新世纪大学英语第三册课文和翻译

也干脆。年轻人的态度变化无常，甚至一日数变，难怪他们的友谊总是迅速地开始，又匆匆地结束。

|建立在美德之上的友谊。|完美无瑕的友谊立足于美 德。只有那些品德高尚

而且拥有相似美德的人之间建立的友谊才是最完美的。品行高尚的人，其行为是相同的，或者是类似的。爱和友谊多半在品行高尚的人之间发生，而且以最高雅的形式出现。这种友谊是罕见的，需要时间，需要交 往。常言道，真正的朋友必须同甘共苦，历经风雨。只有当两个人互相证明自己值得爱并获得对方的信任之后，彼此方能接受对方为朋友。交友的意愿可能倏忽而至，但真正的友谊却要慢慢培养。

另一种传统的友谊观可以在古罗马政治家、演说家西塞罗的著作里找到。西

塞罗认为，真正的友谊只能在好人之间发生。他进而将“好人”定义为“那些行为和生活无损于自己的荣誉、纯洁、公平和开明的人；那些摆脱了贪婪、欲念和暴力的人；那些敢于依照自己的信念说话和做事的人。”好人之间建立的这种友谊立足于美德，它确实可以带来物质利益，但决不以追求物质利益为目标。人类生活在以共同的理想为基础的社会。因此，在处理朋友关系和其他人际关系 时，优越于他人的人必须平等地对待那些没那么幸运的人。美德创造友谊，美德使友谊之树常青。

我们由此可以看出，传统的友谊观由三个要素构成：朋友以相伴为乐；朋

友必须彼此受益；彼此都有志于崇高的事业。这些传统的友谊观告诉我们，两个品德高尚的朋友是永不分离的，因为彼此认同对方的高尚品德。因此，认识朋友就是认识自我，了解朋友就是了解自我。可以说朋友就好比是一面镜子，每个人都可以从朋友身上看清自己。置身于品德高尚的朋友之中，我们会对美德达成共

识，共同为之不遗余力。这样的友谊是永恒的，因为朋友应该具备的一切品质都凝结在这种友谊关系中。

2 How Deep Is Your Love?

Mansi Bhatia

Love to some is like a cloud

To some as strong as steel

For some a way of living

For some a way to feel

And some say love is holding on

And some say let it go

And some say love is everything

Some say they don't know

At some stage or the other in our lives we experience an emotion which defies definition. It's a feeling that can only be felt and not described. An overwhelming joy that comes together with its share of sadness. Love.

Given the busy nature of our lives, it's to be appreciated that we even find the time to indulge in matters of the heart. But at the same time I wonder if we even understand its true depth. I remember having countless crushes while in school. My math teacher, our neighbour's son, my best friend's brother and lots of others whom I fancied for the colour of their eyes, the shape of their moustaches or just the way they walked. Harmless puppy loves that are as brief as soap bubbles. I can laugh about all those silly and adventurous thoughts and acts now but at that time nothing could be more serious an affair for me. Then came the stage of real relationships.

Being in an all girls' school I hardly had the opportunity to interact with members of the opposite gender. Socials between our school and the boys' college, therefore, would be awaited anxiously. Those three hours of unhesitant attention by a group of well-groomed young gentlemen provided us with enough content to talk and feel excited about for the next four weeks.

And even then there was no real need of having a boyfriend.

I somehow grew up believing that love would happen when it had to. And sure enough it did. It came at an age when I had a career, a long-term plan and a more or less settled life (and now I am not yet 25!). I was mature enough to enter a relationship which demands a lot of give and not so much of take.

Love was a magnificent building I built on the foundation of friendship. It took time to blossom. It took a lot of understanding, loads of sharing and caring, and plenty of affection to become what it is today. And it meant a meeting of minds. You might say that I belong to the traditional school of romance. But in my opinion, love needs to be nurtured. And it has to be distinguished from the intense but short-lived love or the pleasures of the flesh.

Our parents' generation was fed lavishly with ideals. It was an era of constraints, restraints, respect, admiration, and plenty of romance. The long skirts, the quiet and unpretentious looks, the curled long hair, the calmness, the shy glance 鈥?these are all so frequently remindful of a bygone era. An age when the distance between the sexes somehow managed to help preserve the holiness of love and relationships.

The younger generation, with its openness and fading lines of proximity, has jumped on the bandwagon of love with so much haste that it is difficult for them to distinguish between physical attraction and mental compatibilities. What we