Texting haslong been bemoaned (哀叹)as the downfall of the written word,””penmanship for illiter,”as one criticcalled it. To which the proper response is LOL.
Textingproperly isn′t writing at all. It′s a “spoken” language that is getting richer and more complexby the year.
First,somehistorical perspective. Writing was only invented 5,500 years ago. whereasIanguage 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 wasbased on the way people talk，with short sentences.
However,while talking is largely subconscious and rapid, writing is deliberate andslow, Over time,writers took advantage of this and started cratting long-windedsentences such as this one:The whole engagement lasted above 12 hours, till thegradual retreat of the Per trsians was changed into a disorderlyflight, of which the shameful example was given by the principal leaders and”
No one talkslike that casually — or should. But it is natural to desire to do so forspecial occasions. In the old days, we didn’t much write like talking because therewas no mechanism to reproduce the speed of conversation. But texting andinstant messaging do — and a revolution has begun. It involves the crude mechanicsof writing, but in its economy, spontaneity and even vulgaritv. texting isactually a new kind of talking, with its own kind of grammar and conventions.
Take LOL. Itdoesn’t actuallymean “laughing outloud” in a literalsense anymore. LOL has evolved into something much subtler and sophisticatedand is used even when nothing is remotely amusing. Jocelyn texts “Where haveyou been” andAnnabelle texts back ，LOL at the library studying for two hours.” LOL signalsbasic empath)’(同感)betweentcxters. easing tension and creating a sense of equality. Instead of having aliteral meaning, it docs something - conveying an attitude — just likethe -cd ending conveys past tense rather than “meaning.，anything. LOL. of all things, isgrammar.
Of course noone thinks about that consciously. But then most of communication operateswithout being noticed. Over time, the meaning of a word or an expression driftsmeat used to mean any kind of food, silly used to mean, believe it or not，blessed.
Civilization,then，isfine 一 people banging away on their smartphones arefluently using a code separate from the one they use in actual writing, andthere is no evidence that texting is ruining composition skills. Worldwidepeople speak differently from the w ay they write, and texting -quick, casualand only intended to be read once — is actually a way of talking with yourfingers. what does the author think of texting（）
A．It facilitates exchange of ideas among people.
B．It is a new form of verbal communication.
C．It deteriorates pelple’s composition skills.
D．It hastens the decline of the written word.