老外牛人给好友"拉红线"

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【听力文本】

Step 1: Sow the seed
If you are trying to get 2 of your friends together, develop the idea that they'd be great together without explicitly explaining you want to match-make them. Let them believe it's their idea.
Remember to focus on their positive traits such as his sensitivity and love of animals, and her style and sophistication. This may involve missing out certain details, or embellishing the truth slightly.

Step 2: Arrange a meeting
Once you've established how fantastic each of your friends would be for each other, arrange a spontaneous, informal get together where they can meet in a relaxed environment. Don't work them up into a frenzy of anticipation, and turn it into a 'big night'. Avoid lines such as 'I think you'll be really good together, so try not to be too weird'.

If one of your friends doesn't seem interested in the potential match, but you're still convinced they'd make the perfect couple, you may have to be more devious. Persuade them to come out for a quick drink and... ooh look, what a surprise! Well as you're there, it would be rude not to join them.
To make sure they don't suspect anything, make sure the introduction itself is natural, breezy, and casual.

Step 3: Make them look good
Your role is to make your friend look witty, interesting and intelligent. Let them be themselves, but just a little bit better. Laugh at that joke you've heard several times before. Remember to bring up her triumph as Miss East Anglia 2003 and how caring he is to his elderly relative. Mention her young journalism award, and the time he saved a child from a burning building. And her grade 5 piano, and his skill at thumb war. And her Baga swimming award for 50 metres, and his full clean driving licence.

Step 4: Bring them closer
Find a place to sit down, to bring the potential Romeo and Juliet, the potential Scarlet and Rhett, the potential Batman and Robin closer together. Bring them physically nearer to each other with some gentle encouragement or by severely limiting their options... But don't go too far. If they're not talking to each other, make sure they have to. As the evening progresses, and everyone is feeling more relaxed, you could try to use a photo opportunity to encourage a bit more closeness.

Step 5: Know when to leave
If one of your friends still isn't convinced about the match, don't abandon them to an evening of misery.

Offer them an escape route.
If things look like they are going to plan, have 'the chat' with both of them to find out exactly what their true feelings are. Don't get too excited if it seems like everything's fitting into place… there's still time for it to go horribly wrong.
But if it doesn't look like it's doing so, retreat gracefully and watch the fruits of your labours flourish.