All over the country these days, electronic mail messages are ending with this strange little mark:--) or one of its many variants（变体）, like: (.

　　It was 20 years ago that Scott Fahlman taught the Net how to smile. The Carnegie Mellon computer scientist has devoted his life to man-made intelligence, the practice of teaching computers how to think like humans, but the bearded scientist is perhaps best known for a flash of inspiration（灵感）that helped to define（定义）Internet culture.

　　By the early 1980's the Computer Science group at Carnegie Mellon was making heavy use of online bulletin boards or “boards”. A good many of the posts were humorous. The problem was that if someone made a humorous remark, a few readers would fail to get the joke. This problem caused some people to suggest (only half seriously) that maybe it would be a good idea to clearly mark posts that were not to be taken seriously. After all, when using text--based online communication, we lack the body language or the tone of voice that communicates this information when we talk in person or on the phone.

　　So on Sept. 19, 1982, Fahlman typed :--) in an online message.“I had no idea I was starting something that would soon pollute all the world's communications channels.” he wrote later. The“smiley face”has since become common in online communication, allowing 12-year-old girls and corporate lawyers alike to mark their messages with a quick symbol that says, “Hey, I'm only joking.”

　　This creation caught on quickly around Carnegie Mellon, and soon spread to other universities and research labs by means of the computer networks of the day. Since then, the smiling icons (marks) have taken the e-mail world by storm. Now called emotions, short for emotive（情感）icons. Fahlman's smiley face encouraged the creation of thousands of variants.

　　Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online all put emotions into their instant-- messaging systems, while telecom companies, jewelry makers and online merchants have sent in trademark applications（申请）for products and ads that include Fahlman's smiley face.

　　But Fahlman has never seen a cent from his creation. “If it cost people a cent to use it, nobody would have used it. This is my little gift to the world, for better or worse.”he said.

(1) What do the underlined words this information in paragraph 3 refer to?

[　　]

A．The body language.

B．The suggestion of marking posts.

C．The tone of voice.

D．The humors behind the words.

(2) The purpose of Fahlman in typing the first smiley face was ________.

[　　]

A．to explain to others that he didn't take his message seriously

B．to fill all the world's communication channels with smiley faces

C．to make money out of telecom companies and online merchants

D．to show his happy feelings and to help to define Internet culture

(3) What does the passage mainly talk about?

[　　]

A．Internet culture.

B．Electronic mail message.

C．Fahlman's creation.