FRIENDSHIP

　　Friends play an important part in our lives,and although we may take friendship for granted , we often don誸 clearly understand how we make friends. While we get on well with a number of people,we are usually friends with only a very few, for example , the average among students is about 6 per person.In all the cases of friendly relationships,two people like one another and enjoy being together,but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interests vary enormously.As we get to know people we take into account things like age,race,economic condition,social position,and intelligence.Although these factors are not of prime importance,it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.

　　Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs,to have attitudes and interests in common-they often talk about“being on the same wavelength”.It generally takes time to reach this point.And the more intimately involved people become,the more they rely on one another.People want to do friends favours and hate to break a promise.Equally,friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to tolerate differences of opinion.

　　朋友在我们的人生中扮演着重要的角色。我们虽然把友谊视作当然，但我们常常并不明了自己是如何结交朋友的。我们虽与许多人相处融洽，但称得上朋友的却为数不多。例如，学生中的人均朋友数约为6个。在所有的友好交往中，其中两个人情投意合，愉快相处；但除此而外，这两个人的亲密程度以及志趣相投的原因差异极大。当我们结识他人时，我们考虑这样一些因素：年龄、种族、经济条件、社会地位以及智力等。这些因素虽然并非至关重要，但当人们在年龄与背景方面存在明显差异时，他们往往较难相处。

　　有些朋友关系虽有争论也可以维持下去，但亲密的朋友通常都有着相近的思想和信念，有着共同的观点与兴趣，即他们常说的“志趣相投”。要达到这一境界一般需要相当长的时间。而且人们之间关系愈密切就愈发相互依赖。人们希望助朋友一臂之力，不愿意违背诺言。同样，朋友之间要学会容忍对方令人不快的习惯。容忍双方观点的差异。