Since so much written language we see today comes from a glowing screen, language has begun to change through our interaction with technology. Social media and the Internet have had a rapid and great effect on the English language, and not necessarily for the better. More and more people have found themselves writing in pieces of words and using unclear acronyms(单词首字母) both in written and spoken language.

How many times have you typed “LOL” in response to a humorous message? Referred to someone as your “BFF”? Exclaimed, “OMG!” during a particularly shocking event? Social media has affected the words we use in our everyday life. Abbreviations and acronyms commonly known as “text talk” have made their way into both spoken and written language. These are becoming increasingly popular as people struggle for brief expressions to meet word limits on social media like Weibo and Twitter. In addition, the speed of the Internet means language is changing faster than ever. You no longer have to be published through physical and traditional means to bring word trends to public attention.

Many people believe the overuse of these new terms is a passing trend, and nobody will be using them in just a couple of decades. With the change of language, older terms will surely disappear and fall out of style, and newer and more Internet language will take their place.

But the Oxford English Dictionary thinks the contrary. In 2011, a lot of Internet terms including, “LOL,” “BPB,” “OMD,” and “BFF” were added to the dictionary, making these acronyms official parts of the English language. According to the dictionary writers, these terms aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The words you use in everyday life are a reflection of yourself; this is especially true on the Internet with the lack of interaction in real life. With the Internet and social media rapidly getting popular, soon your words may be all you have left. Make them good ones.

You’ve probably heard such reports. The number of college students majoring in the humanities (人文学科) is decreasing quickly. The news has caused a flood of high-minded essays criticizing the development as a symbol of American decline.

The bright side is this: The destruction of the humanities is, finally, coming to an end. No more will literature, as part of an academic curriculum, put out the light of literature. No longer will the reading of, say, “King Lear” or D.H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love” result in the annoying stuff of multiple-choice quizzes, exam essays and homework assignments.

The discouraging fact is that for every college professor who made Shakespeare or Lawrence come alive for the lucky few, there were countless others who made the reading of literary masterpieces seem like two hours in the dentist’s chair.

The remarkably insignificant fact that, a half-century ago, 14% of the undergraduate population majored in the humanities (mostly in literature, but also in art, philosophy, history, classics and religion) as opposed to 7% today has given rise to serious reflections on the nature and purpose of an education in the liberal arts.

Such reflections always come to the same conclusion: We are told that the lack of a formal education, mostly in literature, leads to numerous harmful personal conditions, such as the inability to think critically, to write clearly, to be curious about other people and places, to engage with great literature after graduation, to recognize truth, beauty and goodness.

Literature changed my life long before I began to study it in college. Books took me far from myself into experiences that had nothing to do with my life, yet spoke to my life. But once in the college classroom, this precious, alternate life inside me got thrown back into that dimension of my existence that bored me. Homer, Chekhov and Yeats were reduced to right and wrong answers, clear-cut themes and clever interpretations. If there is anything to worry about, it should be the disappearance of what used to be an important part of every high-school education: the literature survey course, where books were not academically taught but thoroughly introduced-an experience unaffected by stupid commentary and useless testing.

The literary classics are places of quiet, useless stillness in a world that despises (鄙视) any activity that is not profitable or productive. Literature is too sacred to be taught. It needs only to be read.

Soon, if all goes well and literature at last disappears from the undergraduate curriculum-my fingers are crossed-increasing numbers of people will be able to say that reading the literary masterworks of the past outside the college classroom, simply in the course of living, was, in fact, their college classroom.

When preparing fruit and vegetables, many people will peel (削皮) them. But often, it’s not necessary.

Fruit and vegetables are rich sources of nutrition like vitamins. Not consuming enough of these nutrient-rich foods is linked to an increased risk of diseases. Eating 400g of fruit and vegetables a day, as the WHO recommends, is difficult to achieve for many people. So could consuming fruit and vegetable peels help with this issue by adding important nutrients to people’s diets?

They can certainly contribute. For example, nutritionally important amounts of vitamins and minerals are found in the peels of seven root vegetables: beetroot, field mustard, wild carrot, sweet potato, radish, ginger and white potato. And the US Department of Agriculture shows that unpeeled apples contain 15% more vitamin C, 267% more vitamin K, 20% more calcium and 85% more fibre than peeled apples.

Another reason is the effect on the environment. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, uneaten food, including peels, generates 8%-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. New Zealand alone reports an annual wastage of 13,658 tonnes of vegetable peels and 986 tonnes of fruit peels.

Given the nutrient content of peels and its contribution to food waste, why do people peel fruit and vegetables at all? Some must be peeled as the outer parts don’t taste nice, are hard to clean or cause harm. Also, peeling may be a necessary part of the recipe, for example, when making mashed potato. But many peels, such as carrot and kiwifruit, are suitable to be eaten, yet people habitually peel them anyway. Some people peel fruit and veg because they are concerned about pesticides (杀虫剂) on the surface.

If you want to find out more about fruit and vegetable peels and what to do with it, there is lots of advice online including help on how to deal with peels. With a little investigation and creativity, you can help to reduce waste and increase you fruit and vegetables intake.