【推荐1】French writer Frantz Fanon once said, “To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.” Since the world changes every day, so does our language.

More than 300 new words and phrases have recently made it into the online Oxford Dictionary, and in one way or another they are all reflections of today’s changing world.

After a year that was politically unstable, it’s not hard to understand the fact that people’s political views are one of the main drives of our expanding vocabulary. One example is “clicktivism”, a compound of “click” and “activism”. It refers to “armchair activists”—people who support a political or social cause, but only show their support from behind a computer or smartphone. And “otherize” is a verb for “other” that means to alienate(使疏远) people who are different from ourselves—whether that be different skin color, religious belief or sexuality.

Lifestyle is also changing our language. For example, “fitspiration” —a compound of fit and inspiration—refers to a person or thing that encourages one to exercise and stay fit and healthy.

The phrase “climate refugee”—someone who is forced to leave their home due to climate change—reflects people’s concern for the environment.

According to Stevenson, social media was the main source for the new expressions. “People feel much freer to coin their own words these days,” he said.

But still, not all newly-invented words get the chance to make their way into a mainstream dictionary. If you want to create your own hit words, Angus Stevenson, Oxford Dictionaries head of content development, suggests that you should not only make sure that they are expressive and meaningful, but also have an attractive sound so that people will enjoy saying them out loud.

【推荐2】Eleven of the world’s languages have at least 100 million native speakers. The biggest are Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic and Hindi. Next come Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, French and German. Experts say these eleven languages are the mother tongues of half the world’s population. But the world has close to 7,000 languages. Linguists (语言学家) predict that as many as half of these may be at risk of disappearing by the end of this century. That would mean another language dies every two weeks.

Members of the Siletz Indian tribe (部落) in the northwestern state of Oregon take pride in their language. Their language, they say, “is as old as time itself”. But today very few people can speak it fluently. In fact, you can count the number of fluent speakers on one hand.

More than 10,000 entries can be found in the Siletz Online Talking Dictionary. Professor Harrison has posted talking dictionaries for seven other highly endangered languages from around the world. He says technology can not only spread the influence of major languages but also help save endangered ones. Smartphone applications, YouTube videos and Facebook pages have all become digital tools for language activists and experts.

Mr. Harrison and a researcher in Oregon have mapped areas of endangered languages. One is the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Others include the upper Amazon basin, Siberia and northern Australia.

In Canada’s far north, the Inuit people are struggling to preserve their native language, Inuktitut. Part of the effort involves Microsoft. The company is translating terms in its Windows operating system and Office software into Inuktitut. The programming group had to invent new words to include all the terms in some Windows and Word document menus.

Nowadays so many people will spend their entire day sitting in front of a computer. If you’re sitting in front of your computer in English all day, that just reinforces (强化) English. If you’re now using Inuktitut, it is reinforcing that this is your language. Microsoft has also worked with language activists in New Zealand, Spain and Wales to translate its software into Maori, Basque, Catalan and Welsh.

Nothing takes the place of speakers speaking to other speakers and to people who are learning. But this bridges a gap (空缺) that was just needed in some communities and in some tribes. Young members of the tribe are now texting each other in Siletz.

【推荐3】We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body’s functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, he is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, “He’s the brains in the family.” And if you are the brains behind something, you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.

Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase “brain trust” became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932. Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues(问题)facing the U.S. These professors were called his “brain trust”.

These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain”. As a verb, to drain means to remove something by letting it flew away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country’s most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make some accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

【推荐2】“What kind of rubbish are you?” This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has brought about weary groans over the past week. On July 1st, the city introduced strict trash-sorting regulations that are expected to be used as a model for our country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate categories and toss it into specific public bins. They must do so at scheduled times, when monitors are present to ensure compliance (服 从) and to inquire into the nature of one’s rubbish.

Violators face the prospect of fines and worse. They could be hit with fines of up to 200 yuan ($29). For repeat violators, the city can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to obtain bank loans or even buy train tickets.

Shanghai authorities are responding to an obvious environmental problem. It generates 9 million tons of garbage a year, more than London’s annual output and rising quickly. But like other cities in China, it lacks a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to sift through the waste, plucking out whatever can be reused. This has limits. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up. China churns out 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks a year.

Many residents appear to support the idea of recycling in general but are frustrated by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or hazardous (有害的), the distinctions among which can be confusing, though there are apps to help work it out. Some have complained about the rules surrounding food waste. They must put it straight in the required public bin, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and toss it by hand. Most annoying are the short windows for dumping trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. Along with the monitors at the bins, this means that people go at around the same time and can keep an eye on what is being thrown out; no one wants to look bad.