Growing up across the street from each other in Twin Falls, Idaho, Lisa Fry and Paula Turner never doubted their friendship would last forever. But after Fry married, moved to New York City and had a baby, her letters to Turner suddenly went unanswered. “ Do you think I’ve somehow offended her?” Fry asked her husband.

Turner, meanwhile, had convinced herself she was no longer important to Fry. “She’s got a family now,” she told herself. “ We’re just too different to be close like before.”

Finally, Fry summoned（鼓起）the courage to call her old friend. At first, the conversation was awkward, yet soon they both admitted that they missed each other. A month later, they got together and quickly fell into their old habit of laughing and sharing confidences.

“ Thank goodness I finally took action,” Fry says. “ We both realized we were as important to each other as ever.”

There are good reasons to cherish our friendships. Some years ago a public-opinion research firm, Roper Starch Worldwide, asked 2007 people to identify one or two things that said the most about themselves. Friends far outranked homes, jobs, clothes and cars.

 “A well-established friendship carries a long history of experience and interaction that defines who we are and keep us connected,” says Donald Pannen, executive officer of the Western Psychological Association. “ It is a heritage（财产）we should protect.”

Ironically, says Brant R. Burleson, professor of communication at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. “ the better friends you are, the more likely you’ll face conflicts.” And the outcome can be precisely what you don’t want--- an end to the friendship.

The good news is that most troubled friendships can be mended.

1．Which of the following would be the best title for this passage ?

     A．A Broken Friendship                   B．Cherish Friendship

     C．What makes good friends              D．How to Make Friendship Last Long

2．The underlined word “ awkward” in Paragraph 3 probably means______.

      A．embarrassing      B． casual              C．convenient        D．relaxed

3．According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

      A．Lisa Fry and Paula Turner believed their friendship wouldn’t last forever.

      B．Turner didn’t reply to Fry’s letters because she was too busy.

      D．Lisa Fry and Paula Turner misunderstood each other at first.

4．What do you think the author will talk about next ?

   A．Suggestions on how to mend the troubled friendship.

   B．Some more examples of good friends.

   C．Functions of Friendship.

   D．How to cherish friendship.

When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate（light）me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say:“Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.

When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend, He was in despair(disappointment)and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

For almost four years I have had remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think:“Yes, I must tell….”We have never met.

It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist，who will only fill up the healing silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.

1. In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.

2.In Paragraph 3, “We gave London to each other” probably means ______.

3. According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend _______.

4. In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ______.

5. What is the best title for the passage?

When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate（light）me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.
When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say:“Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend, He was in despair(disappointment)and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think:“Yes, I must tell….”We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist，who will only fill up the healing silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.
【小题1】 In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.