How to Make Friends

    Friendship is a very important human relationship and everyone needs good friends.  Good friendship has many benefits.  It offers companionship, improves self-worth and promotes good health.  There are times in our lives such as when we have recently moved into a new town, or changed our jobs or schools.  Such changes often leaves us without a friend {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But for many of us the process is difficult and requires courage.  Below are some helpful suggestions on how to make and keep friends.

    1).Associate with others.

    The first step to making friends is associating with other people.  You can go to public places to meet new people.  Besides, you will need to make yourself known by becoming an active member of such places.

    Start a conversation

    Starting a conversation is the second most important step in making new friends.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can always start the conversation.  Being able to make small talk is a very useful skill in relating with other people.

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    Choosing friends with common interests is important in building friendship as these interests would always bring you and your friend together, Hanging out will always be a pleasant experience.

    Let it grow.

    It is a good thing to stay in touch.  However, try not to press your new friend with calls, messages or visits as this would likely wear him or her out and finally you may lose your friend.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The best friendships are the ones that grow naturally.

    Enjoy your friendship

    The best way to enjoy your friendship is to allow your friends to be themselves.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Try not to change them from who they are to what you want them to be.  Become the kind of friend you will want your friend to be to you.

    Last week the electricity in my flat went out.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} My typical evening is spent watching TV and scrolling (滚动) through social media. Tonight this wasn't possible. My roommate and I weren't prepared with candles and matches. We just rely on electricity.

    So for me it was an early night.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} That night, losing our electricity felt like losing a basic necessity, as basic as running water. But really, electricity is a luxury that we've grown to take for granted. I use electricity all the time, even when it's not really necessary.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And as I'm writing this, I have my lights on, even in the middle of the day when I don't really need them.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}It contributes to global warming. It is harming our environment and we need to do what we can to stop it. Not only that, but if we continue to use the same large amount of energy, we will soon run out of it.

    How would we survive in a world without electricity? Our daily lives go around it. We wouldn't be able to function.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}So, shouldn't we start preparing for it now? Cutting down on our use of electricity would save energy resources so that they could last for longer. And if everyone does it, we can make a big difference.

A. Yet we know one day we will run out of it.

B. Our over-use of electricity is a big problem.

C. This left me in complete darkness the whole night.

D. It is a real problem to cut down on the use of electricity.

E. I know for sure I could cut down on my use of electricity.

F. I couldn't help but think, do we rely too much on electricity?

G. I turn on the TV in the background even when Tm not watching it.

    Parents often say that they don't mind what their children do in life just as long as they are happy. Happiness and pleasure are almost universally seen as among the most precious human goods.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed that all sources of pleasure are of equal quality, but John Stuart Mill disagreed. Mill argued for a difference between higher and lower pleasure.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Lower pleasure, in contrast, requires mere (仅仅的；纯粹的) senses.

    The entire debate assumes a clear divide between the physical and the mental.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}What will it mean for our ideas about pleasure?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Food is usually considered to be the lower pleasure. All animals eat, using the senses of smell and taste. It doesn't require any complex cognition (认知) to conclude that something is delicious. However, these people failed to appreciate something that the French food writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin captured. That is, "Animals feed; man eats; only the man of intellect(才智) knows how to eat."

    Eating shows that the difference between higher pleasure and lower pleasure is not what you enjoy but how you enjoy it.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Preparing it using the powers of reflection and attention turns it into a higher pleasure.

A. The dining table is a good place to start.

B. Wolfing down your food is a lower kind of pleasure.

C. What's the real difference between high and low pleasure?

D. What happens if the physical and the mental cannot be separated?

E. All philosophers believed that cookery could never be a form of art.

F. Higher pleasure depends on human abilities such as self-awareness or language use.

G. However, disagreements will be caused about whether some forms of pleasure are better than others.

     A lot of parents help their kids do homework and study for school.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    A photographer in India's Bihar state took a photo of dozens of parents risking their lives to help their 10th-graders cheat on tests. The parents climbed the walls of a four-story school to throw cheat sheets through the window for their children.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} About 600 students were expelled(开除) from the school. And police have detained(拘留) more than 1,000 people connected with the scandal(丑闻).

