Topic 62 What do you want most in a friend? A lot of characteristics make a good friend

A lot of characteristics make a good friend. However, in my opinion, having a friend who is intelligent can do you good in many ways.

An intelligent friend can share your problems and help you solve them properly (как следует; правильно). You are overwhelmed with stuff? He can show you the order to finish them on schedule. You are having problems with someone? Tell him and he will find out the appropriate way to satisfy you and the other friend of yours. Let's imagine you were stuck in an elevator for instance. You could be very upset and unable to get out of it. The situation could change dramatically if you had an intelligent friend beside. He could calm you down and quickly find the way to rescue you.

An intelligent friend is also a good example for you to learn from. In fact, you can get a lot of interesting and invaluable (бесценный) things from this knowledgeable friend. You can better yourself by learning his unique way of thinking and handling things. My friend is very intelligent, not only in his study, but also in his everyday life. He can solve problems in the way that I can never think of. Having him my close friend for ages, I have learnt a lot of things from him that may help me much in my life. He taught me the way of finding and solving problems, and even changing unchangeable situations in some intelligent ways.

Indeed, having an intelligent friend can give you the motivation to keep on trying to be equal to him. This makes you become competitive, or emulative in some positive ways. You may have a thought: "Why could he do that but couldn't I?" And you will try your best in order not to be inferior to your friend. You then will change your old and conservative way of thinking and doing things, becoming open-minded to grasp new things (постичь что-то новое) and develop your true (истинный) potentials.

All of these fabulous (классный, потрясающий) things an intelligent friend brings to you can be a stable basis for a long-lasting friendship. However, friendship requires a thorough and mutual understanding (взаимопонимание). So, you, yourself, also play an important part to make it last forever, with whoever friends you have.