Unit 3 Friendship 课文及课后习题汇总

Why Do Friendships End?

By Allison Hunter The only danger in Friendship is that it will end.

– Henry David Thoreau

1 I received an email from a reader who asked, “Why do some friendships end, no matter how much you want them to last?” She referred to having seen the question in one of my articles, Mystery of Friendship. As I wrote in it, I don’t think easy answers exist as to how friendships start, why some turn into lifetime ones, and why some end. Although I’ve tried answering the first two questions in other articles (To Have A Friend and Be A Friend), I still get surprised by friendships that endure and disillusioned by ones that slip away. Even so, I’ll try to offer some in sights here as to why friendships end.

2 My simple answer is that friendships end because the situations friends are in or even the friends themselves change. Others have similar answers. First, the situations friends face may change. The decision to relocate for a new school or job cannot help but affect a friendship. Likewise, if a friend is in an accident, develops an illness, or loses someone close, these situations cannot help but affect a friendship. Does a friendship need to end because of these cha nges? No, but it’ll require adjustments that one or both friends might not be willing to make.

3 Second, the friends themselves may change. A significant reason that friendships often end when friends are apart for an extended period of time (for summer camp, college, etc.) is that one or both of the friends change. I think it hurts less when both friends change, because then the breakup is more often mutual and so both friends get closure by both deciding to let go and move forward in their lives without each other. What tends to hurt most is when just one friend changes. One friend might change social circles, become involved in new social organizations, start to date, get a pet, or take on some other venture that consumes more time and passion. Again, a friendship can endure these changes, unless one or both of the friends for some reason decide not to invest the time and energy involved in the adjustment period. (For example, one friend might forget the importance of the friendship due to the high of having a new pet or might feel that the change is impossible to overcome when one gets married but the other is still single.) In this situation, breakups may not be mutual and so one or both friends feel betrayed and end up with bitter memories about what was a precious friendship to them.

4 There are other reasons why friendships end. For example, as much as two people might want a friendship to survive, one or both of them might unintentionally neglect it. Friendship is often compared to a flower garden. W ell, if flowers don’t get exposed regularly enough to sunlight and don’t get watered enough, flowers will wither and

even die. The same applies to friendship. If week after week passes where plans are made to spend time together but are never honored, perhaps due to takng a friendship for granted, eventually even the closest of friendships may cease to have a reason to exist.

5 Conflicts can also cause the end of friendships. If the flower is a fledgling plant, one blow might destroy it just as sometimes r elatively young friendships aren’t strong enough to endure much conflict. Even those amazing close friendships, where friends love us no matter what our faults are, need care when it comes to conflicts. Sure, if a flourishing flower gets stepped on, it might revive on its own. Moreover, if it gets a little extra special care, it’ll probably bounce back as if it hadn’t ever been injured. At the same time, if a flower gets repeatedly trampled on, it’ll probably eventually break. Especially the friendships that have been around for a long time can endure storms, and even become stronger for them, but most friendships have breakng points.

6 Nevertheless, while we can rarely predict at the outset which ones will last, most friendships do enrich us for however short or long they’re a part of our lives.

1.1 Fill in the blanks with words or phrases from the box below. Change the form where necessary.

1. We set out to find the truth behind the ________ of the scientist’s disappearance.

2. A good relationship is built on honesty, trust, and ________ respect.

3. Kids may grow faster or slower but most of them still end up ________ an average height.

4. In the joint ________ , the Chinese party will hold a 51 percent controlling interest.

5. Although John ________ the girl for a year, he is still in two minds as to whether to marry her or not.

6. Many people are unaware of just how much food and drink they ________ each day.

7. In order not to hurt Mary’s feelings, please don’t ________ the incident again.

8. He and Jeannie used to live together, but recently they have been ________ for the first time.

9. Adam has announced that he is to take a(n) ________ touring break in order to spend more time with his family.

10. Jim ________ the heart attack thanks to the prompt first aid treatment.

11. His interview did not go well and his chance of getting the job ________ .

12. Kids ________ to an unhealthy environment tend to grow up with more problems.

13. An occasional all-nighter is rough, but he is young enough to ________ .

14. Olivier turned it down flat and tried to persuade Vivien to do ________.

15. Nowadays when you buy a house in a big city, you have to ________ lots of money.

1.2 Replace the underlined part in each of the following sentences with a word or phrase from the box below. Write your answer in the brackets. Change the form where necessary.

1. While in New York, Sara developed a strong liking for oil painting. ( )

2. Our friendship finally broke up mainly because of my fault: I failed to keep in touch …… 此处隐藏：5114字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……