Q: My summer hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his CF & thr 3:-@ kids FTF ILNY, its gr8. Can you understand this sentence? If you can't, don't feel too bad: neither could the middle school teacher in England who received this as homework. This is Netspeak: the language of computerized communication found on Internet or cellphones. To newcomers, it can look like a completely foreign language. So, what is the "translation" of the sentence above? My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York; it's great. Schoolteachers and parents say this new form of writing is harming the English language. Increasing spelling and grammatical mistakes cxan be seen in students' writing. They fear the language could become corrupted . Everyone should just relax, say linguists . They believe Netspeak is in fact more of a good thing. David Crystal, from the University of Wales, argues that Netspeak and Internet create a new language use and the almost lost art of diary writing has been picked up again. Geoffrey Nunberg, from Stanford University, agrees. "People get better at writing by writing," he says, "Kids who are now doing text messaging, e-mail, and instant messages will write at least as well as, and possibly better than, their parents." Linguist James Millroy says, for centuries, it is believed without exception that young people are harming the language. And you can bet your bottom dollar that when today's teenagers become tomorrow's parents, they too will think this way. Milroy argues that languages do not and cannot become "corrupted"; they simply change to meet the new needs. However, Netspeakers do agree that it is important to teach young people how to speak and write Standard English. Cynthia McVey says, "I can understand Netspeak worries teachers and it's important that they get across to their pupils that text messaging is for fun, but that learning to write proper English is a must for their future." Perhaps we should give teenagers a little more trust anyway. Erin, age 12, says, "I wouldn't use text language in my homework. Texting is just for fun"

1. language of computerized communication
2. harming the English language
3. My summer hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his CF & thr 3:-@ kids FTF ILNY, its gr8
4. relax
5. No
6. University of Wales
7. diary writing
8. Linguist
9. young people are harming the language
10. no
11. change to meet the new needs
12. it is important to teach young people how to speak and write Standard English
13. 12

Numbered questions:
1. What is Netspeak?
2. What do school teachers and parents say about it?
3. What can Netspeak look like?
4. What do linguists say?
5. Do they think it's bad?
6. Where is David Crystal from?
7. What do people get better at by writing?
8. What is James Millroy?
9. What does he says has been believed for centuries?
10. Does he think that languages are getting corrupted?
11. What does he say happens to them instead?
12. What do Netspeakers agree on?
13. How old is Erin?

Q: Syria, officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. The western two-thirds of Syria′s Golan Heights are since 1967 occupied by Israel and were in 1981 effectively annexed by Israel, whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria, with the UNDOF maintaining a buffer zone in between, to implement the ceasefire of the Purple Line. Syria's capital and largest city is Damascus. 

A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians, Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Yazidis, and Jews. Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. 

In English, the name "Syria" was formerly synonymous with the Levant (known in Arabic as "al-Sham"), while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt.

1. Syria
2. Syrian Arab Republic
3. Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west
4. Turkey
5. Iraq
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. southwest.
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. Syrian Arabs
12. Greeks
13. there are more than two.
14. Yes I would
15. Sunni Arabs
16. Levant
17. Damascus
18. Aleppo
19. Yes it is
20. Yes

Numbered questions:
1. What country are we discussing?
2. What's the official name?
3. What borders it?
4. What about to the north?
5. And on the east?
6. Is it near Israel?
7. Is it on the boarder too?
8. What border?
9. Does it have a mixture of ethnic groups?
10. Who you say there are more than 3?
11. Name one ethnic group?
12. Can you name another one?
13. Are there lots of religions there two?
14. Would you stay more than 6?
15. What's the largest religious group?
16. What is it synonymous for in English?
17. What's the capital?
18. And largest city?
19. Is it pretty old?
20. Do a lot of people still live there?

Q: CHAPTER X 

MARSTON USES HIS POWER 

Soon after Don Felix was buried two strangers visited the schooner. One was white but so burned by the sun and worn by the climate that he looked like a native. Peters was agent for a Hamburg merchant house with a factory on a neighboring lagoon, and told Wyndham he had come because he seldom met a white man. The other was a government officer and stated, apologetically, that his business was to make a few inquiries about Don Felix's death. His skin was nearly white, but his coarse lips and short, curling hair indicated a strain of negro blood. 

Marston knew something about the officials who held small posts on the Caribbean coast. For the most part, they were mulattos, paid low wages and willing to augment the latter by presents and bribes. As a rule, he had found them good-humored and indolent, and he imagined Don Ramon Larrinaga would be satisfied with a few particulars and a little money. There was, he thought, no use in trying to put him on the track of the unknown poisoner. He let Wyndham take the man to the cabin and sat under the awning on deck with Peters, for whom he opened a bottle of vermouth. 

Peters knew much about the country and told him some rather curious stories. He looked shriveled and desiccated, but his glance was keen and Marston imagined he was very shrewd. Marston, however, did not study him much; it was enough that he was an amusing companion while Wyndham was occupied. By-and-by the latter opened the cabin scuttle and beckoned. 

1. Don Felix
2. Yes
3. the schooner
4. two strangers
5. One was white
6. Yes
7. No
8. Yes
9. Marston
10. Peters
11. Yes

Numbered questions:

1. Who had died?
2. Had he been buried yet?
3. How did he die?
4. Who visited the schooner?
5. What race were both of them?
6. Was the other completely white?
7. Did the officials get paid well?
8. Did they tend to accept extra money?
9. Who opened a bottle?
10. For who?
11. Did he know a lot about the area?