永远的朋友

 　　虽然伊丽莎白远在千里之外，我只能偶尔见到她，但是我们所拥有的“永远是朋友”的相框和挂盒能帮助我们弥补彼此的思念之情。

　　所以，亲爱的寂寞者，与朋友分开并没有那么糟，照片、信件、电话、电子邮件以及美好的记忆都能拉近朋友之间的友谊。

　　Dear Arizona,My friend is moving in a month—and not just to a different neighborhood, but to a whole different country! I'm so sad, I can hardly think about anything else. I know you can't make my friend's family stay, but I'm hoping you'll at least have some helpful ideas. —Already Lonely in LondonDear Already Lonely,The first thing I want to say is—I'm so sorry your friend is moving!

　　The second thing I want to say is-are you from London, as in London, England? That is so exciting! Have you ever seen the Queen? Is it true that people there drive on the left side of the road? How big is Big Ben, really?

　　OK,I guess I should stop asking questions and get back to your letter-which reminds me of how beyond and I was when my friend Elizabeth had to move.

　　I met Elizabeth in my very first karate¹ class. I was the only new kid in the class. Everyone else knew a lot of the moves already and had yellow or orange belts.

　　I had a total beginner's white belt and felt unbearably² nervous the whole way through the class. I tried my hardest to follow along, but everything was way harder than I thought it would be.

　　Afterward³, as I was putting on my shoes, I was thinking, There is no way I am ever coming back to karate!

　　And that's when I met Elizabeth.

　　"You did great!" I laughed. "I was so clueless!""That's how I felt at first, too," she said. "If you want, I can help you practice.""Really?" I said.

　　"Sure. By the way, I'm Elizabeth." She scribbled⁴ on the back of a karate schedule. "Here's my number.""Wow, that's so nice of you!" I said.

　　She smiled. "No problem."Anyway, to make a long story short, I called her a few days later, and we've been amazing friends ever since.

　　Now for the sad part. Not very long ago, Elizabeth had to move. Her family still lives in California⁵, but if you know anything about my state, then you know it's gigantic⁶. And I'm not positive about the exact geographic⁷ details, but the distance Elizabeth moved was about the same as if she had moved from London to Paris!

　　"You can't move!" I screamed when she told me the terrible news.

　　"I know. That's what I told my parents,"she said. "But they said we don' have a choice. We'e moving in with my grandparents, and I guess it'l be way cheaper than where we live now.""Wait! I have the perfect solution,"I said. "You and your parents can move in with my family! We can share my room, and it'l be like having a sleepover every single night! I' sure my parents will be totally cool with it.""That would be so great!" said Elizabeth, then she sighed. "I wish we could do that. But there's no way. My parents also want to be closer to my grandparents, so I think we're definitely⁸ going."So Elizabeth and I had to come up with a Plan B. A would have been, we were actually pretty happy about our solution. Here's what we did.

　　First, we asked my mom to take a picture of us together and help us print it out regular size and teeny-tiny size .

　　We put the regular photos in special frames¹⁰ that we decorated Forever. I gave me the frame⁹ she decorated.

　　Then, we cut the teeny-tiny picture of us in half. I put the half with Elizabeth's face in my locket necklace, and she put the half with my face in her locket necklace.

　　So even though Elizabeth lives miles away and I only get to see her once in a while, our Friends Forever picture frames and lockets really do help with the "missing-you" part.

　　Besides that, our parents let us e-mail sometimes, and we still get to talk and crack¹¹ up together on the phone now and then. Also, we love sending each other funny letters and packages filled with goofy surprises.

　　So, dear Already Lonely, being separated¹² from your friend doesn't have to be as bad as it seems right now. Photos, letters, phone calls, e-mails, and great memories can really and truly make a friend seem closer than he or she is.

　　I hope these ideas help. As they say in London, "cheers¹³" to you and your friend! And as I like to say…Ciao for now

1 karate   

n.空手道(日本的一种徒手武术)

参考例句：

• Alice's boyfriend knew a little karate.艾丽斯的男朋友懂一点儿空手道。
• The black belt is the highest level in karate.黑腰带级是空手道的最高级别。

2 unbearably   

adv.不能忍受地，无法容忍地；慌

参考例句：

• It was unbearably hot in the car. 汽车里热得难以忍受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She found it unbearably painful to speak. 她发现开口说话痛苦得令人难以承受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

5 California   

n.加利福尼亚(美国)

参考例句：

• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
• We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。

6 gigantic   

adj.巨大的，巨人似的

参考例句：

• He has a gigantic appetite and eats gigantic meals.他有很大的食量，能吃很多的食物。
• The earth may be thought of as a gigantic magnet.整个地球可以想像为一块硕大无朋的磁石。

7 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

9 frame   

n.框架，结构，体格；vt.构成，设计，制定，使适合，陷害； 框架，（是指在数据链路层中，将网络层数据包加上开始与结尾信息包组成一个框架）

参考例句：

• The house has a wooden frame which is faced with brick.这个房子是木质结构的砖瓦房。
• We must frame up that picture.我们必须给那幅画装上框。

10 frames   

n.框架( frame的名词复数 )；眼镜框；组织；边框

参考例句：

• roughly hewn timber frames 粗劈成的木架子
• The window frames had begun to warp. 窗框已经开始变形。

11 crack   

vi.发破裂声；噼啪地响；vt./vi.（使）开裂；破裂；n.裂缝，缝隙；爆裂声，破裂声，劈啪声

参考例句：

• There's a crack in this cup.这个杯子上有个裂缝。
• There's a crack on the underneath of the bowl.碗底有一道裂缝。

12 separated   

adj.分开的v.分开(separate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• Her parents are separated but not divorced. 她父母分居但没离婚。
• No child should ever be separated from his mother by force. 绝不能强行使任何一个孩子与母亲分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 Cheers   

int.干杯，(英口语)谢谢，再见

参考例句：

• The crowd burst into cheers.人群中爆发出一片欢呼声。
• To your health!Cheers!祝您健康！干杯！