I was lacking in everything needed to start a new friendship in a new town.

My parents had moved to the town when they decided to look for new jobs, but they didn't realize I was really hurt when I had to say goodbye to my old friends. It felt frightful to be a new student in my new school. When my classmates were chatting, I felt left out. I was not good at math or history, nor was I good at drawing or dancing. I was shy and timid (羞怯的). I had a few friends back at my hometown and it seemed that they were the only ones with whom I could be friends for my whole life. I felt there was no room for anyone else on my friends list. I was ashamed of myself, and believed I deserved no notice from others. That is, until Emily came to my world.

Emily was fearless, frank and easy to be around. She was everything I was not and I was too shy to come out of my shell. I met Emily in school almost every day but I never talked to her, even though we were in the same class. How I wished I could be like her, or at least be a friend of hers.

It was another ordinary day. I wandered to the bus stop in the morning and waited for the school bus. Birds were singing with their friends, but who could I sing with? I got on the bus and went straight to my usual seat, complaining in a low voice about getting up early and going to school like every other day, and about how things were going to be the same all over again. Little did I realize something different would happen that day.

When I got up to get off the bus, my schoolbag was stuck on the armrest (扶手).

Friendship

There was once a man who went out to look for a job. As he was passing his neighbor’s house, an important piece of paper fell out of the man’s pocket.

His neighbor happened to be looking out of the window. He saw the piece of paper fall, and he thought: “What a disgrace! That guy let that fall out of his pocket on purpose. He’s trying to mess up the front of my house!” But instead of going out and communicating with him, the neighbor planned his revenge( 报 复 ). That night, he took his waste-paper basket and went to the man’s house. The first man also happened to be looking out of the window, and saw what happened. Later, when he was picking up the paper which had been dumped near his door, he found the important piece of paper that he had lost. It was torn into dozens of pieces. He thought that his neighbor had not only picked his pocket, but had the cheek to（厚着脸皮）mess up his doorway with rubbish.

He didn’t want to say anything. Instead, he started planning his revenge. That night he phoned a farmer to make an order of ten pigs and a hundred ducks. He asked that they be delivered to his neighbor’s house.

Of course, the next day, his neighbor had quite a bit of trouble trying to get rid of so many animals and their noises. Sure that this had been an evil trick pulled by his neighbor, the second man again started planning his revenge immediately he got rid of the pigs and ducks.

And so it went on.

They continued trying to get back at each other, and each time their acts of revenge got bigger and more stupid. The dropping of that single piece of paper ended up causing a fire siren(警报), the driving of a truck into a garden fence, the throwing of stones at windows, and finally the dropping of a bomb which destroyed both men’s houses.

Both ended up in a hospital, and had to share a room there.

They talked and became friends in the end.

Gossip

“Did you hear what happened to Adam Last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.

With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did, Sean told me two days ago.”

Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip and I have noticed the effects of gossip.

An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic—breakups, trouble at home—that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group”. In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority.

Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. For instance, if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do’s and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.