It’s a Friday night. Your girl friends are out at a bar and your boyfriend is playing soccer with his mates. Two text messages later, you’re eating pizza and watching action movies with three guy friends. Perfect.

“Guy friends” have the potential to enrich your life in ways that female friends and boyfriends just can’t. For starters, they provide an insider’s perspective on how men think, feel and behave. When dealing with male relatives, coworkers and even boyfriends, another man’s point of view can be incredibly useful. Three hours spent analyzing a situation in a café with your girlfriends can’t compete with a quick chat to a guy friend.

Many women find that time spent with male friends can be a liberating and somewhat refreshing break from spending time with the girls. Without the judgmental gaze of other females, there is less pressure to dress up and compete for attention.

Traditionally, girl-guy friendships are seen as hard to maintain. Most relationships between males and females that we come across in our day-to-day lives, whether in movies or books, are romantic by nature. These cultural images make girl-guy friendships seem impossible.

Yet in reality, as gender roles loosen and equality becomes a norm in the workplace, it has become much more common for platonic friendships to blossom.

“The belief that men and women can’t be friends comes from another era in which women were at home and men were in the workplace, and the only way they could get together was for romance,” explains psychologist Linda Sapadin to Psychology Today magazine. “Now they work together and share sports interests and socialize together.”

“My boyfriend has met all of my guy friends so he’s quite accepting of me hanging out with them,” says Nellie. “Because we’ve been dating so long, there’s a level of trust where he knows I will make the right decision when choosing who to be friends with.

“He understands that the kind of time that I spend differs between guys and girls. When I’m out with the girls, we’re gossiping or talking about clothes but when I’m spending time with the guys, it’s different. I think their carefree and ‘whatever goes’ attitude can sometimes be exactly what I need.”

1.  What is the best title of the passage?

A．Platonic friendship can be fun and liberating.

B．Platonic friendship can take the place of boy-or-girl friendship.

C．Man friendship is far more exciting than woman friendship.

D．Both man friendship and woman friendship are necessary forgirls.

2.  In writer’s opinion, girl-guy friendships_________

A．are hard to maintain in modern society.

B．are impossible for most boys and girls.

C．are quite reasonable and thought highly of by most people.

D．are quite interesting and accepted by more and more and moregirls.

3. Why did people think men and women can’t be friends in the past?

A．Becausemen were at home and women were in the workplace.

B．Becauseboth men and women are too shy to make friends.

C．Because they were hard to keep in touch and only bymarrying cantheystay in touch with each other.

D．Becausewomen were at home and men were in the workplace, and the only way they could get together was for friendship.

4.  According to what Nellie said, _______

A．Her boyfriend enjoys she and her guy friend stay together.

B．When I’m out with the boys, we’re not gossiping or talking about clothes.

C．Sometimes whatmy guy friends giveisjustwhatI need.

D．My boyfriend trusts me so heaccepts my decision.

We’ve been looking at houses but haven’t found ______ we like yet.

Several years ago, I had a huge falling out with one of my best friends. So huge, in fact, that now I can’t even remember what happened.
In the past nine years, I’ve seen her twice, and each time we’ve been polite but distant. And that troubles me because we were once that close to each other. I’d like nothing more than to go back nine years, and continue our friendship. But how? How do you reconnect with friends you’ve lost throughout the years?
Linking to your past
The desire to reconnect with lost friend isn’t unusual. Why? Because friends link us to the past. “Friends from years ago are custodians(监护人) of our past,” says Sandy Sheehy, author of Connecting” The Enduring Power of Female Friendship.
Although you can’t share information about your past with friends you’ve met recently, you don’t have a shared history with them. So you wind up only telling them about your past, rather than sharing it with them.
But many people never try to reconnect. Women especially have trouble taking the first step. Shyness or fear that the other person doesn’t want to reconnect often stops many women. And that shouldn’t be. Your friends probably want to be in touch with you as much as you want to be in touch with them.
Searching for friends
Fortunately, finding lost friends isn’t as difficult as it once was, thanks to tools like the Internet. Our experts offer these suggestions for locating contact information:
Search Internet sites designed to locate people like classmates.com and switchboard.com.
Contact your high school or college alumni（校友）office to request current address information.
Surf online yellow pages. Check current phone records from your friend’s hometown.
Network with other friends who might have known your friend.
Get in touch with any of her relatives(亲戚), if you know where they live. If you know where she works, find the company’s web site and search the directory of personnel.
【小题1】What ‘s the subject discussed in the passage?

