Textmessaging,orsimply“texting”,whichallowspeopletosendandreceivemessageson mobilephones,becomesverypopulartoday.
Theadvantagesoftextingareobvious.Textinghelpstosavemoney.Ifyouhaveafewwordstogreetyourfamiliesandfriendsontheirbirthdaysoronsomeimportantfestivals,sendingmessagescanbecheaperthanphonecalling.Textinghelpstosavetime.Evenifyouwanttosendamessageto100people,youcandoitonesecond.Textinghelpsyouto“talk”tosomeonewhenheistoobusytoanswerthephone.Textingcanalsohelpyouto“talk”tosomeonesecretlyifyoudon’twantotherstohearwhatyouaretalkingonthephone.Theseadvantagesaresoamazingthatmanypeoplearecrazyaboutit.Theyholdmobilephonesinhandsalldaylong,senddozensofmessageseachday,andeventextwhiledrivingorwalking.
However,textinghasitsdisadvantages.Junkmessagesmaycomeintoyourmobilephoneboxnowandthen.Whenyourphoneboxgetstoofull,youcan’treceiveanymoremessages.Youmaythereforemisssomeimportantinformation.
What’smore,ifyoudon’tdotextingproperly,forexampletextingwhiledrivingorwalking,itcanbedangerous.Itcancauseinjuriesandevendeath.Itwasreportedthatabout6,000peoplewerekilledandhalfamillionwereinjuredforthisreasoneachyear.InFortLee,asmalltowninNewJersey,USA,threepeoplediedbecausetheywalkedintotrafficwhiletextingin2011.TworesearchersatStonyBrookUniversity,NewYorkfoundthattextersare60%moreprobablytohaveanaccidentthanothers.Whenpeoplearetexting,theydon’tnoticeotherpeopleorthingsaroundthem.Toreducetrafficaccidents,alldriversoftheUNarenownotallowedtotextwhiledriving.About32countrieshavepassedlawsrestrictingtheuseofmobilephoneswhiledriving.
Textingisawonderfulwayofcommunication.However,onlywhenweuseitproperly,canwefullyenjoythefunitbrings.
小题1:Howmanyadvantagesoftextingarementionedinthepassage?