Passage One

　　Question 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

　　Testing has long been bemoaned(哀叹) as the downfall of the written word, “penmanship for illiterates,” as one critic called it.To which the proper response is LOL. Texting properly isn’t writing at all, It’s a “spoken” language that is getting richer and more complex by the year.

　　First, some historical perspective. Writing was only invented 5,500 years ago,where language probably traces back at least 80,000 years. Thus talking came first; writing is just a craft that came along later. As such,the first writing was based on the way people talk, with short sentences. However, while talking is largely subconscious and rapid, writing is deliberate and slow. Over time,writers took advantage of this and started crafting long-winded sentences such as this one:”The whole engagement lasted above 12 hours, tlii the gradual retreat of the Perstans was changed into a discorderly flight, of which the shameful example was given by the principle leaders and…”

　　No one talks like that casually—or should. But it is natural to desire to do for special occasions. In the old days, we didn’t much write like talking because there was no mecliatrism to reproduce the speed of conversation. But texting and instant messaging do—and a revolution has begun. It involves the crude mechanies of writing, but in its economy, spontancity and even vulgarity, texting is octually a new kind of talking, with its own kind of grammar and conventions.

　　Take LOL…同感) between texters,easing tension and creating a sense of equality. Instead of having a literal meaning, it does something——conveying an attitude—just like the-ed ending conveys past tense rather than “meaning” anything. LOL of all things, is grammar.It doesn’t actually mean”laughing out loud” in a literal sense anymore. LOL has evolved into something much subtler and sophisticated and is used even when nothing is remotely studying for two hours.” LOL signals basic empathy(

　　Of course no one thinks about that consciously. But then most of communication operates without being noticed. Over time, the meaning of a world or an expression drifts—meat used to mean any kind of food, silly used to mean, believe it or not, blessed.

　　Civilization, then, is fine—people banging away on their smartphones are fluently using a code separate from the one they use in actual writing, and there in no evidence that texting is ruining composition skills.Worldwide people speak differently from the way they write, and texting—quick, casual and only intended to be read once—is actually a way of talking with your fingers.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　56.What do critic say about texting?

　　A) It is maintly confined to youngsters.

　　B)It competes with traditional writing.

　　C)It will ruin the written language

　　D)It is often hard to understand.

　　57.In what way does the author say writing is different from talking?

　　A)It is crafted with specific skills.

　　B)It expresses ideas more accurately.

　　C)It does not have as long a history.

　　D)It is not as casy to comprehend.

　　58.Why is LOL much used in texting?

　　A)It bring texters closer to each other.

　　B)It show the texter’s sophistication.

　　D)It adds to the humor of the text.

　　59.Examples like meat and silly are cited to show____.

　　A)the difference between writing and talking

　　B)how differently words are used in texting

　　C)why people use the words the way they do

　　D)the gradual change of word meaning

　　60.What does the author think of texting?

　　A)It facibitales exchange of ideas among people.

　　B)It is a new form of verbal communincation.

　　C)It deteriorates people’s composition skills.

　　D)It hastens the decline of the written word.