The Best of Friends
You are going to read an article in which four people talk about their friends. For questions 5.1-5.10, choose from the people (A-D). The people may be chosen more than once.
Which person…
5.1.- earns less
money than their friend?
5.2.- says the
two of them did not like each other at first?
5.3.- denies that
their friend is bossy?
5.4.- has had a
similar upbringing to their friends?
5.5.- once fell
out with their friend?
5.7.- says their friend has a good sense of humour?
5.8.- describes their friend as rather shy?
5.9.- has a friend who is very optimistic?
5.10.- has a very ambitious friend?
The best of friends
A) Nadia Hassan has been friends with Amina since
they were fourteen. ‘We were born in the same month,’ says Nadia, ‘and we grew
up in the same small town, though the funny thing is we didn’t actually know
each other until we both took up horse riding, something we still enjoy.’ There
are, according to Nadia, some differences between them. ‘Whereas I tend to be a
bit negative about the future, always expecting the worst to happen, Amina is
the complete opposite. Maybe between us we just about strike the right balance.
Though of course having such different ways of looking at the same thing can
lead to tensions, and a couple of years a go we actually stopped speaking for a
while, but that thing didn’t last long.’
B) Liam Doherty first met his friend Marc when they were both doing summer jobs at a seaside hotel. Marc has since moved to another part of the country, but they still keep in touch by email and chatting online. ‘He comes round to my house whenever he’s in town, which is actually quite often. He’s got a good job and can travel whenever he likes every weekend, which is something I wish I could afford to do on my salary. But he’s different from me in that he’s always had this strong desire for success in life whereas I prefer to take things a bit easier, with plenty of time for hobbies like hill-walking and reading.’
C) Maxim Salenko has been friendly with Andriy ever since they were at primary school. ‘We grew up in much the same kind of family environment and we usually sat together at school and enjoyed the same sports, though in some ways he’s not like me. I’m fairly quiet, perhaps a little shy at times, but Andriy is always a fun guy to be with,’ says Maxim. ‘He can be noisy and some people say he tries to tell everyone what to do, but I don’t think that’s true. He just likes to make sure everyone else has a good time, too. Once or twice I’ve felt a bit irritated by things he said but that was probably because I was in a bad mood at the time, and I don’t think he even noticed I was annoyed.’
D) Camila Leroy and her friend Lara have known each other for three years now. ‘We’re from different backgrounds,’ says Camille, ‘and to be honest when we were introduced at a party we didn’t hit it off at all. She seemed a bit unfriendly and it took quite a while before I realised that she was in fact lacking in self-confidence, particularly when meeting new people. To some extent she still is, but once you get to know Lara you realise what good company she is. She always has interesting things to say, and she tells some great jokes, too. I often see her on the bus home from work because nowadays she lives just round the corner from me. She moved there to be close to the golf course, and I’m thinking of taking it up too.’
MAY, Pete (2014) Compact First Workbook. 2nd edition. Page 4. Cambridge University Press: Italy.
