Several years ago, I had a huge falling out with one of my best friends. So huge, in fact, that now I
can't even remember what happened.
In the past nine years, I've seen her twice, and each time we've been polite but distant. And that
troubles me because we were once inseparable. I'd like nothing more than to go back nine years, and
continue our friendship. But how? How do you reconnect with friends you've lost throughout the years?
Linking to your past
The desire to reconnect with lost friends isn't unusual. Why? Because friends link us to the past.
"Friends from years ago are custodians (监护人) of our past," says Sandy Sheehy.
Although you can share information about your past with friends you've met recently, you don't
have a shared history with them. So you wind up only telling them about your past, rather than sharing
it with them.
But many people never try to reconnect. Women especially have trouble taking the first step. Shyness
or fear that the other person doesn't want to reconnect often stops many women. And that shouldn't be.
Your friends probably want to be in touch with you as much as you want to be in touch with them.
Searching for friends
Fortunately, finding lost friends isn't as difficult as it once was, thanks to tools like the Internet. Our
experts offer these suggestions for locating contact information:
Search Internet sites designed to locate people like classmates.com and switchboard.com.
Contact your high school or college alumni (校友) office to request current address information.
Surf online yellow pages. Check current phone records from your friend's hometown.
Network with other friends who might have known your friend.
Get in touch with any of her relatives, if you know where they live. If you know where she works,
find the company's website and search the directory of personnel.
1. What is the subject discussed in the passage?
A. How to make new friends.
B. How to rebuild friendship.
C. How to develop healthy friendship.
D. How to keep in touch with friends.
2. The underlined sentence "friends from years ago are custodians of our past" in Paragraph 3 means
_____.
A. years ago old friends kept something for us
B. in the past old friends took care of us
C. old friends are part of our life history
D. old friends know what wrongs we did
3. What makes us unwilling to reconnect old friends?
A. Lack of money.
B. Busy time.
C. Regret and shame.
D. Fear and shyness.
4. How can we make contact with the lost friends?
A. By asking other friends of the information on your lost friends.
B. By searching your friends'telephone number on the Net.
C. By asking the local post office about your friends'new address.
D. By putting an advertisement in your friends' local town.
