Many people have tried to simplify (简化) the spelling of English words. Unlike other languages, English sometimes spells the same sounds in very different ways. For example, there is “light” but “white”, “loan” but “phone”, and there are at least seven different ways of pronouncing “ough”, “though”, “through”, “bough”, “cough”, “enough”, “ought” and “thorough”.

    The American President Theodore Roosevelt almost succeeded in simplifying English spelling. In 1906, one of the richest men in the United States of America, Andrew Carnegie, started the Simplified Spelling Board whose plan was to make the spelling of words nearer to the way they sound. For example, the word “though” would be spelt “though” and “through” would become “thru”. Other people on the board were Melvil Dewey, the head of the New York libraries, and Professor Brander Matthews of Columbia University. They explained their idea to President Roosevelt who thought that it was indeed logical (合理的).He immediately instructed the government printer to use simplified spelling in all government letters.

    But people did not like the change — even if it made life easier— and the new, simpler spelling was not popular. More importantly, when the American politicians discussed the plan, they did not like it either. Because Roosevelt did not want to have any problems with the politicians, he changed his mind and told the printer to go back to the old way of spelling.

    Since then no one in any government has dared to simplify English spelling. However, people do simplify some words, mainly in advertisements. For example, we often see “tonite” instead of “tonight” and “thru” instead of “through”.

    There are so many expressions in American English that sound pleasant (令人愉快的)but are not. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When someone says they have to "face the music", it does not mean they are going to a concert. "Facing the music" means to accept and deal with the punishment of an action.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, "I can't face another night of camping! It's cold and rainy." Or "In life, you must face your fears." Face used in this way is very common.But now, let's go back to facing the music. Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car. She gives you the keys and says, "Thanks so much for watching my car while I'm away. But please, do not drive it. It is an extremely (极其) fast car." {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You want to show off to some friends. So, you drive it around town one night. As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. Bang!

    When your friend returns you must tell her what you have done and "face the music". {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It could be losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her sports car or both. Whatever the music is, you must face it.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}To "take your medicine" means to accept the results from something bad you have done. And if someone says, "You made your bed. Now lie in it." they mean you created a bad situation and now you will experience the results!

A. But you do not listen.

B. "Face the music" is a good example.

C. The "music" here is the result of your actions.

D. Americans often use the word "face" in this way.

E. There are other American expressions that mean the same thing as "face the music".

    Many expressions that we use in American English come from novels. Today we will look at some of them from Lewis Carroll's famous novel "Alice in Wonderland" in detail.

    The story is about a young girl falling down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world and meets some strange characters.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit, who runs past her and says some strange words. Alice chases（追赶）him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, chasing a white rabbit means chasing an impossible clue and finding yourself in a misleading situation.

    Then, as she runs after the rabbit, she falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

    To fall down the rabbit hole can mean to enter a confusing（令人困惑的）situation. However, usually we use this expression to mean we get interested in something to the point of distraction（分神）.It often happens by accident and is about something not that meaningful.

    Later in the story, Alice meets the March Hare and the Hatter at a crazy tea party. Hares（野兔）have long been thought to behave excitedly in March, which is their mating（交配）season. Scientifically, this may not be true. But to be mad as a March Hare means that someone is completely mad, or crazy. The expression mad as a Hatter also means to be completely crazy. Of the two, mad as a Hatter is more common. But don't tell the March Hare. Who knows how he will react（反应）！

    Near the end of the story, Alice meets the Queen of Hearts. A woman who is called a Queen of Hearts likes controlling others and always tries to control everything and everyone around her.

Nowadays, there are more and more TV talent shows and they are very popular all over China. Young people like watching TV talent shows best. 

These talent shows give everyone a chance to show their talents. For some lucky people，these talent shows may make them famous, and can even make them rich. However，there are also bad sides. First, some young people just imitate the people they admire (钦佩). They just do the same things as the people they admire. They may forget about their own styles. Second，young people spend too much time on such TV shows，and they always dream of being stars，so they spend less time on their studies or work. 

In my opinion, these shows are social activities. Young people can get social experience by taking part in social activities. But they should know that becoming famous is not that easy for most people. They should work hard at something more important—their study or work. In short, they can do what they like, but they should know what is important and what is not.