Teenagers Need Friends

劉健

“找呀找呀找朋友，找到一個好朋友，敬個禮呀握握手，你是我的好朋友……”相信大家都會唱這首歌。事實上，交好朋友也有利于青少年們的健康和成長，但青少年與父母之間依然存在著代溝，父母更應該理解他們。

Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members don't know them as well as their friends do. In large families， brothers and sisters often fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for support1.

It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends. Even when they are not with their friends， they spend a lot of time talking to each other on the phone. This communication2 is very important in children's growing up， because friends can discuss3 things. These things are difficult to talk to their family members.

However， parents often try to choose4 their children's friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. Have you ever thought of the following questions？

Who chooses your friends？

Do you choose your friends or do your friends choose you？

Have you got a good friend your parents don't like？

Your answers are welcome.

Exercise：

Writing （寫作）.

學校的“Teenager Hotline”每天都能收到不少同學的咨詢電話。作為熱線的一名自愿者，請你根據當時的記錄，首先描述其中兩位同學遇到的問題，然后給一位同學提出具體建議并說明原因。（100詞左右）

Student： Mary

Problem： There are so many rules in my family. For example， I have to do chores after ? school.

Student： Lucy

Problem： Pet dogs in my neighborhood make the ground dirty.

Student： Tom

Problem： My parents want me to be a lawyer. But I want to be a pop singer.