What can help you make a fortune in the future？Graduating from atop university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school，the more money you'll earn later.

The idea that popularity could have a serious influence on one's earning potential（潜力）shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life，social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.

"If a person has lots of friends，it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations，"said Xu Yanchun，17，from a high school in Shenzhen，who totally agreed with the recent finding." Also，friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you are occasionally in low spirits，"said Xu. She believed that all this helps you "earn a higher salary".

Maybe that's why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendaholism. A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook's 5，000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve（储备）of social contacts.

But what does a friend mean？Should friends be regarded as a form of money？

"Call me uncool，but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems，however，that this is no longer the meaning of a friend，"said Meghan Daum，who works with the Los Angeles Times in the US.

Daum disliked the idea that quantity trumps quality in the age of Friendaholism. Although she agreed that social ties grease（给……加润滑油）the wheels of life，she also warned，"Too bad one thing money can't buy is a real friend."

   Several years ago，we planned to move out of the city and buy a country house. The first ___________ was finding a suitable country house that we could afford. We started to ___________ the real estate（房地产）listings online and thought we had found a really ___________ one. My wife Catherine went to look at it. I was expecting a positive result. ___________，my wife told me the house wasn't suitable for us at all. While this was not the ___________ of the world，it prevented us from carrying out our plans as we had expected. So，what did we do？Could we ___________ and decide to stay where we were？No. We decided to ___________ looking.

To make a long story ___________，it took us two years of weekly visits to the real estate listings before we ___________ found three houses that might be suitable. The next ____________ seemed obvious-we had to take some time off work and drive down to ____________ these houses. So，off we went and after 15 hours of steady driving，we ____________.The next three days were tight-looking，then looking again and then finally making an ____________. The final story has a ____________ ending-we found our house，and ____________ several months later.

Sometimes, ____________ show up out of nowhere to destroy the best of plans, and some of these difficulties can be the final play. ____________, if you adopt the philosophy that every obstacle has a solution, then you can find your ____________ through. Obstacles will appear no matter who you are or what you are trying to ____________, but it is only those who know there is a solution and keep digging until they find it that will ____________ one day.

This season millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving Day with turkeys on the table. But the turkeys can't 【小题1】（consider）to have changed American culture more than their cousin，the chicken.

When English settlers arrived at Jamestown，they 【小题2】（bring）some chickens. However，the popularity of chickens soon disappeared because plenty of much tastier native animals appeared. But slaves who were not allowed 【小题3】（raise）horses，cattle or pigs benefited from the fact，especially those coming from West Africa，【小题4】 raising chickens had a long history. Many slaves could make money 【小题5】 raising chickens. At that time black cooks were in a position to influence their masters' 【小题6】（choose）of dishes，and they 【小题7】（nature）favored the chicken raised by their friends and relatives（亲戚）.One of the West African dishes 【小题8】（prefer）by white people was chicken pieces fried in oil-a dish that now，around the world，is considered American.

Nowadays chicken is cheap, and it has become Americans' favorite meat. In the land of the hamburger, we eat 【小题9】( much) of it than beef.

So as we celebrate and give thanks this season, take 【小题10】 moment to consider the chicken. The bird that gets little respect is the creature that has given us more than we know.

   RISE is an exciting project designed and led by young people，for young people. 【小题1】.If you're aged between 16 and 25 years old，and are not in employment，education or training，RISE could help you learn new skills，and improve your prospects（前景）.

What you'll learn

St John Ambulance believes that everyone should have access to first aid，and as many people as possible should be equipped with the skills to be the difference between life and death. 【小题2】.Then you'll also get the opportunity to develop new skills，gaining the confidence to train others in your community.

Choosing the right path for you

At the heart of the RISE project is a commitment（承诺）to peer to peer learning. 【小题3】.RISE offers you the chance to gain a range of qualifications and to choose a path that helps you make the most of your talents.

Stick-it：【小题4】.You'll find out how to manage an incident and learn some of the most commonly needed first-aid skills. You'll focus on CPR，bleeding and dealing with an emergency on this six-hour course.

【小题5】：A course designed for those who come into contact with children through their work or leisure activities. This short programme works by helping individuals to understand the unusual role they play in keeping children safe from harm.