1 . While many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer, few would say that we’ve “summered.” “Summer” is clearly a noun, more precisely, a verbed noun.

Way back in our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a tidy definition, it was easy to spot the difference. Not so in adulthood, where we are expected to “foot” bills, “chair” committees, and “dialogue” with political opponents. Chances are that you didn’t feel uncomfortable about the sight of those verbed nouns.

“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia O’Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts estimate that 20 percent of all English verbs were originally nouns. And the phenomenon seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40 percent of all new verbs have come from nouns.

Even though conversion (转化) is quite universal, plenty of grammarians object to the practice. Some most leading experts, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, in The Elements of Style—the Bible for the use of American English—have this to say: “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are questionable.” The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar standpoint, advising writers to use verbs with great care.

“Sometimes people object to a new verb because they resist what is unfamiliar to them,” says O’Conner. That’s why we’re comfortable “hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules for verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about “verbifying” a noun if it’s easily replaceable by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.

In the end, however, style is subjective. Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English “English”. Not every coined word passes into general use, but as for trying to end verbing altogether, forget it.

2 . A friend sent me an email, asking if I’d consider writing about educational apps for children to watch while on road trips. The email said, “Many are turning to road trips. And often with long car rides comes the use of on-screen entertainment. These educational apps should also develop their art, math and design skills.”

While I realize the intention is well-meaning, and doubtless would lead to a quieter car ride for the parents, the thought of sticking kids in front of screens on a road trip makes me queasy. You see, if they’re glued to a screen for hours on end, they will miss everything that’s going by outside the window. And that means they’ll miss out a major part of the trip and the opportunity to engage in conversation with family members, but to be alone with their own thoughts, or simply to be bored.

There is so much to see on a road trip! Cars, trees, faces, building, markets, airplanes landing — the entire world is out there, and staring at it from the backseat of a car familiarizes a child with what is going on.

I have a theory that paying attention to one’s surroundings while traveling by car helps children develop an internal compass. If they don’t pay attention during all those years when they’re being driven, they’ll struggle to know where to go and how to locate themselves once they’re independent. This doesn’t mean they have to be alert (警惕的) for the entire journey, but not being on a screen naturally allows for a higher level of engagement with one’s surroundings. When you listen to music, you’ll look up occasionally; you’ll pay attention to landmarks.

What can children do on the trip? Actually, there are plenty of off-screen activities.

3 . Online, English has become a common language for users from around the world. In the process, the language itself is changing. There are now thought to be some 4.5 billion web pages worldwide. Some language experts predict that within 10 years English will occupy the internet — but in forms very different to what we accept and recognize as English today.

That’s because people who speak English as a second language already outnumber native speakers. And increasingly, they use it to communicate with other non-native speakers, particularly on the internet where less attention is paid to grammar and spelling and users don’t have to worry about their accent (口音).

Users of Facebook already socialize in a number of different “Englishes” including Indian English, Spanish English and Korean English. While these different styles have long existed within their cultures, they’re now expanding and coming online. Technology companies are introducing newly-developed English words with products aimed at enabling users to add words that are not already in the English dictionary. And most large companies have English websites, while smaller businesses are learning that they need a common language — English — to reach global customers.

The increasing popularity of the internet allows more languages to develop quickly. “Most people actually speak several languages — it’s less common to only speak one,” says Mr. Munro. “English has taken its place as the world’s common language, but it’s not pushing out other languages.” Instead, other languages are pushing their way into English, and in the process creating something new.

4 . Holly Morrell will never forget the phone call that changed her life. Her father ________ to say that a 16-year-old boy had died of a heart ________ on the field at the local high school. He said, “We have to do something.” She ________.

Although neither Holly nor her dad knew the boy, they were both too ________ with cardiac arrest(心脏骤停), a condition that kills about 325, 000 Americans each year. Holly says, “Screenings(筛查) ________ lives.”

Within weeks of her dad’s call, Holly organized her first cardiac-screening event at the ________ boy’s high school. In 2007, she ________, Heartfelt, a non-profit organization that provides free or low-cost cardiac screenings for adults and children. “My goal is to make screenings ________ to as many people as possible,” says Holly.

Experts say that early detection is ________ to preventing sudden cardiac arrest, which often occurs to seemingly healthy people with no ________ of heart disease. “We’re always looking for ways to ________ sudden cardiac death, and Holly’s program is one of those ways,” says Dr Tony Mccanta, a cardiologist. “What Holly’s doing is ________.” For Holly who had a cardiac defibrillator(除颤器) implanted to help ________ her heartbeat and has tolerated seven heart-related ________, it was all she wanted to do. “I believe that my own ________ was saved so could keep doing this work.”

6 . It was 3:34 in the morning. Suddenly the bed moved a little. I woke up. That bed used to move a lot so I just thought it was my wife rolling over. I looked over to her and she was fast asleep.

So I thought it was just another small tremor(轻微地震). We used to get many small tremors in Chile. But then everything in the room started making noise. The tremor got a bit stronger. My wife woke up.

I went to open the front door to make sure it wouldn’t get stuck while my wife went to see how the kids were. They were still fast asleep.

I got to the front door and left it open. When I turned around to go back to the bedroom, the full force of the earthquake started to hit. I couldn’t move forward. While I was trying to hold myself up against the wall I looked out the window. It was frightening, some buildings coming in and out of view and some already falling down. Then the earthquake made a strong push and our lights went out. In the darkness, I thought, “This is it! We’re not coming out of this alive.”

Luckily, the violent shaking gradually slowed down and then stopped. I could finally walk to our children’s room. My wife had been standing over them during the strongest part of the earthquake, making sure nothing fell on them.

After such a big earthquake, we expected the “smaller” aftershocks to be still very strong. There was still a chance that the building could collapse. So we woke the kids up, got some basic things and started to walk down the emergency stairs all 22 floors of them.

When we finally arrived at the ground floor many other people had already arrived, some in pajamas(睡衣), some half-dressed. The good news was everyone got out of the building safe and sound.

Yours,

Li Hua

A park in Arouca, Portugal opened a new bridge. Though it's quite high，it's the     1     (long ) of the bridge that has set a record. It's the world's longest hanging bridge for walkers-over five football fields long.

It's a suspension (悬索桥) bridge,     2     means it hangs between two mountains without any supports underneath. The builders say the bridge was inspired by suspension bridges     3     (build) by the ancient Inca people in South America. It was started in May, 2018 and it took the builders over two years     4     (complete) the project.

But even though the bridge is     5     ( solid) made, it's still a little scary to walk on. At its highest point, the bridge is 175 meters off the ground. Far, far below     6    (be) the rushing river.

Arouca Geopark is well-known for its beautiful     7    (nature) scenery and the many outdoor activities that can     8    (do) there.

Now, the city of Arouca is hoping that the bridge will bring lots of tourists-and     9       (they) money-to the area. City leaders think the bridge could attract people     10     a lot of different reasons. Some might come for the scenery. Others might come to see the structure of the bridge. But perhaps most will come to enjoy the safe but scary experience of walking across.