Period 5: CULTURAL CORNER-Friends Reunited

　　 Objectives

　　 ● To read to know more about friendship

　　 Procedures

　　 ▇ Before you read

　　 We have come to the cultural corner. But before we take the article let's go over the word list for this module, paying attention to the pronunciation of the word, the relationship between its pronunciation and its spelling.

　　 ▇While you read

　　 Now it is time to read the text Friends Reunited and cut/ the sentences into thought groups, blacken the predicates, underline the useful expressions and darken the connectives.

　　 Friends Reunited

　　 One of the biggest Internet successes is a website/ called/ Friends Reunited. Friends Reunited brings together-that is,unites--old friends,people who used to be friends/ with each other,but have not seen each other/ for a long time.

　　 The website was begun in 1999/ by a London couple /called Stephen and Julie Pankhurst.Julie wanted to know what her old school friends/ were doing. Did they all have families of their own?Did they still live in the same area?Were they married?Did they have children? She and her husband realised that the Internet was the perfect way/ to get in touch with old friends,and Steve and his business partner, Jason Porter, built the website. Slowly.people heard about the site/ and became interested.By the end of 2000/ the site had 3,000 members.Then/ the website was mentioned/ on radio programme/ and suddenly/ the site became very popular. By the end of 2001/ the website had 4 million members,and/ by the end of 2002/ it had over 8 million!

　　 How do you find old friends/ using Friends Reunited?It's very easy. People join the webs/ and give information/ about themselves--the name of their old school, the neighbourhood/ they lived in, the college/ they went to, the sports team/ they belonged to,etc.To find an old friend, you type in their name,school,etc.You may find that your friend is a member of the website,and you can

　　 then contact him/ or her/ through the website.Most people are very happy/ to reply,and people/ often become friends /again/ as a result.

　　 There are many wonderful stories/ about people/ who have found each other again/ through Friends Reunited.For example,there is the extraordinary story of a man/ who lost his memory/ as a result of a bad car accident.He could not remember anything/ about his past. Through Friends Reunited/ he contacted old friends,/and with their help,he was able to find out about his past /and put his memory/ back/ together.Another man writes:"Thanks to Friends Reunited,I have found my daughter,who I have not seen/ since she was 13.She is now 27/ and I have discovered that I am a grandfather.It would have been impossible/ to find my daughter/ without the help of Friends Reunited.From the bottom of my heart, thank you"

　　 ▇After you read

　　 Find time to copy all the useful expressions into your Expression Book. You may make sentences with these expressions.

　　 one of the biggest Internet successes, bring... together, be friends with each other,not see each other for a long time, a London couple, have families of their own, live in the same area, have children, the perfect way to get in touch with old friends,build the website, hear about..., become interested, by the end of 2000, be mentioned on radio programme, become very popular, find old friends using Friends Reunited, join the webs, give information about..., lived in..., belong to..., type in..., a member of the website,contact...through the website, become friends again, as a result, wonderful stories about..., the extraordinary story of..., lose one's memory, as a result of a bad car accident, remember...about..., contact old friends,with sb.'s help,find out about..., put one's memory back together, thanks to..., from the bottom of one's heart

　　-