Talking on a mobile phone is expensive, so a lot of people send text messages. Text messages are much cheaper than talking on a mobile phone, and you can make it cheaper by making the words shorter. You can do this by taking out “unimportant” letters in the words and using numbers instead of words (2 =" to," 3 =" free," 4 =" for," 8 =" ate," so h8 =" hate," etc.). You can also keep away from using punctuation (标点). Here is an example: Do U wnt 2 g 2 th cnma tnite (Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?) What do you think these text messages mean? Whr hv U bn? Iv bn wtng hrs fr a cll. Im hm nw, why nt gv me a cll. I gt a txt mssge frm my frnd. Shes hvng a prty on Strdy. Mobile phone users have developed a group of symbols (符号) to show how they feel. They are called emoticons, and there are some examples below. To read an emoticon, you have to look at it sideways. For example, if you say something in a text message that is a joke, you can follow it with a smiling face. Like this: Why didt u call me? I’m so sad. ( Here are some others. Can you think of text messages where you could use them? ) laughing ( sad ＜ really sad Ⅴ shouting |·| asleep ：0 shocked 8·| surprised \·o bored 小题1:Why are text messages popular?
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