Who do you count as your friends? From our BFF to a workmate, it’s good to have someone to chew the fat with or offer comfort and support. But the recent lockdown we have endured has made of us question our friendships. We’ve fallen out of touch with friends and acquaintances. But do we actually have to restart every relationship we once had? It might be time to take stock and think about who you kept in touch with, who you missed talking to, and who you didn’t. In short, maybe it’s time to reset your list of real mates.
There’s no obligation to stay friends. Bryan Lufkin says, “While people have known for years that friendships are unquestionably good for your health, experts say it’s only natural for acquaintances and even friends to fall by the wayside as time goes on.”
Of course, it can be hard to choose who’s in your friendship circle. This is what Suzanne Degges-White, professor of counselling at Northern Illinois University, calls our “friendscape”. She says. “In life, as we go through certain stages and ages, our attention shifts, and we want to be around people who are like us.”
So, changing friends is normal, but we still need those special pals who have known us long term. These are friendships we invest time in. These are your inner circle of friends—your “shoulders to cry on”—and you have to see them at least once a week to keep them in that circle. The friends that do drift are mostly “friendships of convenience”. But the advice for maintaining a good friendship is to share how you feel with someone you trust—this can help strengthen your friendship as well as giving you both a chance to support each other.
1. What could we do about friendships in the recent lockdown?| A．Recover our friendships. | B．Reflect on our friendships. |
| C．Develop new friendships. | D．Put an end to our friendships. |
| A．Some friendships will not necessarily stay for life. |
| B．Some friendships might not be good for our health. |
| C．True friendships will surely survive the long years. |
| D．True friendships develop naturally as time goes by. |
| A．Friends at the same life stages. | B．Friends with the same interests. |
| C．Friends always staying around. | D．Friends living in neighboring areas. |
| A．Cry on our friends’ shoulders. | B．Change inner circle friends. |
| C．Devote time to true friendships. | D．Suit our friends’ conveniences. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】“Do not tell anyone”. We often hear these words when someone tells us a secret. But keeping a secret is hard. We’re often tempted to “spill the beans”, even if we regret it later.
According to the professor, Asim Shah, keeping a secret may well “become a burden”. This is because people often have an “eager and anxious urge to share it with someone”. An earlier study, led by Anita, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.
Secrets are so often getting out. Why do people share them at all? Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. “Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone, ”according to Shah.
He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out. But this doesn’t mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.
Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you’d better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn’t give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone’s secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn’t so secret any more.
1. What does the underlined phrase “spill the beans” mean?| A．Keep silent. | B．Tell the truth. | C．Let out a secret. | D．Eat our words. |
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
| A．Quiet people are more likely to keep the secrets to themselves. |
| B．Sharing secrets helps establish friendship or get over the sense of guilt. |
| C．A person asked to keep a secret will suffer from psychological problems only. |
| D．Putting yourself in others’ shoes helps realize the difficulty of keeping secrets. |
【推荐2】Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they ignore (忽视) a powerful thing that could help them fight illnesses: their friends.
Researchers are now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of fiends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. Another study showed that there was an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk (危险) for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social relationship could improve brain health as we age.
“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological (心理的) health than family relationships.”
While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that it can do good to men, too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a risk factor (因素) as having little social support.
The exact reason why friendship has such a big effect isn’t entirely clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the advantages go well beyond physical help. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. “The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”
1. The three studies in Paragraph 2 show that ______.| A．old people need friends the most | B．friends can help us lose weight |
| C．social relationship are connected to health | D．more friends make us healthier |
| A．Fatness. | B．Unhappiness. | C．Excitement. | D．Health. |
| A．Friendship is more important to women than to men. |
| B．What people need most is a friend’s care. |
| C．Friendship is more important than family relationship. |
| D．The value of friendship hasn’t been fully understood. |
| A．Friends Are the Best Medicine |
| B．Friends Are as Important as a Family |
| C．Having Good Friends Leads to a Better Life |
| D．Friendship Makes People Happy |
【推荐3】Developing friendships can make people’s lives richer and more meaningful.
Reducing stress and improving quality of life
Medical News Today, reports that people with close friends have higher self esteem. These relationships cause the release of the oxytocin hormone(荷尔蒙) and significantly reduce levels of stress, depression and anxiety.
Psychologist Lee Chambers explains on his blog that socializing helps protect people from mental health disorders. The emotional and mental benefits of friendships are reflected in the sense of companionship and joy of cooperation that friendship motivates.
Biological need for connection
Some have a harder time making friends than others. It may sometimes seem like there are those who are naturals at social interactions and at initiating conversations.
The bottom line is that having friends can promote a healthier life in every way. Of course, like anything worthwhile, these relationships require some attention and nurturing(培养). But for those who have experienced the joy of a real friendship,
| A．Staying healthy, mind, body and soul |
| B．it is likely to reduce the risk for diseases |
| C．Close friendships lead to a higher quality of life |
| D．Creating friendly relationships and closeness with others |
| E．it is clear that the benefits are far greater than the investment |
| F．The reality is that humans are social beings naturally connected |
| G．Science shows close friendships can improve people’s health and happiness |
【推荐1】Your teenage best friend could be good for your long-term mental health, according to a new study published in the journal Child Development. According to the findings, teenagers aged 15 to 16 who had a close friendship rather than a larger group of friends they were less close to had a greater sense of self-worth by the time they were 25 years old. Those people with a very close best friend were also less likely to experience social anxiety, the study found.
