4.Act out a dialogue: a Job Interview

Vocabulary – Friends

1. He's my best friend

Use the following words to complete the sentences below:

lifelong mine old

acquaintance close best

1. I hear you work with Peter. Did you know he was a friend of………….?

2. I suppose Sandra is my friend. We ring each other most evenings.

3. I'm going up to see some friends in Scotland next week. I haven't seen them for over 30 years!

4. I wouldn't say he was a friend. We used to work together and we go for a drink now and again.

5. I met Martin at university. It was the start of a……………………. friendship.

6. I wouldn't really call Sam a friend. He's just an…………… I know him through Kirsty and Paul.

In informal British English young men often call their friends mates. You can say somebody is your best mate. In the United States men sometimes call their male friends buddies.

2.Other words for friend

Match the words on the left with the ideas on the right:

1. workmate a. We study together.

2. partner b. We work for the same firm.

3. classmate c. We write every month.

4. pen-friend d. We share a flat.

5. flatmate e. We live together, but aren't married.

3. Making friends

Complete the following sentences with the words and phrases below:

a. made

b. true friends

c. made friends with

d. met him through

e. pleased

f. friendly with

g. got to know h. introduced

1. How do you know Susan?

> Rachel and Peter me to her.

2. How do you know Paul?

> I Steve and Peter.

3. I really enjoyed my time at university. I………………so many new friends.

4. People say that Philip is a bit reserved but I…………………..him quite well when we had to work on that report together.

5. We had a great time on holiday in Spain. We………………..a nice couple who were staying in the apartment next to ours.

6. I didn't know you were the people next door to us. I saw you there last night.

7. It's when you are having a difficult time that you know who your…………really are.

8. Anna, can I introduce you to an old friend of mine? This is Zoe. We were at college together.

> Hi, Anna, to meet you.

4. Why people are friends

Match the beginnings and endings of the sentences below:

1. I didn't like Jenny at first but now we get on a. similar backgrounds.

2. We live in different towns now but we still try to see b. in common.

3. Mark and I get on very well. We've got so much с. in touch.

4. Lucy's my best friend. I know I can always rely on d. each other's company.

5. Even if we move to different countries, we'd always stay e. a long way.

6. Mike and I do everything together. We really enjoy f. very well.

7. I think we're friends because we come from g. her.

8. I've known Susan since we were at school. We go back h. each other whenever we can.

Friendship by Vivien

There are many factors which are im­portant in a friendship. I think some kind of shared interest or a similar sense of humour is important. Also, some kind of shared points of refer­ence, so you always have something to talk about. Having some kind of thing that you can laugh about really keeps people together, I think. My friend from Holland, for example, has a very good sense of humour, and always makes me laugh. It's not like English humour, but she is really funny, so we can carry on these long dialogues about nothing much in particular. We enjoy each others' company.

My friends in Russia have a typical kind of Russian character - very gen­erous, kind of motherly. They are very hospitable, and really look after you if you go and stay with them. I went to visit my friend Natasha's mother and she cooked a huge meal with all different kinds of food that must have been very difficult to get hold of. She cooked a huge fish with mushrooms and little pies filled with fish. So, that is an important factor.

I have got quite a lot of friends who I have not seen for years, but when we do get together, it is just like we were never apart. So, it is very easy to reestablish an old friendship if it's important to you, even if you have gone in different directions and have different friends now. Studying lan­guages meant that I went abroad, and other friends went to other coun­tries. My friend, Maria, went to Bra­zil, Anita is now in Paris, Johan went to Spain - friends are all over the globe. We don't keep in touch regu­larly, I mean we write letters but not that often, but knowing that they will always be there is quite reassur­ing. Having friends in different places also means you can go and visit people... I hope to go to Brazil, maybe.

I certainly should go to Paris and see Anita. Anita is probably my best friend. I met her at university and we were in the same hall of resi­dence, although she used to study medicine. We were on the same floor in this big hall and we shared a flat for the next two years, but then she went somewhere else, but then she moved into the next flat that I went to. So, over a period of like 4 or 5 years, we shared many flats and places of residence. She is Indian. Her Indian parents came to England, to Birmingham, when they were, I think, 20, and had two children, two girls. So, there is Anita and her sis­ter Monica, who is also a doctor now. She studied at the same university.

