When the telephone rings late at night，most women guess it must be one of only four or five people calling. A sister? Maybe. An emergency? Possibly. A mother? Probably not at that time of night. Much more probably it is a close female friend calling to tell you that she is heartbroken because she has split up with her boyfriend again or perhaps simply that a good movie has just started on TV.

At a time when families are spread far and wide and marriages often end in divorce, friendships are becoming more and more important. Erika, a 32-year-old lawyer, is strengthened by her ten year friendship with her married friend Jane. “I was very sick one night, so I called Jane at about 3：00 a．m. to talk about it,” she says. “She was very supportive and even came over to take me to the doctor's.”

As American TV shows like Friends have become more popular, many of us are beginning to see the value of such friendships.TV shows like this tell us that our romantic relationships may not last, but we need to keep in touch with our close friends if we want to survive.

With Erika's family 200 miles away, it is Jane who keeps a spare set of keys to Erika's apartment and waters her plants whenever she is away. “Having Jane around gives me a certain amount of freedom. It is not the kind of thing that you could ask anyone to do, but she knows I would do the same for her.” Jane, who may move to a different city soon, is worried about leaving such a support system of friends. “My friends have more to do with my life than my parents and, therefore, I don't have to spend a lot of time explaining things to them. Friends are more up to date with what is happening.”

It was the first run of a family ski weekend in Colorado.The perfect spring morning greeted us with clear skies and a warm temperature.We planned the course on the mountain map and set off.Then, three minutes into the run, my left ski came off; then my right ski turned over and took my leg with it, and then I heard the sharp sound.I lay on the snow, screaming.My brother and husband stopped and took me down the mountain to the hospital．

After an operation, the doctor told me that I wouldn’t walk for three months.It seemed like a blow.“How can we get everything done?” I turned to Adam, my husband.Who would get the kids to the bus at 7:15 a.m. , since my husband was in his office by 6 a.m. each day? Who would deal with the two dogs? Who would prepare dinner? Who would drive to tennis practices? “We’ll work it out,” Adam said.I nodded, because we didn’t have the other choice．

But something unexpected happened: friends both near and far were searching for ways they could help.Parents at our school bus stop offered to drop my kids off each afternoon.My kids ran up the steps each day to check on me.My husband, the man who, in the past, had to be told what to do and when to do it, pulled our family back up.

Finally, I returned to the shopping and the bus pickups. I made dinners again.I organized everyone and sent them out the door.But something had changed in our family, in me.Now I am quicker to ask for help if I am the one needing.

Do you know the following expressions?

The “Homer” in this expression is the Greek poet who wrote The Iliad and the Odyssey. People laugh differently. Some laugh silently, while others tend to laugh loudly. “Homeric laughter” refers to laughter of the latter (后者) kind. It is at times uncontrollable, and the entire body shakes during the process. This kind of laughter is called Homeric laughter because this is how the gods laughed in Homer’s classics.

According to most stories, Faust was a German scholar who was rather unhappy with his life. The devil(魔鬼), Mephistopheles, promises him that in exchange for his soul, he will give Faust unlimited power and knowledge. Faust agrees and experiences all kinds of pleasures, but, in the end, his soul is condemned to the hell (下地狱). A “Faustian bargain” therefore is a deal that finally results in one’s ruin. It means a bargain made for temporary gain without taking future consequences into consideration.

When you refer to a situation as being a three-ring circus, you are saying that it is a situation of complete confusion. There are so many activities taking place all together that they leave you confused or annoyed. The expression comes from the world of entertainment — the circus. The area where the artists perform their acts is called the “ring”. In the past, some of the circuses were so grand that they had three acts taking place simultaneously in three different “rings”. The audience had to decide which “ring” they wanted to focus on.

When someone is in the swim of things, the individual is actively participating in the things happening around him, as in “I’ve been ill, but soon I’ll be back in the swim of things.” In the world of fishing, fishermen use the word “swim” to refer to the section of the lake/river where fish can be found in plenty. So, if you are a fisherman and wish to catch a lot of fish, where would you be? You would be “in the swim”!