If a woman in the USA wants a child but does not have a husband or male partner, she can go to a sperm bank and doctors will inseminate her with the sperm of a donor. The men who donate their sperm remain anonymous but the 'bank' will not accept sperm unless the male donor is under 25, healthy, over 6 feet (180cm), and college educated. Getting this super-sperm is very expensive.
So this New York City professor offers a less expensive and probably just as good alternative.
The only problem for him is, by providing his sperm outside of a sperm bank, he is legally responsible for the child: he is legally considered the child's father and can be sued by women and forced by a judge to pay them child support. In fact, he has been sued a few times and it seems that money is garnished (taken) from his paycheck and sent to women he has helped in the past.
Despite the fact that he can be sued, he keeps providing his sperm to women who want smart and attractive babies. My guess is that judges can only garnish a certain percentage of his earnings - he has to be allowed to make enough money to survive. Therefore, he has already probably reached this percentage limit and cannot be hurt further by women who sue him. Indeed, suing him now would be a waste since the woman suing would receive a very small amount (if anything) from him.
The big problem I see is that he is creating many single-parent families. It would be nice if a child could have a dad around the house. Also, he is creating a greater tax burden for all of us since the government will give a single mom money and free food to help the baby.
Here's the NY Post article:
http://nypost.com/2016/06/12/professor-who-donates-sperm-in-city-bathrooms-has-sired-22-kids/
Vocabulary from the article:
to sire - to father, to produce offspring (children)
sperm - in case you couldn't figure out what sperm is from the context of the article, it is the substance provided by a male partner that combines with a woman's 'egg' to produce a child
flushed - red faced
semen - sperm
CUNY - City University of New York
Kingsborough - a location in Brooklyn
This isn't time-consuming and.... - so it doesn't take him long to produce the sperm in the public restroom and he jokes that he engages in that activity every day any way.
in a committed relationship - she was his chosen partner, not someone random, not a stranger
offspring - children
the old fashioned way - this means he has sex with the woman and inseminates her through having sex
for moral support - for encouragement (because it cannot be easy for a lesbian to have sex with a man). If you provide 'moral support' to a person you are there with the person to encourage him or her.
to engage in intercourse - the sexual process that can result in sperm being combined with a woman's ovum (egg)
he supplies his goods in a cup - he ejaculates his sperm into a cup for the women who then inserts it into herself to try to achieve pregnancy
I'm not doing it for easy action - he claims he is not doing this to get easy sex with women
Isn't that what Tinder is for? - he jokes that if someone wants easy sex, he/she should use the dating app Tinder
to procure his samples - to get his sperm sample
ovulating women - women who are ready to get pregnant (their egg is ready)
menstrual - referring to menstruation, when a woman bleeds once a month; a menstrual cup catches blood usually
to conceive - when a woman conceives, this means a sperm cell has entered an egg cell and the baby is being produced
This time might do the trick - this time might work. If something does the trick, it works. So if you are stressed out and drink a glass of wine, you might say, "Whew, I am relaxed now. That wine did the trick."
prolific - doing something over and over. A prolific writer has written many books.
off the charts - when something is off the charts it is immeasurable, so many that they can't be counted
his first foray - his first attempt
to fix her up - to help her meet a guy
he got cold feet - he changed his mind, he lost his courage
a fertility clinic - a place where they help women to become pregnant
craigslist - a very popular website in the USA (10th most popular in the country), but a very dangerous site where people often lose money or are harmed through people they meet through the site
are a draw - are an attraction
toddler - a baby who can walk
siblings - brothers and sisters
a large brood - a large family
without the hassle - without the trouble
garnished - when a judge takes money from a person's paycheck to pay someone else. I think the most that can be taken is 1/2, so nobody else can really benefit from suing him now.
to sue - to take a person to court to try to get money from another person because of some wrong or illegal action
got left in the dust - were abandoned, were not properly taken care of
contentious - to be contentious is to argue about something
Am I chopped liver? - Do I look ugly? Am I not important?
in-vitro fertilization - when a special, more scientific, container is used
progeny - offspring
Many developing countries will invite foreign companies to set up operations in order to help the government create jobs and generate tax revenue. Vietnam is such a developing country and many foreign companies have invested in Vietnam and have set up production facilities there.
