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In a complex society where efficiency is highly emphasized, developing frien

游客2024-11-16  0
问题     In a complex society where efficiency is highly emphasized, developing friendship seems costly in terms of both time and energy. Yet, it is worth it! In the following excerpt, the author lists several advantages of establishing friendships. Meanwhile, he also points out what we will face if we develop poor friendships. Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize briefly the opinions from the excerpt;
    2. give your comment.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
    Friendship, immortalized in literature, songs and quotations, is increasingly being recognized as vital to health as well as happiness.
    In study after study, medical researchers have found that people who have friends they can turn to for affirmation, understanding, advice and assistance as well as for affection are more likely to survive health challenges like heart attacks and major surgery and are less likely to develop diseases like cancer and breathing-connected infections.
    Yet in the complex and highly mobile existence typical of many modern American lives, good friends are ever harder to make and even harder to keep. In two-career families with children, there is often little time and energy left for the adults to pursue or maintain close friendships.
    For those climbing occupational ladders or holding two or more jobs to make ends meet, establishing and maintaining friendships often takes a back seat. For others, job changes or promotions often results in moving to new places, forcing friendships to subsist on long-distance phone calls and letters with only occasional visits to recapture former closeness.
    But friendship can also be a drag, taking on unreasonable elements that are emotionally and sometimes physically draining. It may be wisest to terminate a friendship when friends become overly dependent on you for emotional well-being. For friendships to be fulfilling, they should make you feel better, not worse.
    Friends can fill a variety of roles, and no one friend should be expected to satisfy them all. They can join you in pursuing pleasurable recreational activities, they can provide intellectual stimulation and they can enhance the joys of personal celebrations.
    But more important from a health standpoint, friends can provide emotional support through their caring and respect and by how much they value their association with you. Friends can help to reaffirm your self-worth when circumstances, like the loss of a job or end of a marriage, challenge your sense of competence and self-esteem.
    Friends can help you solve problems by being a less passionate sounding board, by helping you appraise the situation realistically and offering concrete advice, even if they have never faced a similar problem.
    Friends can also provide material aid—from baby-sitting to shelter—when you are in a jam or when an emergency arises. A friend may be able to help you cut through complicated channels, lend you a car when yours is stolen or not available for the moment, provide meals when a family member is hospitalized, among other ways of reducing the stress associated with life’s inevitable problems.
    Establishing close friendships involves taking some emotional risks. You must be willing to drop the reserve you feel among acquaintances and be revealing about deeper feelings, concerns and beliefs. You must also be willing to listen to the private thoughts, feelings and needs of your friends.
    Don’t measure friendship by how much you give to or get from the other person. Expect to give more than you receive. Or if your friend is the type who is always giving, don’t feel you must match that generosity. Either accept it graciously or explain your discomfort about getting more than you can give.
    A good friendship is like a marriage. It requires tolerance, humor, nurturing, time and perspective. It should never be taken for granted.
    Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
选项
答案                 Friendship and Health
    Friendship has long been regarded as vital to health and happiness. Recent studies prove that friendship is important to survive health challenges. Yet, more and more factors hinder us from maintaining friendship such as house-moving, and engagement in work and housework. Friendship can play several roles in health. For example, it can provide emotional support, help you appraise the situation realistically, and provide you with advice and material aids. In case of misfortune, friends can share your feelings of adversities. However, it is advisable to terminate friendship if your friend becomes overly dependent on you.
    The famous English poet Coleridge said: "Friendship is a sheltering tree. " These words speak true of friendship—the treasure trove for any lucky one with a close friend or two in their lives.
    As shown by studies, friendship plays an important role both in our physical and psychological health. Like a powerful antidote to the invading viruses, confiding relationships bring surprising improvement in our immune system. In addition, researches indicate that socially isolated people have a higher risk of getting cancer and breathing-connected infections. So simply put, having someone to talk to is very powerful medicine.
    Psychologically speaking, maintaining profound rather than superficial relationships can reduce the damaging effects of stress in our lives. We may all have had this experience that when we are down and the world seems void, gloomy and futile, our friends lift us up in spirit and fill that dark and empty world with sunshine. Like a torch in the appalling darkness, our friends get us through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. In times of trouble, friendship shows its real strength in consoling our broken hearts, convincing us of our self-worth, and reminding us of our peccadilloes. Admittedly, friendship can help us weather most things.
    Helen Keller once said: "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." Let’s embrace those charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
解析 本题探讨友谊与健康之间的关系，属于品德修养类话题。题目要求简要概括所给材料中的观点，并发表自己的评论。在具体行文方面，考生可以开篇点题，简要概括友谊与健康之间的关系；然后提出自己对这一问题的观点并给出充分的论据支撑；最后总结全文，重述论点或者升华主题。
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