A few years ago I was on a bicycle trip when I got off my bike for a rest. I sat down on the grass. A few seconds later, I was covered in ants. They were swarming all over me so I got up and brushed them off. It was a strange experience but I soon forgot about it.
A couple of years later, I was living in Jordan. I had just moved into a modern flat and was unpacking plates when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the kitchen drawer and there was a cockroach(蟑螂)crawling out of it. I screamed. Then I grabbed a can of insecticide and sprayed it on the cockroach. He ran under the nearby bathroom door. It took me three days before I found the courage to open the bathroom door to see if he was still alive. He wasn’t.
Why did I react so violently to one lone insect when a closer encounter with hundreds of ants hardly affected me? The answer is easy: because cockroaches are creepy(令人毛骨悚然的) crawlies and ants aren’t. Creepy crawlies are those little bugs which cause feelings such as anxiety - they make your skin crawl.
Did you know that some people feel such a fear of bugs that it becomes a phobia(恐惧症)? Psychologists have offered many explanations. Some say we associate them with dirt and disease. Or that these are life forms that are so alien to us, that we find them disgusting for their dissimilarity.
Insects, however, don’t follow our rules - they just do what they want and invade our space. Unfortunately, although insects and bugs have been a successful animal species up to now, many of them, like many other species nowadays, are under threat of dying out. Entomologistswarn that this could upset entire ecosystems and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences.
So my advice to you is: the next time you feel the urge to stamp on, splatter or spray a creepy crawly, give a thought to the planet and stop.
小题1:.. Why did the author mention the ants in the beginning?
A．Because the experience with the ants presents a sharp contrast to that with the cockroach later.
B．Because the author wants to show her preference to the ants and her dislike for the cockroaches.
C．Because both ants and cockroaches are creepy crawlies that the author dislikes.
D．Because meeting the ants is an unusual experience that the author can hardly forget.小题2:. The underlined word “insecticide” in Paragraph 2 probably means .
A．a kind of fruit juice
B．a kitchen knife
C．liquid for killing insects
D．cleanser (洗涤剂)for the bathroom小题3:. How does the author feel about bugs like cockroaches?
A．The author doesn’t mind the contact with those harmless small creatures.
B．The author prefers cockroaches to ants and feels guilty for killing one.
C．They invade our space and become a threat to humans.
D．They still deserve a place for keeping the balance of the nature.小题4:. Which of the following statements about bugs is NOT true according to the passage?
A．Some people may be frightened so much by bugs that it leads to a psychological barrier to some degree.
B．The earth will have a better and cleaner environment if more creepy crawlies are killed.
C．Many bugs are in danger of dying out so we should not kill them due to fear or disgust.
D．Some bugs are extremely unpleasant that some people have a strong wish to destroy them.
