X. Read the passage carefully, then do the tasks. The very first, simple, text message was sent on December 3rd, 1992. It was sent by software engineer Neil Papworth to his boss at the British mobile phone operator Vodafone. It read simply, “Merry Christmas”. Little did they know that their simple mode of communication would take the world by storm. SMS (Short Message Service) is today a multi-billion-dollar industry covering every corner of the globe. An estimated nine trillion text messages are sent globally each year. Everyone from presidents to schoolchildren to villagers in remote parts of developing countries relies on it to communicate. SMS is now an integral part of daily life for most of us. It is the preferred method of communication between family members. One study showed that the average American teenager sends up to 60 texts a day. However, SMS has also been blamed for a decline in language ability and an increase in traffic accidents. A new sub-language has spread worldwide as texters find shortcuts to write their messages as quickly as possible using the fewest possible characters. Texting shorthand such as LOL (laugh out loud) and OMG (oh my god) has even entered the Oxford English Dictionary. A. Match the following synonyms from the article. 1. age a. faraway 2. mode b. held responsible 3. remote c. decrease 4. relies d. method 5. integral e. era 6. blamed f. depends 7. decline g. essential B. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). 1. The first text message was sent to engineer Neil Papworth in 1992. 2. The first text message simply said “Merry Christmas”. 3. Today SMS is a widely used form of communication. 4. Around nine billion text messages are sent worldwide every year. 5. An average US teen supposedly sends more than 60 text messages a day. 6. People blame SMS for a decline in writing standards. 7. An abbreviated, shorthand language has been created by texters. 8. The texting acronym “LOL” is in the dictionary as “Lots of Love”. C. Answer the questions. 1. On what day was the first text message sent? _______________________________________________________________ 2. Who was the first text message sent to? _______________________________________________________________ 3. How many words were there in the very first text message? _______________________________________________________________ 4. What does “SMS” mean? _______________________________________________________________ 5. What does everybody rely on SMS to do? _______________________________________________________________ 6. What two problems has texting been blamed for? _______________________________________________________________ 7. What did texters find to write messages more quickly? _______________________________________________________________ 8. What does “LOL” mean in a text? _______________________________________________________________