马上要英语期末考了,口试+笔试,再不复习就要亖了呀.
unit 1 social media and friendship
tasks to complete:
Expand my vocabulary about social media and friendship.
explain how social media affects our concepts oof friendship.
contrast and compare face-to face friends and online friends.
identify better ways to make friend at college.
participate in a mock debate on the topic "face-to face friends are better than online friends".
What exactly is a friend?
The anwsers to this question used to be clear. Friends are people that you know, socialize with, like and trust in real life.
But then came the social media, and suddenly our ability to precisely define a friend is increasingly blurred.
blur: 使模糊，使不清晰，使不准确。
- Indeed, we might feel as if we are awash in friends. Yet right before our eyes, we're also changing the way we conduct relationships. smaller circles of friends are being partially eclipsed by Facebook acquaintances rountinely numbered in the hundreds.PERHAPS to a dark place, one where electornic stimuli slowly replace the joy of human contact.
acquaintance: 熟人，知己。 stimuli: 刺激，诱惑。
- the depleting level of ''social capital'' in communities, from churches to bowling alleys.
deplete: 耗尽，枯竭。 bowling alley: 保龄球馆。
fact support:
- One in three British would like to live closer to their family, although social trends are forcing them to farther apart.
- the average American has only two close friends and a quarter don't have any.
reasons:
- The pressure of urban life, leading to less quality time for others.
- The decline in the quality of social connectivities, as cultivating a good friendship takes more.
- Few unstructured, fallow time in our childhoods, which was the vital time for deeper friendships, in which we share joy, sorrow together.
conclusion:
- ''friending online'' nurtures shallow relationships, as the new word ''friending'' itself implies.
- A socity that thwarts oppurtunities for deeper sociality,stymies well-being.
preparation:
As long as we are talking abput this thesis, we need to figure out what is the exact meaning of ''friend'' .
what is a friend? In my opinion, a friend is someone or even something that helps you escape from the loneliness.
The defintion I give may sound ridiculous, to put it more pursuasively, let me give further explantions:
the behavior of giving a defintion is fascinating as well as dangerous, thus my definition is based on my experience of when will one call another a friend.
one can call his deskmate his friend, a kid can also call his toy a friend, and also one can call a virtual thing his friend.However, one may not call his colleague, the person he works with, a friend.Becauce purely working with somebody in a rational way, for most people, he can't feel being connected.(Of course, he can feel connected with his work, and consider the work he do as his friends,haha)
It's a human instinct to get rid of his loneliness since our ancestor, when one is unable to live and have his child out of deep connections with others. In our genetic level, nobody tends to be in loneliness, which reflects physiologically when we are in a state of loneliness,our body tells of us, for example, in the form of harmones, making us feel uncomfortable, and the continuing of this mental state can lead to more problems. Attention! it has not come to the round of friend.
We human recognized world in our own eyes, in our own nose, ears and feelings and their do not exist any absolute truth and reality, nothing is not subjective.
Having a friend means to have a connection with the world, just like a kite string ,thwarts us from the complete detachment from the world. Therefore, even your parents and enemies can be your friends, in terms of this definition.
How can people build connections with others?We were born with nothing in our thoughts.And our worldview and values are generally formed by the environment and the experiences we have had. At the same time, we build the basic connections with the world. In this period, we won't feel this connections, instead, we take them as granted. The need for connection came only when we realise we will lose them or we have lost them. Why do the elders in poor village being reluctant to remove to the city and enjoy a much better life? Because it is their poor lifestyle that forms their sense of belonging to the world.
Then it's time for the debate between the two sides, the face-to-face friends and the online friends. Why some people prefer face-to-face friends, while others consider online friends also OK? Because for human nature, the face-to-face interaction is more natural and more comfortable. For most people, it's easier to make a connection with someone in real life, than to be connected with someone online. As for the people in real life ,they can see,woh, he is a person who shares two eyes,one nose,two ears,two hands,two legs as me! Unlike online friends, we can engage all the senses and various kind of interactions with them. A stronger interaction is more likely to be built. However, I'm not saying that online friend is worse. With the specific features of online communication, we can make more friends regardless of the place and time. We can communicate with people from different cultures, different countries, different languages, and we can share our feelings and thoughts with them. By the way, why can't we have a friend in real life and an online friend at the same time?
Finally, I would like to suggest some ways to make friends at college.
Connect with people in your field of study.
Join a club or organization that promotes social interaction.
Take part in extracurricular activities.
Volunteer your time and effort to help others.
Make new friends by reading books, watching movies, and playing games.
Enjoy the company of your classmates.
Take part in academic competitions.
Participate in a mock debate on the topic "face-to-face friends are better than online friends".