A past research has suggested that teen friendships are important. Friendships during the teenage years predict academic success and improved mental health. But the new research further explores the type of friendships teenagers have.
Many study participants did not continue to have a close relationship with their high-school best friend, leading the researchers to wonder what exactly was responsible for the mental health benefits. They thought that the skills and ability to build such a friendship may be more important than the friendship itself.
And as the researchers point out, those skills are not necessarily brought to bear in the world of social media. “As technology makes it increasingly easy to build a social network of shallow friends, focusing time and attention on developing close connections with a few individuals should be a priority,” one of the researchers, Joseph Allen, said in a statement.
1. What is the benefit of having a close teenage friendship?| A．Good performance in high school. |
| B．Mental health by early adulthood. |
| C．A large social network in the future. |
| D．A greater sense of self-worth all the time. |
| A．It attached importance to teen friendships. |
| B．It explored the types of teenage friendships. |
| C．It helped improve teenagers' mental health. |
| D．It was totally different from the new research. |
| A．Having many best friends in high school. |
| B．Knowing how to build a close friendship. |
| C．Understanding the world of social media. |
| D．Studying hard and getting good grades at school. |
| A．Widening your social circle. |
| B．Learning to use social media. |
| C．Concentrating on high-quality friendship. |
| D．Improving the basic skills of making friends. |
【推荐2】David Rees runs a truly distinctive business. He charges customers $15 to sharpen their pencils to perfections, using a variety of tools.
I know what you're thinking—is this a joke? The 39-year-old gets asked that question a lot. To clarify everything, he even created a special section on his website telling everyone he's actually providing a real service.
You can supply your own pencil or you can have Rees sharpen one of his own favorite 2B pencils. After that, he mails it to you in a display tube with the shavings in a separate bag, and an authentic certificate which just happens to mention the pencil is so sharp as to be a dangerous object.
To achieve the desired result, the master sharpener uses all kinds of tools, including general sandpapers, pocket knives and even a special $450 sharpening machine. “It depends on what the customer wants to use his/her pencil for,” he says. “That determines the most appropriate pencil-sharpening technique. Some customers buy pencils as inspirational symbols while others buy them because of their special memories of classic 2B pencils.”
$15 to have a pencil sharpened is a bit expensive though, right? You're not the only one who feels that way, and David's unique business has really angered lots of people, who talk of inequality in America, saying it is so insane for the wealthy to pay $15 to sharpen a pencil. But others will say, “This is just our urge to put an end to the welfare state because new ideas arise along with the business.”
David admits his trade is sort of unusual. But there are those who actually value his service, as proven by the over 500 orders he has gotten.
1. How could David make money by sharpening pencils?| A．He invented new tools for the job. | B．He promoted his skill on his website. |
| C．He saved lots of time for other people. | D．He provided quality service to his customers. |
| A．knows all kinds of pencil users | B．provides personalized services |
| C．values ideas behind the pencils | D．always write with pencils |
| A．Deliberate | B．Rewarding | C．Unreasonable | D．Irresponsible |
| A．Indifferent | B．Disapproving | C．Objective | D．Supportive |
【推荐3】Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, the inventor Doc Brown announces “where we’re going, we don’t need roads as the car lifts into the air”. While flying cars aren’t yet filling our skies, many are in development. In October the Chinese XPeng X2 successfully completed the first public test flight of its two-seater flying car in Dubai.
The XPeng X2 lifts vertically off the ground using eight propellers (螺旋桨), without the need for a runway, and is therefore suitable for built-up city areas. The vehicle, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric and its makers say it can rise through the air at around two meters per second and then reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. The XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation — it can be set to self-drive. It learns how to avoid traffic, buildings and people. It does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions during flight and is a step forward in the pursuit of urban green transportation. It is suitable for future low-altitude city flights and is perfect for short-distance city journeys such as sightseeing and medical transportation.
Although the test flight lasted just 90 seconds, according to Dr. Liu, chief aviation specialist at Xpeng Aeroht, the technology is close to being ready for public use, but regulations on flying cars are still some way off. Liu believes that people will be able to use flying cars within limited regulated spaces in just five years. This lines up pretty well with the Chinese government’s plan to put flying taxis on the market by 2025. The self-driving function presents further difficulties with regulation and also throws into question public acceptance. Many people are worried about the safety issues around self-driving cars on the ground, let alone vehicles that are flying around above their heads. However, Peng says it is safer for its flying car to be self-driving than to be driven by a human.
There are lots of flying cars in development now around the world and many of them actually fly, like Opener’s “BlackFly”, SkyDriver’s “SD-03’’and Klein Vision’s “AirCar” — which made a successful 35-minute test flight between two cities in Slovakia in 2021.
1. Why does the author mention the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future?| A．To introduce the topic | B．To recommend the movie |
| C．To provide background information | D．To make a prediction |
| A．The popularity of XPeng X2. | B．The advantages of XPeng X2. |
| C．The limitation of XPeng X2. | D．The prospect of XPeng X2. |
| A．XPeng X2 can carry two passengers at a speed of 80miles per hour. |
| B．XPeng X2 is close to finishing the first public test fight. |
| C．XPeng X2 has already been launched on the market at present. |
| D．XPeng X2 has been widely accepted by the public now. |
| A．Science fiction | B．Film review |
| C．Science & Technology | D．Historical events |
