Few Americans stay in one place for a lifetime. We 1 from the city to the suburbs,from high school to college in a different state, from a job in one region to a better job 2, from the home where we 3 our children to the home where we plan to live in 4. With each move we are 5 making new friends, who become part of our new life.
For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new 6. Today, millions of Americans go on vocation 7, and they go not only to see new sights but also — in those places where they do not feel too 8 — with the hope of meeting new people. No one really 9 a vacation trip to produce a close friend, but the beginning of a friendship is possible. Surely in every country people 10 friendship?
The word "friend" to American people can be 11 to a wide range of relationships — to someone one has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a close business companion, to a childhood playmate, to a man or woman, to a 12 colleague. There are real 13 among these relations for Americans — a friendship may be 14, casual, situational or deep and lasting. But to a European, who sees only our surface behavior, the differences are not clear.
As Europeans see it, all kinds of "friends" flow 15 of Americans' homes with little ceremony. They may be parents of the children's friends, house guests of neighbors, members of a committee, business associates from another town or even another country. 16 as a guest into an American home, the European visitor finds no 17 differences. The atmosphere is 18. Most people, old and young, are called 19 first names. Americans' characteristic openness to different styles of relationship makes it possible for us to find new friends abroad with whom we feel 20.