1. Think about the following questions.

How friendship is important to you?

What would you compare friendship to?

Between loyalty and usefulness, which one is more important to you in a friendship?

2. Read the text Friendship's like buying a house

Friendship's like buying a house

1 Friendship has a special status in our society. It's different from those relationships where we have little control. We can't change our families. And we often have neighbors who irritate us and colleagues we have to put up with. Friends are thought of as the fun part of our lives. It's assumed that these relationships are always pleasurable.

2 On one level, friendships are very simple. They're the bonds between people who enjoy one another's company. But probe deeper and you'll find that it means different things to different people. Talk to people about friendship and you'll find that people value it and seek it. But there is also much confusion and disappointment about friends. Friendship is one of those areas full of hidden assumptions and unspoken rules.

3 There is no agreement about what friendship involves or what to do if it goes sour. Has anyone ever suggested that you and your friend start seeing a friends' guidance counselor about the dynamics of your failing relationship? When things go wrong, we very rarely challenge our friends. That's because friendship is often a delicate affair and we don't want to complicate it. It's more common to absorb the hurt, and remain quiet.

4 People have a wide range of views about friendship. Some think friendship demands loyalty; others think it carries no obligations at all. One man says long friendships have transformed his life, and in some way they have been more important than his marriage; another thinks the great thing about having friends is that you can always drop the old ones, because there are new ones around every corner. One woman says she would die for her friends; a younger woman says that all her friendships make her life easier here and now – once they stop being useful to her, they stop being her friends.

5 What's interesting about those attitudes is that they aren't expressed out loud. Everyone I talked to has a large number of acquaintances and a social life. All but one assumes that most people think as they do.

6 Most of us feel a certain pride about our friends. We are pleased that they have chosen us, and that we have chosen them. We tend to believe that they reflect some important truths about who we are. Yet making friends isn't an exercise in free choice, any more than buying a house is. We buy houses according to what we can afford and what happens to be on the market when we're looking. Friendship is rather similar. We can only choose our friends from among the people we meet. And we can only make friends with people who are interested in knowing us.

7 People are unpredictable. But we need to play the game of friendship. Evidence shows us that people with close friends live longer and are happier than those without. Friendship defines what it means to be human. As the Greek philosopher Epicurus said, "Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one's entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship. Eating or drinking without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf."