中級口語教程20

What Does Friendship Mean to You? Text A Mr Brooks, Martin, Robert and Jean are being interviewed on subject of friendship. Mr BROOKS: I consider friendship to be one of the most important things in life-whatever your status, married or single. I see too many lonely people around. A lot of us get so involved with material values, family problems, 'keeping up with the Joneses,' etc. , that we forget the real meaning of friendship. INTERVIEWER: Which is what., according to you? R BROOKS: They say `a friend in need is a friend.indeed' which is partly true, but a real friend should also be able to share your happy moments- without feeling jealous. A good friendship is one where you accept and forgive faults, understand moods, and don't feel hurt if a friend doesn't feel like seeing you. Of course, honesty is an essential part of any reIationship. We should learn to accept our friends for what they are. INTERVIEWER: As a married man, do you find your frier ships are only with other men? MR BROOKS: Of course not! Both my wife and I have m and women friends-thank goodness. ALthouhg family life is fulfilling, it isn't nough! Both my wife and I get tremendc satisfaction from our friends, married a single, male and female-and we both ha our separate friends too. We'd get bored with each other if we had the same friends! INTERVIEWER: You must have a full life. MR BROOKS: We certainly do! And as I say, our friends give us a lot of pleasure. After all, friends should not be people with whom .you kill time. Real friendship, in my opinion, is a 'spiritually developing' experience.(Martin, Robert and Jean are being interviewed on the subject of friendship. ) INTERVIEWER: How important are friends to you, Martin? MARTIN: I've never had a lot of friends. I've never regarded them as particularly important.Perhaps that's because I come from a big famil Two brothers and three sisters. And lots cousins. And that's what's really important me. My family. The different members of my family. If you really need help, you get from your family, don't you? Well, at least that's what I've always found. INTERVIEWER: What about you, Jean? JEAN: To me friendship... having friends, people I know I can really count on... to me that's the most important thing in life. It's more important even than . love If you love someone, you can always fall out of love again , and that can leadto a lot of hurt feelings , bitterness, and so on. But a good a friend is a friend for life. INTERVIEWER: And what exactly do you mean by a friend? JEAN: Well, I've alreadys said, someone you know you can count on. I suppose what I really mean is... let's see, how am I going to put this . . . it's someone who wili help you if you need help, who'il listen to you when you talk about you problems... someone you can trust. INTERVIEWER: What do you mean by a friend, Robert? ROBERT: Someone who likes the same things that you do, who you can argue with and not lose your temper, even if you don't always agree about things. I mean someone who you don't have to talk to all the time but can be silent with perhaps. That's important, too. You can just sit together and not say very much sometimes. Just relax. I don't like people who talk all the time. INTERVIEWER: Are you very good at keeping in touch with your friends if you don't see them regularly? ROBERT: No, not always. I've lived in lots of piaces, and , to be honest , once I move away I often do drift out of touch with my or friends. And I'm not a very good letter writer, either. Never have been. But I know that if I saw those friends again, if I ever moved back to the same place, for some other reason we got back into close contact