ON MAKING FREINDS

On Making Friends
As a human being, one can hardly do without a friend. In fact, friends are sometimes more important and useful to us than our own family members. Our joys are more pleasant when we have a friend to share them; and our sorrows are easier to bear if we have a friend at our side. Indeed, we sometimes find it easier to confide in friends when we have secrets we are reluctant to reveal to even our closest relatives.
But not all the people we are accustomed to calling friends are friends in the true sense of the word; most of the people we share social occasions with are merely acquaintances. Real friendship involves sincerity, mutual trust and self-sacrifice, both in moments of happiness and on occasions of crisis. A true friend will not just tell us what we want to hear, but advise us to do what he or she thinks is really best for us in the long run.
My principle in making friends is to ignore things like what work they do and what their social backgrounds are, but, instead, to observe carefully the little things that reveal their characters. In this way I can be sure that these friends will never let me down, and that we will always be ready to help each other no matter what problems crop up.

[写作佳句及惯用表达]
1.        A hedge between keeps friendship green. (prov.) 君子之交淡如水。
2.        A true friend is one soul in two bodies. (prov.) 挚友如异体同心。
3.        True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom know until it is lost. ——C. C. Colton
真正的友谊犹如人的健康，非到失去时人们才知其可贵。——科尔顿
4.        Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love. ——C. Peguy
爱甚至比天才还少见，而友谊比爱更少见。——佩圭
5.        Everything is good when new, but friends when old. (pron.) 物莫如新， 友莫如故。
6.        Prosperity makes friends, and adversity tries them. (pron.) 兴旺时节交朋友，艰难处境验交情。
7.        A man is known by the company he keeps. (pron.) 从其交友， 知其为人。(欲知其人，先观其友。)
8.        Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing. ——Franklin
择友不须急，换友更宜慎。——富兰克林
9.        All are not friends that speak us fair. (pron.) 说我们好话的未必全是朋友。
10.        Admonish your friends in private, praise them in public. (pron.) 对朋友私下劝戒，公开表扬。

On Making Friends

        As a proverb goes, a life without a friend is a life without a sun. It is true that everybody needs friends. Namely, without a friend, you’ll feel lonely and gloomy. Suppose you are in trouble, whom will you turn to for help if you have now friend? And you may also want to share your feelings and communicate your opinions with someone. In this case we find it necessary to make friends.
        It goes without saying that a friend in need is a friend indeed. A friend should be one you can turn to for help, one who likes to share joy and hardships with you, one you can trust and one who won’t turn his back on you. A friend may argue with you but never lose temper. A devoted friend should keep in contact with you even he lives elsewhere. Quite some people try to make more friends if he lives elsewhere. Quite some people try to make more friends with those who can offer help. The result is that friendship often lasts until they are of no use to each other.
        As far as I am concerned, I like to choose friends mainly according to their characters rather than their social position or their money. I like to make friends with those who have something in common with me or have the merits I do not have. We shall help each other to improve our studies and work and be always ready to help each other. What is more, friends should be honest and reliable.