Friends make it easier for us to go through difficulties and struggles in life. They ______ a shoulder for us to cry on. It is easy to meet people, but it is ______ to make good friends.

My best friend was Asha. She was good at English and always ______ me with it. Because of her, I made great progress. We ______ most of our time playing together. Then her parents decided to ______ in the United States. After she went away to the United States, I began to feel very ______. I remember how much I ______ when I went to see her off at the airport.

It was for a long time that I could not find any friend I could feel very ______ with. Most of my friends were boring. I began writing to Asha ______. We exchanged letters every week and sometimes even ______each other over the telephone. ______, I still had a feeling of loss after she went away.

I wanted to meet her again. So I asked my parents to ______ a trip for me to go to the US. They found the ______ ridiculous (荒谬的) as they felt that it was too expensive to go abroad. I felt ______ because my parents turned down my wish to go and visit my friend.

After a few days, I got a call ______ Asha to say that her parents had decided to visit India to meet her grandparents and other ______. Hearing the news, I jumped up with ______. I eagerly (急切地) waited for the day of her ______.

I went to meet her at the airport. We hugged each other and had so much to ______. We talked the whole night.______ we hadn’t seen for a long time, we felt that we had never been separated from each other.

I often read of incidents of misunderstanding or_______. I'm left puzzled. Why do these people create mistrust and problems, especially with those from other_______?

I was growing up in Kuala Lumpur(吉隆坡) in the early 1960s, when children from different races and religions played and studied together in _______. At that time my family lived a stone's _______   from Ismail’s. And   no one was bothered that Ismail was a Malay Muslim(穆斯林) and I was an Indian Hindu(印度教徒)—we just accept our differences. Perhaps, because our elders had not filled our heads with_______ advice.

Ismail and I were nine when we became friends. During the school holidays, we'd_______ the countryside on our bicycles, hoping to _______ the unexpected. At times Ismail would _______   my family as we made a rare shopping trip to town. We would be glad of his company.

When I was twelve, my family moved to Johor. Ismail’s family later returned   to their village, and I_______   touch with him.

One spring afternoon in 1983, I stopped a taxi in Kuala Lumpur. I__________ my destination. The driver acknowledged my__________ but did not move off. Instead, he looked__________ at me. “Raddar?” he said, using my   childhood nickname. I was astonished at being so__________ addressed (称呼). Unexpectedly! It was Ismail! Even after two__________ we still recognized each other. Grasping his shoulder, I felt a true affection, something hard to describe.

If we can allow our children to be themselves without prejudice, they'll build friendships with people,__________   race or religion, who will be by their side through thick and thin. On such friendships are societies built and then we can truly be, as William Shakespeare once wrote, “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”.

How far would you go to help a friend? Jeremy Savage, aged 17, and Ian Marshal, aged 16, had their friendship _________ on a recent trip to the Rocky Mountains.

On Saturday morning, the two boys decided to climb the mountain by themselves while their parents relaxed at the _________. After three hours, they reached the top and enjoyed the beautiful view from the mountaintop.

_________, trouble began when they started the climb down. On one very dangerous part of the mountain, Ian fell three metres off the side of the path. Jeremy climbed _________ to where Ian was and found him badly injured and not able to _________. He tried to help Ian stand up, but Ian’s right _________ was hurting too much. They had to _________ and hope that help would come.

Meanwhile, as darkness started to fall, their parents back at the campsite became very _________ that the boys had not returned. They got in touch with park workers and began _________ the boys.

While waiting for help, Jeremy gave Ian his food and water and let him lie on his jacket. As the evening grew __________ and the temperature dropped, Ian told Jeremy to leave him and go back to their parents but Jeremy did not leave. He thought it was __________ for Ian to be alone on such a cold, windy night. Jeremy used his jacket and an extra shirt to keep Ian __________ and they rested together through the night.

At __________, Jeremy started the long climb __________ Ian down the mountain. Sometimes on his back. Sometimes in his arms. Finally, after four long and tiring hours, they __________ their relieved parents, who were still looking for them on the mountain. “I will always remember what Jeremy did for me,” said Ian afterwards. “He saved my life. That is the greatest thing that a person can do for his friend.”