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　　If you have been joining in chat room conversations, or trading email with web pals(网友),you have become one of the millions who write in a peculiarly short form of English．And you’ve got a sense of humor about short forms like SOHF(＝sense of humor failure) to describe Internet newcomers who don’t understand you．

　　Across the globe, every night teenagers and their elders are talking online, many of them all talking at the same time．It’s fast：try talking to six people at once．It’s brief：three or four words per exchange．It takes wit, concentration, and quick fingers．And it requires tremendous linguistic economy．There’s neither time nor space for explanations．Why consume precious key-strokes telling six friends you have to leave for a moment to take care of your little brother when BRB(＝be right back) will do?

　　Want to enter a conversation?Just type PMFJI(＝pardon me for jumping in)．Interested in whom you are talking to?Type A/S/L, the nearly universal request to know your pal’s age, sex and location．You may get 15/M/NY as a response from your pal．If something makes you laugh, say you are OTF(＝on the floor),or LOL(＝laughing out loud),or combing the two into ROTFL(＝rolling on the floor laughing)．And when it is time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG(＝got to go) or TTYL(＝talk to you later)．

　　People want to write as fast as possible, and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can．Capital letters are left in the dust, except when expressing emotion, as it takes, more time to hold down the “shift” key and capitals．Punctuation(标点) is going, too．

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　　A student is learning to speak British English．He wonders： Can I communicate with Americans?Can they understand me?Learners of English often ask： What are the differences between British and American English?How important are these differences?

　　Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English．There are a few differences in grammar．For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?”; Americans say “in the hospital” and “Do you have a pen?”．Pronunciation is sometimes different．Americans usually sound theirs in words like “bird” and “hurt”．Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words．There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary．For example, “colour” and “honour” are British; “color” and “honor” are American．These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however．For the most part, British and American English are the same language．

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　　Visiting U．S．President George W．Bush said in Beijing Friday that both China and the United States should encourage bilateral(双边的)contacts and exchanges to promote mutual(相互)understanding．

　　“It’s important for our political leaders to come to China, ” said Bush, who gave a speech Friday morning at Qinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in China．

　　His working visit to China and discussions with Qinghua students “help promote” Sino-U．S．(中美)relations, Bush said in response to a student’s question about what he would do to promote Sino-U．S．relations．“Many people in my country are very interested in China, ” he said, adding that these Americans have learned more about China’s culture and the Chinese people．

　　He said that he would keep encouraging such contacts and exchanges between the two countries．Bush said that he would describe back home what he has seen here and that China as a great nation not only has a “great history” but also an “unbelievably exciting future”．

　　The president said that the 2008 Olympic Games would make a significant opportunity for the rest of the world to understand China, which enables more people to come to China and feel the modernization taking place, and many more people will see it on the television．

　　Bush arrived in Beijing Thursday for a two-day working visit to China．

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　　Even nowadays there’s a lot of misunderstandings between nationalities．

　　Let’s have a look at what the following people have to say．

　　Maria Conti：I find the English people insincere(虚伪的), cold and unfriendly．They keep saying “Thank you”, “I’m sorry”, even when they don’t know each other．They are even polite to their own relatives!Except for helping you find your way in the streets, they aren’t really friendly and never invite you to their house．

　　Giannis Sinios：On the contrary I found them both broad-minded and friendly．I was invited to people’s houses and they all showed great interest in my ideas, Greek life and people．In England I learned that it was possible to be warm, friendly and polite at the same time．

　　Judy Brown：I lived in both Italy and Greece for a few years．At first there were a few misunderstandings between my foreign friends and myself．For example, I once gave a Greek friend a present for her birthday．I was rather sorry that she didn’t unwrap it immediately．What’s more, she even didn’t thank me until I asked her if she liked it!I’ve learned from different experiences that a lot of foreigners find our attitude to what we English people call politeness rather insincere．They feel that politeness isn’t necessary between friends．

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　　On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles．Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million．About ? sixteen percent of the city’s population are black．

　　News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States．Here is how one major newspaper reported the event：

　　LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTY BLACK WINS 56％ OF VOTES

　　Bradley called his victory over Yorty “the fulfillment(实现)of a dream”．During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, “You can’t do this, you can’t go there, because you are a Negro．” Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent．Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge．Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him．The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940．During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night．He was elected　to the city council(市政厅)ten years ago．

　　At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of those cities had as large a population as Los Angeles．Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger．Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967．In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary．In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970．Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising．

　　In Los Angeles thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate(候选人)．Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles．Four years ago Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty．This time Bradley won．

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　　Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events－love, sadness, good times, and bad times．It tells real-life stories and sounds the way people really talk, as life becomes more complicated(复杂的)it is good to hear music about ordinary people．

　　Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from two lands of music．One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States．The other is traditional cowboy music from the west．The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars．

　　At first city people said country music was low class．It was popular mostly in the South．But during World War Ⅱ, thousands of Southerners went to the northeast and Midwest to work in the factories．They took their music with them．Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South．They learned country music．Slowly it became popular all over the country．

　　Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada－in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people．About 1200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours day, English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages．The music that started with cowboys and poor southerners is now popular all over the world．

Living Abroad

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　　LONDON－Britain awoke on Easter Monday to a period of mourning for the Queen Mother, who died over the weekend after a life spanning a century of noisy and evident change．The 101-year-old royal matriarch died in her sleep last Saturday with Queen Elizabeth, her elder and only surviving daughter, at her bedside．For a woman who was one of the best-known figures in Britain for more than 80 years－from the era of tinted portraits on tin biscuit boxes and cigarette cards to the age of the Internet, the Queen Mother remained an enigmatic(不可思议的)and elusive(躲避的)figure．She achieved such a respect by remaining almost entirely silent．Her private thoughts were never ?paraded(炫耀)in public．What the public saw was a charming and benign elderly lady, adept at winning the admiration of press photographers, whom she always favored with a particular smile．

　　CHINA’s third unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou Ⅲ, landed safely in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, after orbiting the earth 108 times in slightly less than a week．The craft, which lifted off from Jiuquan in Gansu Province last Monday night, landed after successfully conducting a chain of flight and scientific experiments over a period of 162 hours．

　　A powerful earthquake jolted Taiwan, killing five construction workers, authorities(官方)said．

　　Over 200 injuries ware reported across the island, mostly minor, as a result of Sunday’s 7.5-magnitude quake．The quake was centered off Hualien, 180 kilometers east of Taipei．It struck at 2∶53 pm and lasted for nearly a minute．

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　　LONDON Tuesday April 11－Dustin Hoffman fan Pamela Crack got the shock of her life when the movie star telephoned her as she was doing her housework．Crack, 58, said she was flabbergasted when she picked up the phone and heard the star at the other end．

　　“It’s not every day you get a Hollywood superstar phoning you when you’re doing the housework, ” Crack told the Sun．“It was a moment I’ll never forget．”

　　Hoffman was in the back of a London taxi driven by Crack’s husband, Dave, when he made the call after being told Pamela was a fan．Dave Crack later became the star of Hoffman’s speech at the Bafta award ceremony Sunday, where the 62-year-old American actor presented the Best Film award．

　　“He said to give him a mention, ” Hoffman told the audience to a burst of laughter．“Cheers Dave．”Taxi driver Crack said the Hollywood star was a joy to drive from the moment he got into the taxi eating a cheese and tomato sandwich? “I said ‘You’re that Dustin Hoffman, aren’t you？’ and he said, ‘Yes I am．Would you like a sandwich?’ I was a bit surprised but I took a sandwich from him and ate it hungrily．”