A．Lack of money	B．Shortage of time
C．Regret and shame	D．Fear and shyness

Welcome to Banff, Canada’s first, most famous and arguably most fascinating national park. If you’ve come to ski or snowboard, we’ll see you on the slopes. Skiing is a local favourite too.

While you’re here, try other recreational activities available in our mountains. Popular choices include a Banff Gondola ride up Sulphur Mountain, bathe in the natural mineral waters at the Upper Hot Spring, horse-drawn sleigh ride, drive-your-own-team dog sled excursion, and snowmobile tour to the highland（but not in the national park）.

We also recommend you make time to enjoy simple pleasures. After looking around Banff Ave shops, walk a couple of blocks west or south to the scenic Bow River.

True ice skating on frozen Lake Louise where Ice Magic International Ice Sculpture Competition Works are displayed after Jan 25. You can rent skates in Banff or at the sport shop in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel.

Banff’s backcountry paths access a wilderness world of silence and matchless beauty—cross country skis and snowshoes provide the means. Banff sport shops rent equipment and clothes, or join an organized tour. Although we’ve been many times, we still find the cliffs and icefalls of our frozen canyons worth visiting.

Wildlife watching also creates satisfying memories. We have seen hundreds of the elk and bighorn sheep that attract visitors, yet they still arouse a sense of wonder. And the rare spotting of a cougar, wolf or woodland caribou takes our breath away.

See if simple pleasure work for your Fight in the snow with your kids, walk beside a stream or climb to a high place and admire the view.

 —Banff Resort Guide Editors

According to the passage, Banff’s backcountry is accessible by_______.

A. cross country skiing             B, horse-drawn sleigh riding

C. snowmobiling                    D. dogsledding

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Dogsledding is the most popular sport among local people.

B. Watching wildlife is a memorable experience.

C. Travelers should bring their own sports equipment.

D. Shopping is too simple a pleasure to enjoy.

The purpose of the writing is to _______.

A. promote scenic spots in Canada      

B. advertise for the sports in Banff

C. introduce tourist activities in Banff    

D. describe breathtaking views in Banff

Mr. Harris used to work in Dover, but then he changed his work, and he and his wife moved to another town. They did not have many friends there, but they soon met a lot of interesting people, and after a few weeks, they often went to dinner or to parties at other people’s houses.

Then Mrs. Harris said to her husband, “We’ve been to a lot of other people’s houses, and now we must invite them to our house, mustn’t we?”

“Yes, certainly,” answered her husband, “A big party will be the easiest thing, won’t it? Then we can start to invite people to dinner in small numbers next month.”

So Mrs. Harris said, “Yes, I’ll invite all our friends here to a big party on 5th December.”

“How many will that be?” Mr. Harris asked. “Don’t invite too many.”

Mrs. Harris was beginning to write the invitations when her husband saw that she was writing, “Party. 6.30 to 8.30 p.m.”

“That isn’t very nice, is it?” he said. “You’re telling our guests that they must go at 8.30.” So Mrs. Harris just wrote “Party. 6.30 p.m.”

A lot of guests came, and they all had a good time, so they did not go home at 8.30. In fact they were still there at mid-night when the door bell rang and a policeman arrived. He said, “You must stop making a noise, because someone has complained.”

Mr. Harris said he did not want to quarrel with the policeman, so everyone went home. They were sorry to have to go.

When Mr. and Mrs. Harris were alone again, she said to him. “That was a surprise, wasn’t it? Who complained about the noise?”

“I did,” Mr Harris answered in a tired voice.

1.Why did Mr. Harris and his wife move to another town?

A．They wanted to make some new friends.

B．Mr. Harris changed his work.

C．They wanted to meet a lot of interesting people.

D．They enjoyed going to parties and visiting other people’s houses.

2.What made Mr. and Mrs. Harris hold a party at their house?

A．It was easy to hold a big party at home.

B．They could ask people to dinner in small numbers.

C．They had gone to other people’s parties many times.

D．They liked making friends with others.

3.How long would Mrs. Harris like the party to last?

A．From the morning till night.                B．About fourteen hours.

C．About two hours.                       D．Till midnight

4.When did the party end that evening?

A．At about 8.30.

B．When the policeman talked with Mr. Harris on the phone.

C．About twelve o’clock..

D．When someone telephoned the police station.

5.Why did Mr. Harris telephone the policeman about the noise?

A．Because someone rang his door bell many times at mid-night.

B．He did not want his friends to stay late that night.

C．His friends had a good time that night and also feel tired.

D．Because he hated the noise.