What is technology doing to language? Many assume the answer is simple: ruining it. Kids can no longer write except in text­speak. 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, nor is formal writing falling apart.A study by Cambridge Assessment found almost no evidence for text­speak in students’ writing.

Fortunately, the story of language and the Internet has attracted more serious analysts, too.Now Gretchen McCulloch, a journalist of the generation that grew up with the Internet, joins them with a new book, Because Internet, which focuses on what can be learned about language from the Internet. Biologists grow bacteria in a Petri dish partly because 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 observe changes that would otherwise take too much time.

For example, why do languages change? A thousand years ago, early English and Icelandic were closely related.English has since developed hugely, and Icelandic far less. Linguists have studied the relative effects of strong and weak ties(friends, family) in such patterns, concluding that small communities would host more stable languages. The Internet combines strong and weak ties—and sure enough, drives more language change.

In the end, Ms McCulloch’s book is about the birth of a new medium rather than a new language.Mass reading has now been joined by mass writing: frequent, error­filled and quick­fading.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.

【小题1】What does the underlined word “degenerating” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Strengthening.

B．Worsening.

C．Changing.

D．Refreshing.

【小题2】Why are bacteria in a Petri dish mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To explain bacteria have a short lifetime.

B．To stress the difficulty of researching language online.

C．To reveal the relation between language and the Internet.

D．To show online language can be studied in limited time.

【小题3】What contributes to the fast development of English?

A．A large English­speaking population.	B．The lasting effect of mass media.
C．A stable language­using community.	D．The wide application of the Internet.

【小题4】What’s the author’s attitude to online language?

A．Ambiguous.

B．Positive.

C．Objective.

D．Cautious.