It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.

   I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!

   Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.

   Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another

couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun.

  Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself!

1. “I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means          .

       A. it was a firm arrangement

　　　 B. it was an uncertain arrangement

       C. the arrangement should be written as a diary

D. he prefers a pencil to a pen

2.A website address can be easily found if it has been______.

       A. emailed    B. messaged    C. favorited      D. texted

3.Which of the following has not been used as a verb, yet?

       A. message    B. page        C. email         D. mobile

4.The best title for this passage is____.

       A. New Verbs from Nouns

　B. The Development of the English language

       C. New Technology and New words

   D. Technology and Language.

The Fourth “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition is to be held in Shanghai.
　　Organizers: China Daily and Shanghai Broadcasting Network.
　　Co-ordinater: China University English Speaking Association （CUESA）.
　　Co-sponsors（联办单位）: English Speaking Union （ESU）, Lotus Software （China）Co. Ltd., Times Publishing Group of Singapore, Hilton Shanghai, Pearson Education, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.
　　Date: March 26（Friday）, 1999.
　　Place: Hilton Shanghai.
　　Competition Format （形式）: Each student will present a prepared speech on the given topic, followed by a three -minute off - hand speech and a three - minute question and answer period with the judges.
　　Prepared speech period: six minutes.
　　Q & A period: three minutes.
　　Speech topic: People and Nature: In search of harmony （和谐）in a new age ＋ your personal opinion. （Topics for the off-hand speech will be given on the day of competition）.
　　Prizes: Besides books and certificates （证书）, the top two winners will be offered scholarships（奖学金） to travel to the annual international English -speaking competition which will be held by the English Speaking Union in London in May, 1999. The third and fourth place winners will be offered a study trip to Singapore, sponsored by the Times Publishing Group. The fifth through 10th place winners will be offered cash prizes. All the competitors will receive certificates from the English Speaking Union and book prizes provided by Pearson Education and Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press. The teachers of the top winners will also receive a one - year membership to the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language（IATEFL）
【小题1】The main purpose of this passage is ________.

D

1.If you are not free until late May，you may travel to________.

A．London                 B．Amsterdam

C．Washington D．C.       D．Tokyo

2.If you want a guide，you may choose________.

A．London’s Chelsea Flower Show

B．Spring Flowers of Amsterdam

C．Cherry Blossoms in D．C.

D．Tokyo Spring Fun

3.The minimum cost for the closest show is________.