3. Answer the questions:

1. What are the consequences for friendship when you are at variance with yourself and have inner misbalance? Provide examples proving your opinion.

2. How can you check if a person is loyal to you?

3. What ways of making people listen to you do you know? Are you a good listener?

4. They say honesty is the best policy. Does it work when it comes to friendship? Can telling your friend a lie be a way out?

5. Have you ever stuck up for your friend? Describe the situation in details.

6. What was the greatest thing you’ve ever done for your friend?

7. What stereotypes connected with “friends” do you know?

4. Range the steps from the text above according to your vision, the way they should be. Explain your choice.

Listening

1. Listen to Chris Johnson talking about friendship. What does he say about:

1. the number of friends people have?

2. changes in friendship in the last 30 years?

3. computers and their effect on friendship?

2. Listen to the recording once again and fill in the spaces. Do not forget to write out the expressions connected with the topic “Friends” into your vocabulary book:

I=Interviewer; C=Chris

I: 1) __________________ published in today’s Metro newspaper, we have fewer friends today than ever before. The 2) __________________ thirty- or forty-something has about three close friends, as well as a few ‘semi-detached’ ones. Joining us now to discuss this phenomenon is Chris Johnson, a counselor. Chris, does this surprise you?

C: It doesn’t really surprise me. I think the thing is people don’t seem to have the time or don’t think they have the time to see their friends, and therefore we don’t have as many as our 3) _______________. And that, according to this report, is the big difference between friendships now and friendships twenty or thirty years ago.

I: We are busy and, as a result, we don’t 4) _______________?

C: No, I think we do. However, we also 5) ___________________ as we do to anything else in life. Why sit around the kitchen table having coffee with your best friend when you could be finishing a report for work or in the gym getting fit?

I: On the other hand, why bother going to the gym when you could be spending time with friends?

C: Absolutely. I agree. Most of the calls I get are from people who have great problems and are 6) _________________too. Because of this, they don’t have anyone 7) ________________ when the problems get on top of them.

I: though you’d have thought that with 8) ______________ particularly, it’s 9) _______________

C: Yes, but nevertheless. Something like the Internet doesn’t 10) ________________, does it? I mean, whatever gets 11) _______________, a computer screen is no 12) __________________.

2. Find the sentences with the linking words/word combinations in the interview. Make your examples with the linkers you have found in the interview.

Discussion

1. Render the main idea of the interview to your partner keeping the key details and facts from it.