Since we are social beings，the quality of our lives depends in large measure on our interpersonal relationships.

One strength of the human condition is our tendency to give and receive support from one another under stressful circumstances. Social support consists of the exchange of resources among people based on their interpersonal ties.

Those of us with strong support systems appear better able to deal with major life changes and daily difficulties. People with strong social ties live longer and have better health than those without such ties. Studies over a range of illnesses，from depression to heart disease，show that the presence of social support helps people protect themselves from illness，and the absence of such support makes poor health more likely.

Social support cushions stress in a number of ways. First，friends，relatives，and co-workers may let us know that they value us. Our self-respect is strengthened when we feel accepted by others despite our faults and difficulties.

Second，other people often provide us with informational support. They help us to explain and understand our problems and find solutions to them. Third，we typically find social companionship supportive. Engaging in leisure-time activities with others helps us to meet our social needs while at the same time distracting(转移……注意力)us from our worries and troubles. Finally，other people may give us instrumental support-financial aid，material resources，and needed services-that reduces stress by helping us solve and deal with our problems.

I like friends who share my happiness and sorrow,and who possess wings of their own and fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate(照亮)me and help me to express my love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say,“Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.

When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair(失望) and I was in despair, but our friendship was based on the idea that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we felt awful at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and visited many wonderful places. We walked until our despair disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters to each other in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell…” We have never met.

It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist(心理学家), who will only fill up the healing(愈合的) silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.