【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 e streaked with mud. 她的黑發(fā)中已有一縷縷白發(fā)。 Her dark hair was streaked with grey. make a (big) difference / make all the difference: to improve a situation (greatly) ? Exercise can make a big difference to your state of health. ? Putting up some new wallpaper has made all the difference to the place. make a, no, some, etc difference (to sb/sth) (a) have an, no, some, etc effect (on sb/sth) （對某人 /某事有 / 沒有 / 有些 ...作用或影響 : ? The rain didn39。t make much difference (to the game). ? 這場雨（對比賽）沒多大影響 . (b) be important, unimportant, etc (to sb/sth)。 matter （對某人 [某事物 ]）重要 /不重要等 。 要緊 /不要緊等 : ? It makes no difference (to me) what you say: I39。m not going. 不管你怎麼說（對我來說）都無所謂 , 反正我不去 . 1. What are the effects of having friends? One can bee really different from other people even when you are old. 2. Why does the author draw the conclusion that they are different from others? Because they have a magic circle of friends. Text prehension I I. Decide which of the following is NOT the reason why we need friends. B. Friends are good pany and inexhaustible source of fort and encouragement when we are in difficulty。 therefore, A, C. and D are all correct except B. Text prehension II 1. F. Refer to Paragraphs 5 and 8. The author and her friends are a bunch of overforty classmates who would pick up the slack for their own daughters, so they can39。t be the mothers of mature, middleaged children. 2. T. Refer to Paragraph 5. Though the author and her friends were not at the age to wear orthopedic shoes, many wore spectacles as they reached middle age when eyesight starts to fail. 3. F. Refer to Paragraph 7. The group thought of the woman in her twenties as brash, angry, and, quite inappropriate. They did not enjoy her pany and were relieved when she failed to join their study sessions. 4. T. Refer to Paragraph 11. Time has taught the author to be more flexible and ready to take whatever happens and be more processoriented. Text prehension III 1. What is the author and her friends? attitude toward the woman under thirty in their group? They found this woman brash, angry and quite inappropriate, but they treated her like their daughter. And they would find themselves in more pleasant situation if this woman was not around because they would always agree, and even their disagreements were somehow smooth and enjoyable. 2. “While we were quite far from orthopedic shoes, bifocals were prominent.” What does the author mean by this sentence? We all know that orthopedic shoes are used to correct leg or spine deformation in children while bifocals are used by the elderly to see things which are near or far off. So this sentence means that they are not young any longer, and they are getting old. 3. “The process is in itself an achievement.” What does the author mean by this sentence? They do not do things as they might have been ready to do at twenty. Instead they will do it at a slower pace because they have learned that the world is in no hurry to be changed. The thing that matters for them is not the result any longer but the process. Text prehension IV 1. I had thought that I was quite different from other people, but when I directed my attention from myself to other people I found that there were so many people just like me. 2. To our surprise, the little child among us when we were young has already grown mature and already in her middle age. And we realize that we are really getting old. 3. We found so many surprises in school, and apart from that, we also enjoyed the pany of each other very much. We appreciated this kind of friendship intensely, just like what we felt for our lovers when we were in love or for the baby when we were pregnant. Rhetorical features of the text Example One: ... we delved in this newlyfound camaraderie with an intensity we did not know we could achieve outside of love and pregnancies (Paragraph 7). The third we here is the subject of an attributive clause which is used to modify the antecedent phrase this newlyfound camaraderie while the second we is the subject of a clause which is added to give some more information. Example Two: We had, in fact, created a sort of bubble around us, a magic circle that follows us still and says we are bright, successful, caring, ambitious, and, finally, ready to change the world (Paragraph 9). The second we here is the subject of an object clause which serves as the object of the verb says. Vocabulary exercises –I. 1. to go to bed later than usual 2. colored substances used on your face to improve or change your appearance 3. having no problems or worries 4. to finally be in a particular place or situation 5. to be known or discovered finally and surprisingly 6. a person returning to work or school, especially after bringing up a family Vocabulary exercises –II. 1. depleted 2. unspoken 3. inappropriate 4. pregnant 5. negotiation 6. flexible Vocabulary exercises –III. 1. from scratch 2. turned out 3. makes all the difference 4. strike 5. In spite of 6. pany 7. out of his shell 8. not to mention Vocabulary exercises –IV. 1. prove 2. done 3. throwing away 4. help you with