自考英语二(新版)原文Unit3FriendshipandLoyalty.doc

Unit 3 Friendship and Loyalty
A Famous Quote
Betraying a trust is a very quick and painful way to terminate a friendship.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882), American essayist, lecture and poet, who led the Transcendentalist Movement of the mid-19th century.
Text A Reflections: Friendship and Loyalty
Pre-reading Questions
1. Do you believe that loyal friends are available on the Internet?
2. What personal qualities matter most in your choice of friends? And why?

How many of us recognize true loyalty in a friend? Loyalty consists of a friend, who will stick by you, through thick and thin. A friend who is always honest with you and never betrays the friendship with lies is a loyal friend. If you have a loyal friend, you have indeed found a true virtue in that friend.
The current trend on the Internet is befriending anyone who requests to be your friend. However, this new trend may lead to disasters. It may be popular and trendy to have a network fill with a multitude of mutual friends. However, one true loyal friend may be the only friend you need.
A term used on the popular Facebook site is B.F.F. This acronym means best friend forever. Are they really your best friends forever? You might ask yourself this question, “Will they share my private matters with others?” If the answer to that is, “I don’t know”, more than likely, they will not be your best friends forever. Maybe not, even for a day.
I choose to have a B.L.F., a best loyal friend, for those of you who may be challenged by the use of acronyms during this age of technology and fast-talking.
Loyalty found in a friend is akin to making a deposit in a bank account. More often than not, your deposits gain interest, and interest in your well-being and welfare. A loyal friend attracts another loyal friend. In essence, water does seek its own level.
If you were a B.L.F way before Facebook gained notoriety, then I’m sure you understand the premise of loyalty in a friend. You should never exploit your B.L.F. to gain more friends or make yourself seem more important to others. These are not the traits of a best loyal friend.
A best loyal friend does not care who is invited to your party. They will attend your party and celebrate you, just in the way a best loyal friend should do.
Reconnecting with a best loyal friend is easier to do on the pages of Facebook. However, a virtual friend does not assure you of his loyalty. My caution to you is that you’d better pay attention to the smiling faces on the Facebook pages. In the eighties we were warned of smiling faces in a song, which contained these lyrics, “A smile is just a frown turned upside down, my friend.” Now, that is the undisputed truth for my generation.

Text B A Tribute to the Dog
Pre-reading questions:
1. Why do many people choose to keep dogs as pets instead of other animals?
2. Why do you think a growing number of Chinese, especially the elderly, prefer to keep pets?
The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son of daughter whom he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith.
The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolute, unselfish friend a man may have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.
A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the sores and wounds that come in the encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if the were a prince.
When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes and death takes its master in its embrace and the body is laid away the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there, by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness faithful and true even to death.