One can’t imagine living without friends.
When do people decide if they want to become
friends? As Dr. Leonard Zunin thinks, the first four
minutes of contact are decisive. He offers this advice to
anyone who is about to start a new friendship: if you
are meeting someone in a social situation, give him
your full attention for four minutes.
If somebody is introducing us to new people,
he or she suggests that we should try to be friendly,
open and self-confident1
. In general, he says, “People
like people who like themselves”. On the other hand,
we should not make other people think we are too
sure of ourselves. It is important to be interested and
sympathetic, realizing the other person has his own
needs, hopes, and fears.
Nevertheless, is it honest to give the appearance
of friendly self-confidence when we don’t actually
feel that way? Perhaps, not, because according to
Dr. Zunin, “total honesty” is not always good for
social relationships, especially during the first minutes
of contact. There is a time for everything. Some playacting
may be very good for the first minutes of
contact with a stranger. Certainly, it is not the time
to complain about one’s health or to find faults with
other people. It is the time to tell the whole truth about
one’s opinions and impressions.


Find in the text synonyms for the following words:
to make up one’s mind-
  to propose/to recommend -
to get acquainted with/to present to -
touch/connection -
sure of himself -
understand -
 great, significant -
wish/aspiration -
point of view –