Take Away English-School Reunions 校友聚会

Old school friends meet up again

Have you ever wondered what your old school-mates are doing now? Well plenty of people in Britain do. One of the most successful internet ventures in Britain has shown how popular, and how lucrative¹, nostalgia² can be.

The website Friends Reunited was started for fun in 1999 by a couple who were interested to know what their old school friends were doing. The project snowballed and by 2005, the site had 12 million members. One extraordinary fact is that Friends Reunited has never advertised, its success is entirely³ due to word-of-mouth.

You can search for a school, college or university and find a list of the members who were there in any year. You can also post a personal profile showing what you are doing now, and read other people’s details.

Steve Pankhurst, one of the founders⁴ of the site, thinks that one of the reasons for its success is that some people like to be anonymous⁵. On Friends Reunited, you can snoop on other people’s lives without giving away anything about yourself if you don’t want to. It’s also an opportunity to bolster⁶ your self-esteem by showing off to everyone just how successful and happy you are now, even if you weren’t while you were at school.

Friends Reunited has also led to many successful school reunions, and people meeting up with each other after many years. In particular, many people use the site to look up their childhood sweethearts and many couples have actually rekindled⁷ relationships after contacting each other through the site.

There have even been Friends Reunited weddings and babies, and Friends Reunited now has a new site called Friends Reunited Dating especially for people who are looking for love. The company has also launched other sites, such as Genes⁸ Reunited, which helps people to find long-lost relatives and build their family trees online.

So, whether you want to be nosy⁹, contact old friends, organise¹⁰ a school reunion, find your first love, or simply show off your success, Friends Reunited is the site to visit.

GLOSSARY11 词汇表
school-mates 同学 lucrative 有利可图的,赚钱的... snowballed 滚雪球般地增长 search for 寻找, 查询 profile 简介,概况 snoop 探听, 窥视 to bolster your self-esteem 提高你的自尊 school reunions 校友聚会 rekindled 复燃, 破镜重圆 long-lost 失去(联系)的....	ventures 商业冒险 nostalgia 怀旧之情 word-of-mouth 口头推荐 post (在网上) 发表 anonymous 匿名的; 无名的; giving away 泄露 showing off 显示,炫耀 childhood sweethearts 青梅竹马 genes 基因 family trees 家谱

 

1 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

2 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

7 rekindled   

v.使再燃( rekindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• As soon as they met again his dormant love for her was rekindled. 他们一见面，他对她的旧情如乾柴烈火般又重新燃起。 来自辞典例句
• Ive found rekindled my interest in re-reading the books. 我发觉这提起了我再次阅读这些书的兴趣。 来自互联网

8 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

9 nosy   

adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者

参考例句：

• Our nosy neighbours are always looking in through our windows.好管闲事的邻居总是从我们的窗口望进来。
• My landlord is so nosy.He comes by twice a month to inspect my apartment.我的房东很烦人，他每个月都要到我公寓视察两次。

10 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

11 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。