一个朋友(A Friend)

 　　Recently, one of my best friends, whom I've shared just about[几乎] everything with since the first day of kindergarten[幼儿园], spent the weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we've both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other.

　　Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late[迟迟不睡] into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with[交往]. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented[尝试] with drugs[毒品,此处为大麻] and was into other self-destructive[自毁] behavior[行为]. I was blown away[震惊]! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even sneaking¹ out[偷跑] to see this guy because they didn't want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved² better, she didn't believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared.

　　I tried to convince³ her that she was ruining her future and heading⁴ for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere[毫无进展]. I just couldn't believe that she really thought it was acceptable⁵ to hang with a bunch⁶ of losers, especially her boyfriend.

　　By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted[疲惫] by the experience. It had been so frustrating[灰心的], I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship - but I didn't. I put the power of friendship to the ultimate[最后的] test. We'd been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer[克服] anything.

　　A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the truly rewarding[值得的] moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.(by Danielle Fishel)

1 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

2 deserved   

adj.应得的，当然的v.应受，应得，值得( deserve的过去式和过去分词 )；应受报答；应得报酬；应得赔偿

参考例句：

• Some of you deserved to succeed and others only scraped through. 你们当中有些人成功是理所当然，而有些人只是勉强及格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Don't glare at me like that, you deserved the scolding. 不要那么瞪着我，你本该受到训斥的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 convince   

vt.使确认，使信服；使认识错误

参考例句：

• It requires a lot of talking to convince him.要说服他很费口舌。
• I have given over trying to convince him.我已经不再试图说服他了。

4 heading   

n.上标题，标题，起始字，方向

参考例句：

• The heading was in large letters.标题是用大号字母印刷的。
• He realized that he was heading in the wrong direction.他意识到走错了方向。

5 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

6 bunch   

n.串，束；群，帮

参考例句：

• A bunch of girls was[were] sitting on the grass.一群女孩坐在草地上。
• I received a bunch of flowers yesterday.昨天我收到了一束鲜花。