Read the following and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 42 to 46.
Is intimate friendship a relationship that is dying out in modern society? In our busy lives, we have many acquaintances and friends - the people we work with, our neighbours, the people we chat to at the local shop and so on. But how many really close friendships can we count? The truth for most of us is probably not many. Some psychologists say that while we still value strong family bonds, in recent times, friendships have lost the strength and importance that they had in the past.
According to a study published recently in the USA, friendships in America have been declining in quality and quantity since at least 1985. It claims that 25% of Americans don‟t have anyone they could call a close friend. Yet, on the surface, Americans seem extremely friendly people. If you have ever visited the USA, you will be familiar with the warmth and hospitality that they show to complete strangers. Everyone can be treated as a „buddy‟, even if they are just a casual acquaintance.
But in other cultures, acquaintances and friendships have different qualities. In France, for example, when you are trying to get to know a person, they may seem rather unfriendly and the length of time it takes to form a strong friendship seems greater than in other countries. This is because for the French there is still a clear distinction between a casual acquaintance and a true friend. Although France is changing and perhaps becoming more like America, there is no doubt that French people are still more private in their friendships and that they reserve real intimacy for their closest friends. This intimacy can be found in many other non-western cultures too, where great importance is attached to the quality of friendships. It is something that many of us in the West have forgotten and need to rediscover.
