5 . Friendship makes life more enjoyable and enriches one’s everyday experiences. Finding friends can be challenging but can often be achieved by approaching others with common interests. As we move through life, we find that there are many things out of our control.    1    One thing that we can control is who our friends are, and this decision can either make our lives so much richer and beautiful, or more stressful and disappointing.    2    

Having solid friendships is important for two main reasons. First, they make life more enjoyable. We get to share the beautiful aspects of life with people who we love, which can enrich our everyday experiences.    3    Having friends to support us through hard times can make unimaginably difficult situations seem more tolerable.

    4    

This might sound silly, but finding friends can be challenging! Through my personal experience, I learned that it was important to enjoy life instead of struggling for excellence all of the time. Friendship comes into existence where two souls have a lot in common and are found close in reading clubs or fitness centers, etc.

    5    Friends help enrich our lives, but we enrich theirs too! Friendship gets us through the tough times in life, makes things more fun and enjoyable, and all-around makes our lives better. The backbone of any successful friendship is one where both sides put in equal effort and support.

7 . From the way my daughter Anna get along with her friends, I’ve seen some skills of keeping true friendship.

True friends make a person better.

Anna has a friend who’s new to this school year. The girl has struggled to adjust to the new school life. Because of Anna’s influence, her new friend has become happier.     1    .

True friends make check-ups.

Anna went kayaking(划皮划艇)with a friend. Anna tipped over and had trouble righting herself. Her friend did her best to help. But my daughter started to worry about kayaking again. A few weeks later, that same friend sent my daughter a text: “Are you out in the kayak?     2    .” This friend is great to check up later and give encouragement.

True friends are comfortable with each other.

Last summer, my daughter went over to her friend’s house for a pool day, Midway through the afternoon, the host mom texted me a picture of our daughters. I could see they were in the pool, lying on floats.     3    . This made me think that there’s nothing quite like getting to a place in friendship where “doing nothing” together is all that you need.

    4    .

My daughter took a long weekend trip to visit her grandparents. They had been looking forward to this mini vacation for months, counting down the days. One of her classmates was as excited about my daughter’s trip as my daughter was for herself.     5    , while joy shared is joy doubled. It is a beautiful equation(等式).

Jesse and Vern used to be totally strangers living in two towns hundreds of miles apart. Their friendship started with an orange shirt in a bottle 22 years ago, when computers and Internet were not available.

8-year-old Jesse lived a simple and happy life in a small town with his parents. School was starting next week. The family would get Jesse a new set of clothing. Jesse was not so passionate for new clothes. After his father’s persuasion, Jesse finally agreed to the shopping. Jesse tried on a pair of new pants, new shoes, and an orange shirt. He didn’t like the pants and shoes much. But he did like the orange shirt.

School started, and Jesse put on his new orange shirt. All the other kids had new clothes too, but his orange shirt, in Jesse’s mind, was the most handsome of all. He wore it almost every day. Even when it was dirty, he would insist that it be washed and ready, so he could wear it the next day.

Time passed quickly and Jesse had grown over two inches. But his orange shirt was not growing with him. One day, his mother asked him to go to the grocery store to pick up some things for supper and reminded him not to wear that small orange shirt any more, which looked funny on Jesse.

Jesse ignored what his mother told him. In the store two little girls laughed at his tight orange shirt. Feeling embarrassed, Jesse picked up his groceries and hurried home. Getting home, he told his mother that he wouldn’t wear that shirt any more. His mother said, “Jesse, since the lovely shirt is too small on you, maybe someone else needs it.” “I really hope it goes to a lovely boy. But who can it be?” said Jesse. The next morning, Jesse’s father told Jesse that he had a good idea, saying he would take Jesse to the river.

When they got to the riverbank, Jesse’s father took out a large plastic bottle together with the orange shirt.

Little Vern was fishing with his father in a small boat down the river.

9 . A soldier returned to his castle at dawn. He was in a mess. His face was bloody; his horse was lame. His _________ met him at the gate, asking, “What has happened to you?”

_________ himself up as best he could, he replied, “Oh, Sir, I have been _________ in your service, robbing and burning and killing your enemies to the west.”

“You have been what?” cried the _________ king, “But I haven’t any enemies to the west!”

“Oh!” said the soldier. And then, after a(n) _________, he continued to say, “Well, I think you do now.”

What about you? Do you have enemies to the west? Or in some other directions? None of us will calmly sail through our lives in perfect _________ with everyone we meet. And though most struggles can be settled along the way, and most of our damaged _________ can eventually be healed, some issues may threaten to drive a _________wedge (楔) between people. Sincere morals and political ideas, especially, can divide folks who just hold different positions.

One person said, “I don’t have a personal enemy _________. They’ve all died off. I miss them terribly because they helped define me.”

So-called “enemies” can __________ a valuable purpose. If we let them, they can teach us about ourselves. By__________ a mirror before us, they can help us __________ what we may have missed. By disagreeing with our ideas, they can __________ our points of view. And, if we allow them, they can __________ help us practice strength and sympathy in the face of criticism.

If enemies cannot become friends, they can become __________. If we listen, they will teach us what our friends cannot.

10 . In many casual discussion of language on the Internet, it’s common to hear about how “textspeak (短信语言)” is ruining language. Some people argue that technology has made us lazy about how we speak and write. Mainstream media have complained about the way in which people communicate using technology.

Of course, language does change when it’s used to text or write messages online. “Textspeak” is an evolution of language. It’s even the focus of the field of linguistics (语言学) called Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). This field is devoted to the study of interaction facilitated by technology like computers, mobile phones and tablets. People have been complaining about language being “ruined” as long as they’ve been writing and speaking. In a talk, linguist John McWhorter shared stories of people complaining about language change through the ages. He said in AD 63, for example, a Roman scholar complained that students of Latin were writing in an “artificial language”. In fact, this writing was a new language that would become French!

Today, people are able to communicate rapidly using a wide variety of tools and technologies. Perhaps no linguistic development better indicates changes in the ways we communicate than the popular emoticon (表情符号), which can produce very clear pictures in our minds. The emoticon “:)”, for example, is a visual representation of a smiley face turned sideways. Although an emoticon may look like a smile, a frown or any number of facial expressions, it doesn’t really represent a face. Instead, it’s intended to express a feeling, such as “I’m happy” or “just joking”.

Emoticons that represent these feelings are what linguists call discourse particles. These are little pieces of language that offer information about the tone of the statement though some elders feel puzzled about it. Far from ruining language, it turns out that “textspeak” enables people to communicate complex feelings in a simple, streamlined manner. This kind of change is perfect for the modern, fast-paced world.