The Formosa Ha Tinh Corporation of Taiwan, however, created a huge scandal by pouring lots and lots of pollutants into surrounding Vietnamese waters, destroying the fishing industry in FOUR Vietnamese districts. Formosa killed about 100 tons (!!!) of fish and damaged the environment to the point that it may never recover. When a Formosa spokesman was asked about this horrific environmental damage, he said, basically, "Well, the Vietnamese people have to choose between factories and fish."
Apparently Formosa will have to pay $500,000,000 to help clean up the pollution and to help the fishermen.
The article is below:
http://thediplomat.com/2016/07/its-official-formosa-subsidiary-caused-mass-fish-deaths-in-vietnam/
Vocabulary to help you understand the article:
It's official - this means an investigation has happened and now the truth can be told. It's official - it's certain.
subsidiary - a branch of a larger company, a smaller section of a larger company
mass death - many dead
the blame - the responsibility for something bad happening
compensation - to provide compensation is to offer something to make up for something bad that happened
unprecedented - never seen before; if something is unprecedented it has never happened before
labeled the crisis - called the crisis
from the outset - from the beginning
a steel plant - a factory making steel (the material tall buildings and bridges are made of)
discharged - poured, spewed, sent, forced
industrial waste - pollution that is created when products are made at a factory
to blame - to accuse, to claim that someone/some group has done something wrong
to mitigate the consequences - the soften or make less severe the consequences
pledged - promised
rare mass protests - rare means it does not happen often, mass protests means many Vietnamese people took to the streets and openly complained and demanded that something should be done
protests were marred by - to mar something is to make it less clean or to make something look worse; so the protests were made worse by the fact that people were arrested by the police and that there was violence
to implement - to put a plan into action
investment kept rolling in - to make sure other companies from other countries would continue to invest in Vietnam
to shoulder responsibility - to accept responsibility, as if you are carrying it on your shoulder
to mediate a situation - someone who mediates tries to reach an agreement that both sides find acceptable
The video on the link below is really horrifying.
It shows the aftermath of a black man (Philando Castile) shot by a white police officer in Minnesota. The man was shot in front of a child and the man's girlfriend.
Apparently the cop stopped Castile as he was driving and asked to see the man's driver's license. Castile apparently looked like a person who had robbed a store a couple of days earlier. Castile, according to his girlfriend, then pointed out that he was carrying a gun, but that he was carrying it legally - she claimed that he had a license to carry the gun (although police now seem to be saying he did not have a license to carry the gun publicly).
Apparently, when the police officer saw the gun, he shot Castile (the officer and the girlfriend who took the video are presenting contradictory stories, so it is difficult to know just exactly what happened).
The African American community in America is outraged (extremely angry) because they perceive that throughout the United States police officers continue to casually shoot black men.
In my opinion it is absolutely disgusting how the police treated his girlfriend after one of them shot her boyfriend. These cops acted worse than animals instead of acting like professional human beings.
Where do these guys receive their training from? There is no need for them to over-react like this all the time. This is why there are protests all around this country - how long does it take for cops to realize they are expected to act like MEN and NOT WORSE THAN ANIMALS?
Read the story and see the video here:
http://nypost.com/2016/07/09/minnesota-cop-who-killed-castile-says-he-reacted-to-display-gun/
Vocabulary to help you understand:
to 'display' gun - in newspapers they often shorten sentences so the headlines should say that the cop (police officer) reacted to the display of a gun (the cop claims he shot the black man when he displayed or showed a gun)
to contradict another story - if one story contradicts another, it provides facts that are the opposite of the facts in the first story
carrying a licensed pistol - the person who was shot had a gun, but he was apparently carrying it legally (he had a license for it)
license and registration - when a police officer pulls a person over in his car, the cop usually asks for the person's drivers license and car registration certificate.
distraught - emotionally shocked, depressed, devastated
to elaborate - to add extra information
