We're told that writing is dying． Typing on keyboards and screens （1） 　 　written communication today． Learning cursive （草书）， joined﹣up handwriting was once （2） 　 　in schools． But now， not so much． Countries such as Finland have dropped joined﹣up handwriting lessons in schools （3） 　 　typing courses． And in the U． S．， the requirement to learn cursive has been left out of core standards since 2013． A few U． S． states still place value on formative cursive education， such as Arizona， but they're not the（4） 　 　．

   Some experts point out that writing lessons can have indirect （5） 　 　． Anne Trubek， author of The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting， argues that such lessons can reinforce a skill called automaticity． That's when you've perfected a task， and can do it almost without thinking． （6） 　 　you extra mental bandwidth to think about or do other things while you're doing the task． In this sense， Trubek likens handwriting to （7） 　 　．

   "Once you have driven for a while， you don't （8） 　 　think 'Step on gas now'（or） 'Turn the steering wheel a bit'，" she explains． "You just do it． That's what we want children to （9） 　 　when learning to write． You and I don't think 'now make a loop going up for the 'I' or 'now look for the letter 'r' on the keyboard'．" Trubek has written many essays and books on handwriting， and she doesn't believe it will die out for a very long time， "if ever"． But she believes students are learning automaticity faster with keyboards than with handwriting： students are learning how to type without looking at the keys at （10） 　 　ages， and to type faster than they could write， granting them extra time to think about word choice or sentence structure． In a piece penned （if you'll pardon the expression） for the New York Times last year， Trubek argued that due to the improved automaticity of keyboards， today's children may well become better communicators in text as （11） 　 　takes up less of their education． This is a（n）（12） 　 　that has attracted both criticism and support．

   She explains that two of the most common arguments she hears from detractors regarding the decline of handwriting is that not （13） 　 　it will result in a "loss of history" and a "loss of personal touch"．

   On the former she （14） 　 　that 95% of handwritten manuscripts can't be read by the average person anyway "that's why we have paleographers，" she explains， paleography being the study of ancient styles of writing while the latter refers to the warm （15） 　 　we give to handwritten personal notes， such as thank﹣you cards． Some educators seem to agree， at least to an extent．

（1）

A．

abandons

B．

dominates

C．

enters

D．

absorbs

（2）

A．

compulsory

B．

opposite

C．

crucial

D．

relevant

（3）

A．

in want of

B．

in case of

C．

in favour of

D．

in addition to

（4）

A．

quantity

B．

minimum

C．

quality

D．

majority

（5）

A．

responsibility

B．

benefits

C．

resources

D．

structure

（6）

A．

granting

B．

getting

C．

bringing

D．

coming

（7）

A．

sleeping

B．

driving

C．

reviewing

D．

operating

（8）

A．

eventually

B．

constantly

C．

equivalently

D．

consciously

（9）

A．

adopt

B．

reach

C．

acquire

D．

activate

（10）

A．

slower

B．

later

C．

faster

D．

earlier

（11）

A．

handwriting

B．

adding

C．

forming

D．

understanding

（12）

A．

trust

B．

look

C．

view

D．

smile

（13）

A．

containing

B．

spreading

C．

choosing

D．

protecting

（14）

A．

commits

B．

counters

C．

completes

D．

composes

（15）

A．

associations

B．

resources

C．

procedures

D．

interactions