know a great many proverbs. If we sit down, we can think of some that we can ... we can list. But we don't seem to use them to explain things. We find many times that they're used too much and too simple - too general. Today we're much more sophisticated, you might say, and analytical, and therefore we don't use proverbs to explain things the way, say, our grandfathers and parents did. M: Life is too complicated now to just quote a simple proverb to take care of things. W: Right, and maybe to some extent that's why the North American Indians and the Mayans among others don't have as many proverbs. At least there's no record of as many proverbs. Since their own culture ... their traditions were highly eroded and they were wiped out during this era of change. M: Well, that's interesting. What was said before this conversation?
A: M: Mary, have you ever wondered why some cultures have more proverbs than others? For example, the Mayans, the Incas, and the North American Indian tribes seem to have fewer proverbs than cultures like, the Arabians, and the Chinese. I wonder why this is.

Q: W: Oh, what a pity! We have no size six left. What was said before this conversation?
A: M: Would you show me a pair of brown shoes in size six, please?

Q: W: Hi, Gee. Well, to tell you the truth, I have mixed feelings. M: Oh, why? W: I have this great summer job that I really hated to leave I worked at the wild life research center in Maryland. M: That makes sense for a genetic major. What did you do? Clean the cages? W: This is a wild life center, not a zoo. This place breeds endangered species and tries to prepare them for life in the wild. M: You mean the endangered species like the tiger and the panda? W: Well, endangered species, yes. But not tigers or pandas. I work with whooping cranes and sandhill cranes. I taught the baby crane how to eat and drink, and I help the vets to give medical check-ups. M: I can see it was hard to leave that job. But how did you teach a bird how to eat and drink? W: We covered ourselves up with cloth and used puppets made out of stuffed crones to show the baby chicks what to do. Then the chicks copied what the puppets did. M: Cloth? Puppets? Sounds like fun. W: It was. The cloth and puppets are the key tools. We all covered ourselves up, the scientists, the vets, the junior staff, everybody. You see, baby cranes will become attached to their caretakers. M: So if the caretaker is a person, the crane will stay in places where people are. W: Yeah. And their chances for survival aren't very good. But by covering ourselves and using cloth and puppets the chicks are more likely to seek out other birds rather than people. And their transition to the wild has a better chance of being successful. M: A chance of being successful? Hasn't this been done before? W: It's been done with sandhill cranes and everyone is optimistic about its work with whooping cranes too. M: If this works, it should increase the number of cranes in the wild. W: Yeah. It's exciting, isn't it? What was said before this conversation?
A:
M: Hi, Claire. How does it feel to be back on campus?