Question: OK, I admit it: emoticons are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.

Some people, such as a Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, however, _ the use of emoticons as "infantile just like the people who use them". He believes that words themselves should be enough. "If you're funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticons," he argues.

In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. "Men don't use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all," he said, "Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there's an emoticon gene."

It's an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed "to seek out representations of humanity". He believes that they are popular not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they bring in something beyond language. They satisfy our needs to be with and communicate with people.

All of these arguments may be somehow right. Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I'd rather let my words do the talking.

Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this. I don't regard any of my friends as lazy or immature. It's just a question of individuality. 1. What are popular?
2. Do people think they are boring?
3. Why do people use them?
4. Who is John Blumenthal?
5. What does he think about using them?
6. What does he think?
7. Who does he say uses them?
8. Does everyone think the same as he does?
9. Who is Dacher Keltner?
10. Where?
11. Why do they think it is common to use them?
12. Does he think it's because we are lazy?
13. Then why?
14. What else does he say?
15. When did he say this?
16. What does he say it's a question of?
17. Do enemies use these?
18. Do men use them according to Blumenthal?
19. What need do the satisfy?
20. Are both arguments right? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers: 1. emoticons
2. No
3. to add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.
4. a Hollywood scriptwriter
5. infantile
6. that words themselves should be enough
7. Teenage girls and women
8. no
9. professor of psychology
10. University of California,
11. because our brains are programmed "to seek out representations of humanity"
12. No
13. because they bring in something beyond language.
14. They satisfy our needs to be with and communicate with people.
15. In an interview with The New York Times
16. individuality.
17. No
18. No
19. to be with and communicate with people.
20. Yes

Question: CHAPTER XXX

FERN Mullins rushed into the house on a Saturday morning early in September and shrieked at Carol, "School starts next Tuesday. I've got to have one more spree before I'm arrested. Let's get up a picnic down the lake for this afternoon. Won't you come, Mrs. Kennicott, and the doctor? Cy Bogart wants to go--he's a brat but he's lively."

"I don't think the doctor can go," sedately. "He said something about having to make a country call this afternoon. But I'd love to."

"That's dandy! Who can we get?"

"Mrs. Dyer might be chaperon. She's been so nice. And maybe Dave, if he could get away from the store."

"How about Erik Valborg? I think he's got lots more style than these town boys. You like him all right, don't you?"

So the picnic of Carol, Fern, Erik, Cy Bogart, and the Dyers was not only moral but inevitable.

They drove to the birch grove on the south shore of Lake Minniemashie. Dave Dyer was his most clownish self. He yelped, jigged, wore Carol's hat, dropped an ant down Fern's back, and when they went swimming (the women modestly changing in the car with the side curtains up, the men undressing behind the bushes, constantly repeating, "Gee, hope we don't run into poison ivy"), Dave splashed water on them and dived to clutch his wife's ankle. He infected the others. Erik gave an imitation of the Greek dancers he had seen in vaudeville, and when they sat down to picnic supper spread on a lap-robe on the grass, Cy climbed a tree to throw acorns at them. 1. who came in the house in a hurry?
2. when?
3. was it late?
4. what month?
5. What was the excitement over?
6. why was that exciting?
7. was it because Fern wanted to have a spree before her arrest?
8. who attended the picnic?
9. was it immoral?
10. Who was the chaperone?
11. What was said about Erik?
12. where did the picnic take place?
13. what kind of grove?
14. was it a birch grove?
15. How was Mr. Dyer acting?
16. what did he do?
17. who's hat did he wear?
18. Who was the brat?
19. what did he do?
20. why? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers: 1. FERN Mullins
2. Saturday morning
3. no
4. September
5. picnic
6. unknown
7. School starts next Tuesday, maybe that's why
8. Carol, Fern, Erik, Cy Bogart, and the Dyers
9. no
10. the Dyers
11. he's got lots more style than town boys
12. south shore of Lake Minniemashie
13. unknown
14. unknown
15. clownish
16. splashed water on them
17. Carol's
18. Cy Bogart
19. Cy climbed a tree
20. to throw acorns

Question: It was time for Jill to make her famous apple pie, out of the yellow apples that grew on her land. It was not time to pick the red cherries, or the orange oranges or even the green lettuce, but their nice colors made Jill happy. She would eat some of the pies, and give the rest of them away to her friends and family. She went out to her back yard where the apple trees were, and started picking. A few hours later, she had enough to make dozens of pies. She walked into the kitchen with her apples, and was all ready to start baking when she saw she was all out of flour. She would have to go to the store to get some, since you can't make a pie without flour. While she was at the store, she would also buy some cheese, bread, and milk. She did not need these to make pie, but she did need them to make her dinner. At the store Jill ran into her friends Bob and Steve and George, and told them she would make them all pies. After she had finished her shopping, Jill went to the library to get some books, to the car wash to wash her car, and to her mother's house to say hello. She went home after, and made her yummy pies. 1. Who makes pies?
2. is she known for these pies?
3. what type are they?
4. where do they grow?
5. did she pick them fast?
6. could she start making them immediately?
7. why?
8. where did she have to go to get some?
9. did she purchase anything else?
10. what?
11. what did she need those for?
12. did she see anyone she knew at the store?
13. male or female?
14. are they friends of hers?
15. did she go right home after shopping?
16. where did she go?
17. next?
18. anywhere else? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers:
1. Jill
2. yes
3. apple
4. her back yard
5. no
6. no
7. she had no flour
8. the store
9. yes
10. cheese, bread, and milk
11. for her dinner
12. yes
13. male
14. yes
15. no
16. the library first
17. the car wash
18. her mother's house