COURSEWORK 2

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Teacher’s Name: Your Name is Here Your Name is Here Your Name is Here Here Your Name is Here

Class: IGCSE 4 Subject: ENGLISH

Marks: 50
 EXTRACTS BOOKLET

PASSAGE 1
Are friends really that important?

adapted from an article by Aasha Mehreen Amin

While there may be many people who will dismiss or pooh-pooh the idea of having a day

dedicated to friendship, you have to admit that life is a bleak, dusty desert if you have

no friends. Friends are what turned Thursday nights into ‘the most exciting day of the

week’ – otherwise they would just be a night for some extra hours of television watching

or doing undesirable chores like the laundry or cleaning out the greasy streaks from the

overused microwave.

Friendships are the informal learning centres through which humans gain all kinds of

information and experience - acquiring wall-climbing skills needed in order to steal the

neighbour’s fruit, analysing behaviourial patterns of the opposite sex and speculating

on what they really mean (when he says he likes me does he really mean he likes me?),

sharing and revelling in bizarre similarities and engaging in hours of ‘chilling’ - chatting,

criticising real or perceived enemies and going into violent fits of hysterical laughter at

jokes no one else gets.

And that is just scratching the surface of how crucial a part friends play in one’s life.

Often, they are closer than family members. They are the shoulders you unashamedly

cry on, the cushioning you need when the whole world is against you, the calming voice

when you have fights with your significant other or your mother, the pool of optimism
when things go wrong, the saviours in moments of complete despair. Sometimes they

are the reason why you are alive.

The best part is that friends come in so many shapes and forms. They may come to you

completely unexpectedly – they may be that shy little girl who took the Class III entrance

exam with you, the precocious eight-year-old who claimed to have two boyfriends, your

kid’s class teacher, work colleagues, or someone you just met at the bus stop. While you

may have a core group of very close buddies, there are other less intense friendships

that serve the sole purpose of making parties or group trips more lively and fun. These

guys are also the ones who encourage you to be adventurous, daring and slightly crazy,

but manage to make you feel you are having the time of your life. Remember who dared

you to repeatedly call up your girlfriend’s dad and sound like an annoying marketing

recorded message in a female voice? Or the ones who insisted that another half hour

with them would not get you into trouble?

But in a larger context, friendships actually allow societies to function and this includes

countries that may turn them into formal unions or agreements. In other words,

friendship is the key ingredient that keeps the world going and prevents us humans

from tearing each other apart. Hence the disastrous effects when friendships sour – you

get hostile neighbours, ruthless aggressors and, worst of all, you get wars. Thus having

‘friendly relations’ or ‘diplomatic ties’ are crucial for a nation. These could make the

difference in whether a country will be bombed into smithereens, with tacit approval of

the international community, or become the darling of the globalised world with golden

opportunities of trade and business bestowed upon it.

On a personal level, the ability to make friends easily and keep them is possibly one of

the most rewarding and important survival skills a human being can hope to have. Just
look at Winnie the Pooh (a fictional character from a children’s story) who was named

the world’s Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations (UN) in honour of Friendship

Day in 1998 by Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Who better can

represent the philosophy of friendship than that adorable, charming, potbellied,

honey-eating bear, who has won the hearts of millions of children and grown ups

refusing to let go of their childhood, all over the world? With Winnie the Pooh’s desire

to see all that is good in everyone, his friends, who include a tiger, a pig, a donkey, an

owl, a kangaroo, a rabbit and a human, are as diverse as any United Colours of Benetton

advertisement. So whether we like to make formal declarations of our friendship or

prefer to just honour it through acts of generosity, there is no denying that friendships

constitute the emotional safety net from which we draw strength, regain hope in life and

derive hours of unadulterated happiness. Try pooh-poohing that.

Text Two

Aristotle said there are three types of friendship

adapted from an article By Zat Rana

In this passage, the writer describes the different types of friendship identified by Aristotle, an

ancient Greek philosopher.

At age 17, Aristotle (an ancient Greek philosopher who made significant and lasting

contributions to every aspect of human knowledge) enrolled in the Platonic Academy,

founded by the Greek philosopher, Plato. He would stay there for 20 years. Aristotle was

the most promising student around. He asked many questions and answered even more.

For more than 2,000 years after his death, he has remained one of the most widely-read

and quoted thinkers in the history of our species.

While his impact can still be felt in the many different subjects today, maybe the most
accurate of his observations relate to friendship. He saw it as one of the true joys of life,

and he felt that a life well lived needed to be built around such companionship.

The accidental friendships

Aristotle outlined two kinds of common friendships that are more accidental than

intentional.

The first is a friendship of utility. In this kind of relationship, the two people are not in

it for the affection of one another, but more so because each person receives a benefit

in exchange. It’s not permanent in nature, and whenever the benefit ends, so does

the relationship that brought the parties together. Aristotle observed this to be more

common in older people. An example of this would be a business or a work relationship.

You may enjoy the time you spend together, but once the situation changes, so does the

nature of your connect.

The second kind of accidental friendship is one based on pleasure. This one, however, is

more common in people who are younger. It’s the kind of relationship frequently seen

among college friends or people who participate on the same sports team. Many young

people go through different phases in their life and, quite often, the people in their lives

tend to change as the phase they’re in alters over time.

Most of the friendships that many of us have fall into these two categories, and while

Aristotle didn’t necessarily see them as bad, he did feel that their lack of depth limited

their quality. It’s fine, and even necessary, to have accidental friendships, but there is far

more out there.

The friendship of the good

The final form of friendship that Aristotle outlined is also the most desirable out of the

three.

Rather than utility or pleasure, this kind of relationship is based on a mutual appreciation

of the virtues that the other party cherishes. It’s the people themselves and the qualities
that they represent that provide the incentive for the two parties to be in each other’s

lives. Rather than being short-lived, such a relationship often lasts until the end, and

there is quite generally a basic level of goodness required in each person for it to exist in

the first place. You’re a lot more likely to connect at this level with people when you’ve

seen them at their worst and watched them grow from that or if you’ve both endured

mutual hardship together.

The beauty of such relationships is that they automatically include the rewards of the

other two kinds of friendship. They’re pleasurable and beneficial. When you respect

people and care for them, you gain joy from being with them. These relationships require

time and intention, but when they do blossom, they do so with trust, admiration, and

awe. They bring with them some of the sweeter joys that life has to offer. Friendships of

virtue take time and trust to build.

All you need to know

If you’re someone who has been read for over 2,000 years, there is usually a good reason.

For the average person, however, the most relevant of Aristotle’s ideas relate to the

importance of good relationships. While he saw the value in accidental friendships based

on pleasure and utility, he felt that their impermanence diminished their potential. They

lacked depth and a solid foundation. Instead, he argued for the cultivation of virtuous

friendships built with intention and based on a mutual appreciation of character and

goodness. He knew that such a friendship could only be strengthened over time and

that, if it did thrive, it would last for life. To Aristotle, few things came close to the value of

such a relationship.

It makes sense. At the end of the day, the bonds we forge with those close to us directly

shape the quality of our lives. We are, and we live through, the people we spend time

with. For most things, life is long enough. It is, however, too short for the wrong kinds of
friendship.