散文：什么叫朋友

A Faraway Friend is someone you grew up with or went to school with or lived in the same town as until one of you moved away. Without a Faraway Friend, you would never get any mail addressed in handwriting. A Faraway Friend calls late at night, invites you to her wedding, always says she is coming to visit but rarely shows up. An actual visit from a Faraway Friend is a cause for celebration and binges of all kinds.

遠(yuǎn)方的朋友是這樣的一個(gè)人：和你從小一同長(zhǎng)大的，或者是同學(xué)，或者和你原本住在同一個(gè)鎮(zhèn)上，后來(lái)你們中的一人搬到了別處。沒(méi)有一位遠(yuǎn)方的朋友，你連一封手寫(xiě)的信都收不到。遠(yuǎn)方的朋友會(huì)半夜打來(lái)電話，邀請(qǐng)你去參加她的婚禮，她總是說(shuō)要來(lái)看你，卻很少露面。要是真的來(lái)訪，那才叫“不亦樂(lè)乎”，各種名目的狂歡可就有了理由。

Faraway friends go through phases of intense communication, then maybe out of touch for many months. Either way, the connection is always there. A conversation with your Faraway Friend always helps to put your life in perspective: When you feel you’ve hit a dead end, come to a confusing fork in the road, or gotten lost in some cracker-box subdivision of your life, the advice of the Faraway Friend — who has the big picture, who is so well acquainted with the route that brought you to this place — is indispensable.

兩個(gè)遠(yuǎn)方的朋友會(huì)經(jīng)歷密切交流的階段，接下來(lái)或許幾個(gè)月都不聯(lián)系。但無(wú)論聯(lián)系與否，友誼永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)改變。與遠(yuǎn)方的朋友一席長(zhǎng)談，總是有助于你更好地認(rèn)識(shí)生活;當(dāng)你覺(jué)得自己走入了死胡同時(shí)，當(dāng)你面對(duì)岔路而不知所措時(shí)，來(lái)自遠(yuǎn)方朋友的忠告就越發(fā)不可或缺，她看得清大局，完全了解你是怎么走到這一步的。