1 . People sometimes think of moving among people and talking to them at a dinner party like it’s a mechanical process. I know some advice on it can give the impression that you need to approach it that way.     1     .

In my experience, at parties it’s best to go with the flow, talk to the people who look interesting to you, and see where the night takes you.     2    , but don’t feel you have to talk to every last guest. There’s no party rule that says if you’re a bad person for not doing that. A lot of people don’t.

For whatever reason, two metaphors (暗喻) come to mind when I think about talking to people at parties.     3     . At any party there are all these sub groups, conversations, and activities going on. One group is talking in the back yard, another is on the front porch, some people are playing video games downstairs, and so on. Everyone is moving around throughout the evening and visiting the various “fairground booths”. There’s no expectation to go to all of them.

The second metaphor is that I picture people at a party as a bunch of ping pong balls floating in a basin of water, and moving around on the surface. For a time a few balls may come together, but then they’ll break up and maybe temporarily group with a few others.     4     Someone may be talking to one group, then see their friend doing something fun and leave to watch what they’re doing.

    5     and don’t feel you must start at the front door and systematically work your way around the room or anything.