friendship
Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the friendship for granted, we often don’t clearly understand how we make friends. while we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few, for example, the average among students is about 6 per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interest vary enormously. As we get to know people we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of prime importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.
Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, to have attitudes and interests in common—they often talk about “being on the same wavelength”. It generally takes time to reach this point. And the more intimately involved people become, the more they rely on one another. People want to do friends favors and hate to break a promise. Equally, friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to tolerate differences of opinion.
In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.
生活中，朋友扮演着一个极为重要的角色。然而，我们可能把友谊视为理所当然，却通常并不清楚朋友是怎么结识的。尽管我们与很多人都相处融洽，但真正成为朋友的却只有少数几个——比如，学生平均每人有6个朋友，其中两人志趣相投，相处甚好；除此之外，朋友间的亲密程度及志趣相投的原因大有不同。我们在彼此结识时，常会考虑对方的年龄，种族，经济条件，社会地位和聪明才智等。尽管这些因素并非特别重要，但当人们在年龄与背景方面存在太大差异时，往往很难相处。
有些朋友关系能在相互争论和讨论中维持。但亲密的朋友通常有着相似的观点和信仰，相同的见解和兴趣——就是常说的“志趣相投”，要达到这种境界，一般需要很长时间的磨合。而且，彼此关系越密切，依赖性就越强烈。人们总希望朋友间互帮互助，憎恶背信弃义。同样，朋友间必须学会容忍对方的坏习性，并接受对方的不同观点。
与婚姻相反的是，友谊没有仪式来强化二者的关系。但是，基于双方共同的经历，情感而产生的理解和支持，能克服背景的差异，年龄的界限，打破性别，阶层与种族的屏障，把二人牢牢地拴在一起。