阅读理解
Who
were your best friends five years ago? Is there anyone you would really like to
see again? In 1999, Julie Pankhurst, a computer programmer from London, was
thinking about her past-and especially the people she used to go to school
with.
Julie
looked on the Internet for a website to help her find her old school friends. But
there was nothing. So Julie and her husband, Steve, started their own website. They
called it Friends Reunited.
The
site grew slowly at first, but soon they received their first "thank you"
email. The man wrote, "Thank you so much. Using your website, I found an
old friend from thirty years ago!"Julie
and Steve were very excited about this and continued to improve their website.
By the end of 2000, there were 3,000 members.
The
next year was really hard work for the couple.
In
January, a national radio station mentioned their website. Their membership
doubled in one week! People were talking about the website all over the
country, and it became a full-time job for Julie and Steve. In a year, they had
four million members!
Now,
over fifteen million people in lots of different countries use Friends Reunited
to find old school friends, work colleagues and neighbors. Some of the stories which
people tell Julie and Steve are amazing. For example, David Webster lost his
memory in a car crash. He used the website to find old school friends, and they
helped him remember his past.
Julie's
simple idea gave us a national obsession(痴迷)-getting
in touch with old friends and hearing their news. And it made her and Steve
very rich in 2005, they sold Friends Reunited for £120
million!