Speaking. Answer the following questions about yourself, your friends and your ideas about friendship.

1. Do you like to give advice to your friends or ask them for advice?

2. Have you ever let down your friends or felt that they had let you down? Can you forgive this? Have you been forgiven?

3. What do you think of this ancient saying “Socrates is my friend but the truth is dearer to me”?

4. If your friend doesn’t support you in an argument, are you offended or respect his/her opinion?

5. Have you ever let out a secret your friend entrusted you with? How did you feel after that? Has the opposite happened in your relations with your friends?

6. Usually there is a leading and a supporting partner in a friendship. Two leaders very seldom get on well together. In your relationship with your friend which partner are you? If you are a leader, are you always considerate about your friend’s feelings? If you are a supporting partner, do you try to suit yourself to the demand of the leader?

7. Have you ever asked your friend to lie for you or support you in an awkward situation? What was his/her reaction?

8. What do you appreciate most of all in your friend(s)?

Read the text and be ready to retell it.

Friendship is a great thing

All people are connected with each other at home, at work, at school, at the kindergarten, at the meeting and so on. We hear the word “friendship” every day. The words “friendship” and “comradeship” are very close in meaning. Friends and comrades may have the same interests; they understand, help, respect and trust each other. There are many proverbs about friendship. For example, “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. It means that real friends are always ready to help each other in a difficult or awkward situation, at any time of need. The other proverb is: “A friend is easier lost than found”. It means that it is very difficult to find a good friend because it usually takes a long time to become really friendly with somebody. But there are many ways of quickly losing a friend if you do something wrong. So you must always try to keep friendship. Never let your friend down! Never let out a secret that your friend entrusted you with! Remember that “A long tongue is a sign of a short hand”. Be always sincere, never offend and never deceive your friend! Follow these proverbs: “Honesty is a good policy” and “He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs”. You may check if your friendship is strong and will last for a long time. It’s better to be done in time of problems. There’s a proverb “Before you make a friend, eat a bushel of salt with him”. Of course, you needn’t eat much salt to become good friends but you must know your friend very well. So you can see that friendship is a great thing. As English people say, “A good friend is as the sun in winter”. A real friend makes your life happier, brighter and more interesting. He is dear to you and you want your friendship last forever. They say, “A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody”. That’s why many people have only one best friend. But of course, it’s up to you to decide how many friends you’ll have. The main and the most important thing is that your friendship must be real!

BOOKS AND READING

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1180