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Think of a language as a living thing. Like most living things, languages are always growing and changing. And today, in our highly connected world, these changes happen more and more quickly.

Every year, for example, the English Dictionary adds many new words or new meanings for common words to the English language. English has always been made up of words from many languages. Most English words come from Latin, Germanic languages and French. But in the last several hundred years, English has borrowed words and terms from other languages. These so-called “borrowed” words are not returned, of course. Instead, they remain part of a language for a very long time.

You can learn a lot about history and culture by looking at what led to the borrowing of certain words. It may surprise you that English has taken more than a dozen words from Japanese.

About 10 years ago, English speakers used the word “emoticons” for computer keyboard symbols that express emotion in electronic messages and on the Internet. That was before the invention of smiley face icons. Then, in the late 1990s, a Japanese computer programmer named Shigetaku Kurita changed everything when he invented “emoji”—images, icons and symbols that express meanings without words. In Japanese, the word “emoji” means "pictograph" and comes from the word “e” meaning "picture" and “moji”, meaning "letter" or "character." The similarity to the English word "emotion" is only by chance.

1.Why do we take a language as a living thing?

A Because it can borrow words from other languages.

B Because it is always growing and changing.

C Because its vocabulary is becoming larger and larger.

D Because many people are working on it.

解析：选B。细节理解题。根据第一段第二句Like most living things, languages are always growing and changing. 可知活的东西都是变化发展着的，因此语言也是具有这个特点，才被认为是活的，故选B。

2.English has borrowed words from ______.

A Latin

B French

C Japanese

D all of the above

解析：选D。细节理解题。根据第二段Most English words come from Latin, Germanic languages and French.和第三段It may surprise you that English has taken more than a dozen words from Japanese. 可知英语从拉丁语、日耳曼语、法语和日语中借来了词汇，A、B、C都包含，故选D。

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A Emoji is a word coming from “emotion”.

B Emoji is a borrowed word from Japanese.

C Emoji can be a picture that expresses meanings without words.

D Emoji pictures are invented and drawn by Japanese.

解析：选A。细节理解题。根据最后一段最后一句The similarity to the English word "emotion" is only by chance.可知emoji和emotion相似纯属偶然，而不是emoji来源于emotion，故选A。

4.In which column of a website can you find this passage?

A Entertainment.

B Politics.

C Science.

D Culture.

解析：选D。推理判断题。全文介绍了英语外来词的来源，属于文化类，故选D。