雅思口語part 3話題：不同階段的朋友

　　Do you think we meet different kinds of friends at different stages of our lives? In what ways are these types of friend different?你認為我們在不同的人生階段會遇到不同類型的朋友嗎?這些類型的朋友有什么不同?

　　I totally agree with that statement as I believe we have different expectations and requirements for our friends in different stages of our life. When children are in primary schools, they just have one or two friends and this is because at that stage they are not capable of assessing and appreciate the importance of friendship. In the early stages of our life, we require friends who would love to play with us, do things that we like to do. So, these relationships are slack and nothing is invested as far as feelings are concerned. However, we start understanding the significance of this bond in the high school as we make some friends who have similar interests and can help us in studies. Friends during puberty, on the other hand, are in many cases the most important in someone's life and often these relationships are really strong and based on solid foundation. At that period of life, people's' relationships are true and substantial as real feelings such as love, affection, support and trust are dominant. When we start our career, we will have many friends who are basically colleagues. In the old age, people usually have friends who are more like family members.

　　So, I would say that friends in the very early ages are just some playmates who kids hang out and spend some time with and the teen to adult stages include very important and worthy people that are much more than friends.

　　How easy is it to make friends with people from a different age group?與來自不同年齡段的人交朋友有多容易?

　　It's a controversial issue as some would say it is quite easy to make friends from different age groups while others would deny it.

　　In my opinion, the most important characteristics in making friends are communication and common views. In this way, people are able to talk about different things, make meaningful conversations and swap ideas. If these elements don't exist, even among the people of same age group, then it's really difficult for someone to make friends. I would say that usually, people find it easier to have friends of same age groups, but if effective communication and common views work smoothly between two persons of different age groups, they can become good friends. For example, a friend of mine who is around my age has a close friend of 60. When I found about that I was surprised, but when I saw that they have so much in common and they have great times together, I totally endorsed it. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have friends who are much older than I am but I have younger friends and common interests make us a really tight group.

　　Do you think it is possible to be friends with someone if you never meet them in person?你認為如果你不親自去見某人，你有可能成為朋友嗎?

　　It’s an interesting question to answer and I would say that it is possible indeed, but it's not the same as having friends who we meet personally and interact face-to-face. Nowadays, especially due to technological advances, more and more people chat and interact with each other via chatting, calling and social media applications and in this way, they develop different kinds of relationships. There are many cases when someone talks with another person on a constant basis and share personal things, experiences and they turn out to call each other 'friend'. But in my opinion, I would say that this person is more of an e-buddy rather than a real friend. A friend is someone that people can see in the flesh and consort with them regularly.

　　Is this real friendship?這是真正的友誼嗎?

　　As I extensively mentioned earlier, this isn't true friendship, at least in my taste. Many positive sentiments may be created, such as rapport, confidence and happiness, but friendship is much more than only a word and it entails that people have a contact on a regular basis and hang out with each other. E-friendship is a different type of friendship, I would say an impersonal one because friends aren't able to meet each other in person and the only thing they can do is talk by typing keystrokes on the keyboard or make video calls. Such friendship is growing faster due to our reliance on technology, but they are not real friendship, in my opinion.

　　What kind of influence can friends have on our lives?

　　朋友對我們的生活有什么樣的影響?

　　It is argued that friends are the second most influential persons in someone's life, after the parents. A famous saying ‘A person is known by the company he keeps’ is indeed a reflection that we are greatly influenced by the friends we have. Especially at adolescence, children are impressionable as they form their personality and character and oftentimes they copy their peers. During this time good friends can instil positive attributes and elements in a person while the opposite is also true.

　　Friends constitute a big part of our life and they play a very important role. They can contribute to the creation of positive feelings for us such as happiness, self-confidence, esteem and control and can also delude us to have negative feelings and activities. Hence, they can be determinants of someone's character as friendship can play a vital role in a person's beliefs.

　　How important would you say it is to have friends from different cultures?

　　你認為有來自不同文化背景的朋友有多重要?

　　In my opinion, having friends from diverse cultures is extremely important and helpful. Initially, people learn many things about other cultures such as history, customs, values and points, and this way their knowledge in enhanced. Furthermore, it promotes diversity and cultivates tolerance and understanding as well as positive changes in our attitude. For example, by having a friend with completely different culture, people can swap opinions, broaden their horizons and become tolerant about things they have not faced before. To conclude, I reckon that it is essential that people have pals from different countries because as far as I'm concerned, this could only lead to positive outcomes.