What is technology doing to language?Many assume the answer is simple:ruining it. Kids can no-|||-longer write except in text-speak. Grammar is going to the dogs. The ability to compose thoughts longer than-|||-a post is disappearing.-|||-Language experts tend to resist it, noting that there is little proof that speech is really degenerating:-|||-kids may say `lol" out loud sometimes,but this is a marginal phenomenon.Nor is formal writing falling 阅读理解全文翻译下载-|||-apart.Sentences like"omg William the Conqueror pwned Harold at Hastings in 1066!"tend to be written by middle-aged-|||-columnists trying to copy children`s supposed habits.A study by Cambridge Assesment,a Bri exam-setter,found almost no-|||-evidence for text-spcak in students`writing.-|||-Fortunately,the story of language and the Internet has attracted more serious analysts,too.Now Gretchen McCulloch,a-|||-productive language blogg and journalist-of the generation that grew up with the Internet - joins them with a new book,-|||-Because Intemet".Rather than thinking much about what the Internet is doing to language,it largely focuses on what can be-|||-learned about language from the Internet.Biologists grow bacteria in a Petri dish partly because of those small living things`short-|||-life expectancy:they are born and reproduce so quickly that studies over many generations can be done in a reasonably short-|||-period.Studying language online is a bit like that: trends appear and disappear,platforms rise and fall,and these let linguists-|||-语言学家)observe changes that would otherwise take too much time.-|||-For example,why do languages change?A thousand years ago,early versions of English and Icelandic were closely related,-|||-possibly even mutually understandable.English ha since evolved hugely,and Icelandic,far less. Linguists have studied the-|||-relative effects of strong ties(friends,family) and weaker ties in such patterns,concluding that small communities would host-|||-more stable languages. A computer simulation(模拟)proved that a mix of strong and weak ties allowed language-change-|||-leaders" to spread updates to the wider population. One social platform combines strong and weak ties - and sure enough,-|||-drives more language change than the other social platform,which is more controlled and influenced by strong ties.That,in turn,-|||-helps explain the conservatism of Icelandic more like the latter platform) and the change of English(more like the former-|||-platform).-|||-Emojis(表情符号),odd as they may look,also reflect something universal. They are not a language (try telling a complex-|||-story in emojis to someone who doesn`t know it already).They are,Ms McCulloch argues,the digital equivalent of gestures.-|||-Those come in two types."Signs",like a thumbs-up or a wink,have a fixed meaning and form.But"co-speech"gestures--|||-wincing,gesticulating,poi are unplanned and done naturally,and more variable.And emojis come in the same flavour.-|||-People randomly combine many co-speech-style emoj are more likely to stay calm in mixing signs.Just as it would make no-|||-sense to give someone the finger while shaking your head to negate(取消)it,symbolic emojis often stand alone rather than in-|||-expressive chains.-|||-For a period of 1,000 years,speech was all there was.For most of "recorded"history,nearly everyone knew how to read-|||-or write. Then, in the age of the printing press and mass literacy (literacy refers to the ability to read and write),writing-|||-acquired a kind of priority,seen as admired,a standard to be learned and copied.And future historians may regard that era of-|||-great respect for writing as unusual.-|||-Mass reading has now been joined by mass writing:frequent,error-filled and -fading - like speech.Little surprise-|||-that Internet users have created tools to give their writing the gesture,playfulness and even meaninglessness of chat.Mistaking it-|||-for the downfall of"real" writing is a category error.Anything that helps people enjoy each other`s company can only be a good-|||-thing.-|||-65.What does the underlined word"degenerating" in paragrap 2 refer to?-|||-A.Strengthening. B.Worsening. C.Changing. D.Disappearing.-|||-66.Why are bacteria in a Petri dish mentioned in paragraph 3?-|||-A.To explain bacteria can only live for a short time.-|||-B.To stress the difficulty of researching language onli-|||-C.To reveal the relation between language and the Internet.-|||-D.To show online language can be studied in limited time.-|||-67.What contributes to the fast development of English?-|||-A.A large English-speakin population. B.The lasting effect of the mass media.-|||-C.Astable languageusing c D.The wide application of the Internet.-|||-68.What can we know about emojis?-|||-A.They are always employed in combination. B.They are more preferred by people than signs.-|||-C.They are a non-standardized form of language D.They are relatively independent an changeable.-|||-69.What`s the author`s attitude to online language?-|||-A.Ambiguous. B.Objective. C.Positive. D.Cautious.-|||-70.What is the passage mainly about?-|||-A.Why the Internet is changing our language. B.Whether the Internet is ruining our language.-|||-C.What can be done to prevent language decline D.How the Internet accelerate langu evolution.