    The tests the Bihar students were taking are called board exams. These exams help determine who will be considered the top students in each class. India's best university will take only students with a 95 percent score or better.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Students who make it into India's top universities have a much better chance of getting well-paid jobs. They can help their families by becoming doctors or engineers. Many of the students who don't pursue(追求) these kinds of careers have a much more difficult time making money.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}About 30 percent of its citizens are considered poor. In many parts of the country, a family of five might struggle to survive on as little as $80 a month. For students who do well, the exams can be a life-changing event for their families.

    Few believe the Bihar incident will stop people from cheating on exams. Many students think that because others are cheating, they also have to cheat to keep up.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Officials believe that new laws and policies will help only so much. To stop cheating, they say, people need to change their attitudes toward it.

A. India has a high poverty rate.

B. This cycle has proved very difficult to break.

C. The exam season can be called cheating season.

D. The government cannot stop cheating in exams.

E. The serious cheating outbreak did not go unpunished.

F. But the parents of some students in India have taken helping their kids to a new level.

G. As a result, students throughout the country are under great pressure to do well on the tests.

    Even if you think that your parents are mean-spirited at times, loving them is a normal part of life.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Here are some ways to love your parents.

    Tell them you love them every morning. A gentle "good morning" and "I love you" will warm a coldest heart. Remember that they brought you into this world.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Respect them more and value the moments with them. You can use these moments to learn from them, preparing yourself for when you're off on your own. It's OK to get angry but angry actions don't help you or your parents.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}After this, share your feelings with your parents.

    Obey their requests. It will make your attitude better and earn you more respect from them. It may seem as if you are going through hell when you don't get what you want.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Understand that parents are human beings and make mistakes. Forgiveness is the key. Since you can forgive your friends, why not forgive your parents?

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Do things with your parents like watching TV, or go somewhere with them. Anyway, spend as much time with them as you can.

A. Keep them company.

B. Parents will in turn express their love to you.

C. You love them because they created you and raised you.

D. Act calmly, write down your feelings, or talk with your friends.

E. Please remember parents are the dearest people for us in the world.

F. However, you should remember it is your parents who love you and protect you.

G. Without your parents, we might still wander at an unknown comer in an unknown world.

Super communicators are people who are consistently able to create real connections with others just by listening and talking.The following are four habits of super communicators.

They  know  what  kind  of  conversation  they're  having.Super  communicators  are  usually  able  to  respond accordingly.If you're having  a practical  conversation,your  friend  might  ask  you  to  help make hard  decisions. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If your friend is just expressing his feelings,you just need to be a good listener.

They prove they're listening.There are plenty of ways to appear like you're listening,like making eye contact or nodding.To do that,experts suggest a technique called "cycle for understanding".Ask a question and listen to the response.Repeat  what  they  just  told  you.Ask  your  conversation  partner  if  you  got  what  they  said  correct.  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

They ask a lot of the right questions.Research shows that highly effective communicators tend to ask 10 to 20 times as many questions as everyone else.They may simply be follow-up questions like"What happened next?" Super communicators also ask questions that get people to open up.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They ask about people's values or experiences and create an opportunity for emotional connection.   {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The goal of a discussion isn't to impress someone,convince someone or wait for their turn to speak. It's to genuinely comprehend someone else's point of view and share their own views accordingly.The right response creates an atmosphere of trust and openness that both parties can benefit from. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A.They  aim  to  understand.

B.Experts call them"deep questions"

C.They are persuasive communicators.

D.The decisions should be easy to carry out.

E.This practice sounds simple but is powerful.

F.Then you should be ready to give good advice.

G.And that is actually the most magical thing that can happen.