Vicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old student from Portsmouth, says she is unable to keep a healthy diet because she is frightened of vegetables. She survives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals(谷类食品)and apples but refuses even a single slice of carrot on her plate. She suffers from sweating and panics at the slightest sight of a carrot or a pea.
“I have always had a fear of vegetables. Even as a child I used to freak out if some carrots or a few peas were on my plate.” She said. “But as it continued into adult life, I started to think it might not just be a dislike for vegetables but an actual phobia(恐惧症). Every time I see vegetables, not just on my plate, but anywhere, I would get feelings of panic and my heart would beat faster.”
Miss Larrieux’s condition makes trips to the supermarket or eating out at a restaurant with her boyfriend a major problem. It is an unpleasant experience for her to go to the supermarket. Luckily, her boyfriend is very understanding and does his best to comfort her.
A spokesman for phobia charity Anxiety UK says that around 13 percent of British people suffer a phobia of some form, there are treatment available(有效的)including medication and self-help groups for all manner of phobias.
1. Larrieux eats the following as a daily diet EXCEPT______.
A. meat        B. potatoes        C. peas       D. cereals
2. The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 2 means “_________”.
A. feel scared       B. get interested
C. feel relaxed      D. get sad
3. According to the passage, Larrieux’s fear for vegetables _____.
A. was found out recently            B. is a kind of phobia
C. makes her famous                   D. makes her hard to get along with
4. What do we know from the passage?
A. Only a few people around the world suffer from phobias
B. Larrieux is not confident about her future
C. Larrieux’s boyfriend doesn’t like meat
D. Phobia can be treated.

  For about three years now, I have been writing poetry. It was not until my junior year in high school that I developed an interest, love and skill for writing poetry.
Back in elementary school, I loved to write stories. I would write stories on post-it notes and anywhere I could. Yet when I had to write a limerick(五行打油诗) for an assignment, I could not wrap my head around poetry. I had a very hard time figuring out how to rhyme words and have the words make sense. I eventually tossed the paper with the attempted limerick in the trash. I did not try my hand at poetry again until several years later.
Many years later in my freshman year of high school, my English teacher gave my class a poetry project as an assignment. I still remember my limerick assignment and was afraid of doing the poetry project. For the project, we had to analyze a poem and write a response to it. I chose to respond to Robert Frost’s poem Fire and Ice. I also wrote my own poem first. I became really excited when writing the poem.
Two years later, I started writing poetry as a hobby and for fun. To learn how good or bad my poems were, I handed them in to some magazines and contests. I won second place in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Sherry Pruitt Award Contest with a poem called The Ocean, and had my two poems published as high merit(优等) poems. I have continued to write poetry, and have even self-published three collections of poetry in both print and e-book formats, which can be found at my store on Lulu.
Now, I love writing poetry, but I don’t hate writing short stories. I just find it more difficult and not my style of writing, even though I still write short stories occasionally.
【小题1】When the author was a pupil, he ___________.

A.liked writing stories
B.was good at writing poetry
C.could understand poetry well
D.was often praised by his teacher
【小题2】When given the poetry project in high school, the author was___________.
A.excitedB.annoyedC.confidentD.worried
【小题3】The author took up writing poetry as a hobby when he____________.
A.was in Grade Three in high school
B.worked as a storekeeper
C.was in Grade One in high school
D.was at college
【小题4】How did the author increase his confidence in writing poetry?
A.He wrote a lot of poems and asked advice from his teacher.
B.He published three collections of poetry by himself.
C.He submitted his poems to magazines and contests.
D.He gave up writing stories and only wrote poetry.

When my father was dying, I traveled a thousand miles from home to be with him in his last days. It was far more heartbreaking than I’d expected, one of the most difficult and painful times in my life. After he passed away I stayed alone in his apartment. There were so many things to deal with. It all seemed endless. I was lonely. I hated the silence of the apartment.

But one evening the silence was broken: I heard crying outside. I opened the door to find a little cat on the steps. He was thin and poor. He looked the way I felt. I brought him inside and gave him a can of fish. He ate it and then almost immediately fell sound asleep.

The next morning I checked with neighbors and learned that the cat had been abandoned by his owner who’s moved out. So the little cat was there all alone, just like I was. As I walked back to the apartment, I tried to figure out what to do with him. Having something else to take care of seemed like the very last thing I needed. But as soon as I opened the apartment door he came running and jumped into my arms. It was clear from that moment that he had no intention of going anywhere. I started calling him Willis, in honor of my father’s best friend.

From then on, things grew easier. With Willis in my lap time seemed to pass much more quickly. When the time finally came for me to return home I had to decide what to do about Willis. There was absolutely no way I would leave without him.

It’s now been five years since my father died. Over the years, several people have commented on how nice it was of me to rescue the cat. But I know that we rescued each other. I may have given him a home but he gave me something greater.

1. When the author first saw the cat, she_____________.

   A. was very happy                  B. felt sympathy for him

   C. didn’t know what to do         D. was angry with his crying

2. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph implies that the author___________.

   A. needed something to fill the empty apartment

   B. was too busy and tired to keep a cat

   C. loved to stay alone in the apartment

   D. needed something to take care of to kill time

3. The cat rescued the author by ____________.

  A. making her feel better in her hard times

  B. giving her courage to go on with her life

   C. helping her tidy the department

  D. telling her what life is

4. We can learn form the passage that _________.

   A. Willis was named after his previous owner

   B. Willis didn’t like staying in the apartment

  C. the author and Willis were both homeless

  D. time passed quickly after the author adopted Willis

5. What’s the best title for the passage?

   A. A little cat                         B. A painful experience

   C. How to take care of animals          D. What I got from a little cat

 

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