阅读理解

　　Languages keeps evolving(进化、发展), and English is no exception．It is a language that embraces(欣然接受)new words that may be cool today but gone tomorrow．

　　There are, however, some words and phrases that have stood the test of time．OK, which has become the international standard for expressing agreement, is a good example．

　　But why is this rather odd(奇怪的)expression so popular and so useful when we could use any number of other words to say the same thing?

　　Writing in The Times, Allen Metcalf, author of OK：The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word, writes：“What OK provided that the others did not was neutrality(中性), a way to express agreement without having to offer an opinion．”

　　For example, if someone asks you “Shall we go for a walk after lunch?” you can simply respond “OK”．There you go－no extra opinions．Just straight, plain old OK．

　　So just where did this rather curious expression come from? The origins of OK have been widely disputed(辩论，争论)．Some people have guessed that OK was the name of a person or a product．

　　Speakers of many different languages have had their say on this question, keen to claim the term as their own．

　　Writing an article for London’s Metro newspaper, Metcalf states：‘O and K are present in every language of the world, as expressions that can be abbreviated(缩写)OK．” For example：French－“O qu-oui”, “yes indeed”; German－“Ohne Korrektur”,“ without correction needed”; and in Latin or Greek, “Olla kalla”, “all good”．

　　But, does it sound a little too informal with this popular little expression?

　　Apparently not．

　　In a speech where he stated that his election(当选)would not be a radical(激进的)result to all problems, President Obama said：“…even though I am president…, AI-Qaida is still a threat(威胁)and that we cannot pretend somehow that because Barack Hussein Obama got elected as president, suddenly everything’s going to be OK,” he said．

　　So, there you go, straight from the president．It’s OK to say OK, and thanks to the expression’s widespread usage across the world, you can be understood anywhere．