1 . My friend Jennifer was going to be at my school. I believed that we would be best friends. She introduced me to her friend Amy and we had lots of ______ together. But things started to ______. Jennifer wanted to be the “______” of our little group. She was controlling, and I couldn’t make new friends. If I made new______, she would decide that I was “mad at her”. Pretty soon being Jennifer’s friend was a ______.

I always waited for Jennifer and Amy after class, but sometimes when they left, they’d walk right past me ______ they couldn’t see me.

Gradually I changed — I became moody, depressed, and ______. I felt so left out.

Finally, I was tired of having to battle for ______. I stopped sitting with Jennifer at lunch and waiting for her after ______. Our friendship fell to pieces.

It was ______ at first. ______, I found many girls whom Jennifer had viewed as “moody” or “mean” to be the sweetest, friendliest people in the world.

Now, I have tons of friends. They ______ me when I am sad, and I back them too. We get along very well. It amazes me how ______our friendship is. There is no struggling to be on top — we are all ______. It doesn’t matter to me if two of them walk away. It doesn’t ______ my feelings or make me feel alone.

4 . Have you ever argued with a friend, and said or done something you regretted? Sometimes it can be hard to put things right, especially when feelings have been hurt. Apologizing can understand why you fell out in the first place.     1    

Why do we argue?

You might think your football team is fantastic but your friend disagrees; or you don’t want someone joining in your game. Sometimes, especially if you’re angry, things can be out of control and you’ll say or do something you regret.     2    . Arguing and disagreeing with others occasionally is normal — we all do it — but it’s important to resolve your differences afterwards so bad feelings don’t get worse. This is where an apology can help.

    3    ?

We all make mistakes, and apologizing is a way of admitting we’ve got something wrong and will try not to do it again. Dr Jennifer Thomas, a psychologist, believes an apology needs to show the other person that we’re genuinely sorry. Meanwhile, we accept responsibility for our actions and want forgiveness.

What if it’s not my fault?

Sometimes another person may pressure you into taking the blame when it’s not your fault. If you feel this is happening, you had better communicate with them.     4    . If you still can’t agree, you could ask a parent or teacher to help you resolve the problem.

Does apologizing always work?

Sorry on its own might not always be enough, so try to ask the other person how they felt while you were arguing. Explain your side too, and make it clear you’ll try not to repeat the same mistake again.     5    . It may take time for someone to understand and forgive. Even after you’ve said sorry, you could still feel bad but you can feel good about trying to fix things and promising yourself to do better next time.

With new faces everywhere, the time in Grade 1 was really tough for me. Since I was an Indian girl, nobody wanted to talk to me. Every spare minute was spent alone, and no classmates would group with me for projects.

Feeling lonely and sad, I was in desperate need of close friends. A girl named Fatin, who was cute, clever and talented, appealed to me deeply. However, she seemed to be avoiding me as well. Being only six years old, I didn’t understand why people treated me like that, I opened up to my mother about all this, almost crying my eyes out.

Mom smiled, comforting me until I calmed down. She looked into my eyes and encouraged me, “Honey, don’t worry. They’re just not familiar with you. Try to bring out the best in you. They’ll befriend (做朋友) you as long as they see your advantages.” At that time, I didn’t believe her, but Mom was right.

One day, my teacher, Miss Barbara, announced that there was to be a speech competition. I really enjoyed joining in speech competitions. Actually, I was quite good at them. The only problem was that the whole school would be watching me and I knew none of my audience.

However, I was determined to do it. I gathered all my courage, went up to the teacher and said, “Miss Barbara, I want to join in the speech competition.” She stared at me, but then I saw a gentle smile on her face. She handed me an application form.

The next day, I arrived at school early to submit (提交)my form to the teacher. Miss Barbara said encouragingly to me, “For a new student, you have lots of courage. Do your best, Diya!” Rarely did Miss Barbara praise anyone. Her words lifted up my spirits that day. Until the competition day, I practised my speech whenever possible. I even designed the necessary hand gestures and did repeated practice in front of a mirror.

Then came the big day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As I went off the stage with my award, I heard Fatin call my name. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . It was 80 years ago when I wrote my first letter to Paul and Renee who lived in France. I was keen on learning languages, so I was ________ when my French teacher assigned us pen pals.

It was quite a thing to get a letter from a ________ country, so I looked forward to ________ their reply. They weren’t particularly good at English, so we were all writing in French, which helped me acquire a good ________ of the language.

I decided to go to France on holiday in 1949 to________ them, but Paul was called up by the army, and Renee was away skiing. The family ________ me warmly, and I visited several times in the years that followed. The first time I met Renee, she picked me up at the station, and we hit it off straight away.

I never got to meet Paul. Renee ________ to me and told me that he had died ________ after leaving the army. Renee and I continued writing to each other, and our ________ became deeper. We talked about our families, our favorite pastimes and our ________ in life. Renee never married and worked as a nurse for half her life. As I continued to visit, I got to know her whole family, ________ her aunts and uncles, and distant cousins all over France. I was so ________ into their home life that I never felt like a tourist.

I’m 93 now and I ________ write to Renee. She has difficulty writing now, so she phone me to reply. Most people don’t seem to have the time for letters anymore, but it gives me great________ to write. My correspondence (通信) with Renee has offered me a wider ________ of what’s happening outside the UK. More importantly, this is the most enduring friendship I have ever had.

10 . Neither rain nor snow nor the darkness of night can separate Tennessee postal carrier (邮递员) Mailman Mike from his 4-and-a-half-year-old friend Carter Lawson — or keep them from their appointed rounds.

For the past nine months, the two have ______ up every day in the preschooler’s Knoxville neighborhood for a few minutes of ______ mails together and chatting with fellow residents. Lawson wants to be a ______ when he grows up, and in an inspiring story, his mom said how the old mailman, Mike Crenshaw, has been a ______ to her son. “Anyone could just be like ‘Go away, kid,’ but Mike has ______ gone out of his way to talk with Carter,” said Cassie Lawson of the United States Postal Service carrier. “It’s been really cute.” Little Carter even got his own outfit (全套服装) to ______ Mike’s. “I just couldn’t believe he got a full mailman’s costume,” the boy’s mother said ______.

“Every letter carrier has stops he looks forward to and this is the one I look forward to every day,” said Mike. “He’s the ending ______ of my day, and the ______ part of my day, not just because it’s the end, but because he’s such a ______ little guy.”

The man and the little boy’s ______ isn’t a surprise to Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. Kids ______ mailmen because “letter carriers are a friendly part of the neighborhood who bring something to their ______ every day and they open their doors for letter carriers so they are also someone they come to recognize and

______,” Rolando said. “It’s the same for the elderly, but in addition, letter carriers may be the only person they ______ with all day, with no one to talk to usually.”