Monica was much stricter in her reli­gious ways, I suppose, and married an­other Hindu. It was almost like an ar­ranged marriage. They met at the uni­versity and she was his first girlfriend, he was her first boyfriend and they committed themselves to each other. And now, I think, they have two chil­dren. Anita was a bit more orthodox, shall we say, in her way of thinking. She was interested in psychology, psy­chiatry and the mind, but she is very spiritual. She also went to India a lot of times to rediscover her roots and she is incredibly well-read about all kinds of things like religion, philosophy, and art. You can talk with her about any subject and she will not talk in a "Miss know-it-all" type of way, but you get the feeling you are talking to somebody with great intelligence. She always used to work so hard that she never had any free time.

When I lived in London, she was there working as a doctor by then, and we would meet up and go to have an In­dian meal, or she would cook some­times. That is how I learnt how to cook a lot of Indian dishes, from her, be­cause my mother, although they lived in Sri Lanka for a long time, never cooks, or rarely cooks Indian food any­way. She cooks Tandoori chicken, and that is about it really, or maybe some­times a kind of Madras curry. But, Anita cooks all these incredible daals, made from lentils, which are usually quite hot, and also smoked aubergines, which are really nice. I used to say she had a natural gift for cooking rice, be­cause it would always be perfect, al­though she never concentrated on it. What else did we do together? Eating was probably our main hobby. She used to cook some really strange things... like sandwiches that contained peaches, baked beans and tuna fish, I think, all together, and she would put mayonnaise on everything, 'cause she knew that I hated mayonnaise, so I would never like to eat her food. So, it was safe if she covered it with mayon­naise.

One time when she went to India, she met Eric, who's a French man and also a yogi, I think. He was a meditation and yoga teacher there, and she ended up getting married to him and going to live in Paris. I haven't heard from her recently. I do not know if she has any babies or anything, but I am sure we will be in contact soon. I hope so, because I still consider her as my best friend and my greatest confidante. I could tell her anything, she was always a very good listener, and she would sug­gest things, but never give you a lec­ture, on what you should do, just offer maybe a sympathetic ear and maybe another way of looking at things, if there were any problems. Of course, when you are in university, there are always hundreds of problems.

The first time I went to Albania, I went with Anita. That was really in­teresting. It was nice to go away somewhere and see Albania through her eyes as well, to observe her im­pressions of it. One of her hobbies is photography, and she takes very good pictures. I, on the other hand, always take really awful pictures, I don’t know why. I try to be quite ar­tistic, but they always turn out re­ally bad.

In the future, I think she intends to carry on practising medicine, psychia­try. It’s getting very difficult in Eng­land, with the present state of the N.H.S. (National Health Service), as the further up you get, the further up at the ladder, the more separated you get from practising real medicine. As you get more important, your job be­comes more like an office job. I know that because a lot of people in my family are doctors, nurses, and sur­geons, and they find out that the more successful they get, the more separated they are from people, from medicine, and they end up just sitting in offices. That must be very frustrat­ing. I do not know how Anita finds being a doctor in France, it would be interesting to find out. Last time I spoke to her she was learning French, and finding it quite a hard task.

1. Explain the meaning of the words and expressions in bold. Use them in your own sentences.

2. Each paragraph of the text is an answer to a certain question. Ask these questions and let your group mates answer them.

3. Do you agree with Vivien’s thoughts in the last passage?

4. Choose the right answer.

1. Vivien’s friend from Holland has a very good ….

a) cat b) dog c) sense of humour.

2. Vivien’s Russian friends are very…

1. sad b) greedy c) hospitable

3. Having friends in many different places means that you…

1. don’t have to study languages b) stay at home c) can go and visit people

4. Anita is Vivien’s …

1. sister b) teacher c) best friend

5. Vivien’s friend Monica has…

1. 3 children 2) 2 children c) 5 children

6. Vivien didn’t like things with…

1. mayonnaise b) cucumbers c) fish

7. Anita’s husband name is …

1. Eric b) Paris c) Frank

8. One of Anita’s hobbies is …

1. photography b) animals c) horses

9. Anita works in France as…

1. a doctor b) a teacher c) a translator