单选题
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Americans often try to say
things as quickly as possible, so for some expressions we use the first letters
of the words instead of saying each word. Many common expressions or long names
are shortened this way.
BYOB is a short way of saying "bring
your own bottle". The letters BYOB are often found at the bottom of a written
invitation to a simple social event or gathering friends. For example, I decide
to have a party on a Sunday afternoon. I might write a note saying, "Please come
to the party, and BYOB." The bottle each person brings is what that person wants
to drink at the party.
An invitation to a special event, such as
a wedding, would never say BYOB. However, an invitation to an official or very
special event often has other letters at the bottom of it. The letters are RSVP.
The letters represent the French expression "repondez s’il vous plait". In
English, the words mean "Respond if it pleases you". Americans use the letters
as a short-way to say please answer this invitation.
Another
expression ASAP is often heard in business offices. My boss might say she wants
something done ASAP. It means as soon as possible. She als0 might tell me she
wants something done by COB. That means she wants it finished by close of
business, or the end of the workday.
Beginning letters often are
used to represent the name of a university. A famous one is MIT. It is short for
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Another major university is UCLA,
almost no one ever says its real name, the University of California at Los
Angeles. That takes too long.
Some American businesses are
better known for the beginning letters of their name than for their complete
names. For example, you may not have heard of the company called International
Business Machines, but you probably have heard of the company by its short name
IBM. And the American Telephone and Telegraph Company is much better known as
AT. & T. Many American government agencies are known by the beginning
letters of their name, too. For example, the FBI is the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. The FBI investigates criminal activity in the United States. Then
there is the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service It is not a very popular agency.
It collects Federal taxes. Here is an example you already know. Can you guess
what it is? How about VOA, the short name of the "Voice of America".
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