VI. Reading Comprehension
Most psychologists assign phobias to one of three broad
categories: social phobias, in which the sufferer feels paralyzing
fear of human encounters; agoraphobia with panic disorders, in
which the person is periodically blindsided by overwhelming
fear for no apparent reason; and specific phobias—fear of snakes,
enclosed spaces, heights and the like.
Specific phobias are the easiest to treat, partly because they
are the easiest to understand. As many as 30 percent of all
people suffering from a specific phobia have at least one phobic
close relative. For others, a childhood trauma—a house fire, say,
or a dog bite—may trigger incipient fears.
Social phobias can be trickier. For some, the fear of a social
encounter may occur only at large parties, making avoidance
strategies seem easy. But social phobias can encroach into more
and more areas of life, closing more and more doors. As
sufferers grow increasingly isolated, they become ever more
hopeless and risk developing such conditions as depression and
alcoholism.
Unlike the specific phobic and the social phobic, the victim
of panic disorder rarely knows where or when one will hit.
Someone who experiences an attack in, say, a supermarket will
often not return there, associating the once neutral place with the
traumatic event. And when this begins to happen, panic disorder
mutates into full-blown agoraphobia. As the perceived circle of
safety shrinks, sufferers may be confined entirely to their homes.
【題組】50. The victims of agoraphobia live in a terror of ___________.
(A) being confined entirely to their houses
(B) the shrinking circle of their social life
(C) attacking someone in a supermarket
(D) anything outside the safety of the home
The victims of agoraphobia live in a terror of ___________. (A) being confined entirely to their houses (B) the shrinking circle of their social life (C) attacking someone in a supermarket (D) anything outside the safety of the home