So many well-fed cats have achieved fame in today’s world of social media that it is difficult to imagine a time when the funny behavior of cats went largely unrecorded. Fortunately, creative types have long seemed to enjoy their company and some past literary greats were only too happy to put pen to paper in celebration of their favourite cats.

Dr Samuel Johnson, is best remembered today for compiling (编纂) the first modern English Dictionary. The entry for cats is hardly flattering: “A domestic animal that catches mice, commonly considered by naturalists the lowest order of the lionlike species.” Yet, Johnson is known to have been devoted to his own pets, particularly Hodge, whom he once famously described as “a very fine cat indeed”.

During the Bronte sisters’ childhood, the three famous 19th-century novelists enjoyed the company of a black cat, named Tom. Charlotte included a description of a pet in Jane Eyre, while Emily wrote an essay in French in praise of cats entitled Le Chat. The title character of Anne’s first novel, Agnes Grey, decides her future husband is the man for her when he rescues a cat.

Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Black Cat, is so vivid in its description of animal cruelty that it is difficult to imagine its author as an animal lover. Yet, in real life Allan and his cat Catterina were so obviously devoted to each other that, in 1849, they passed away at the exact same moment even though they were many miles apart.

Cats appear in some of the US humorist and novelist’s best-known works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain’s favourite cat was Bambino, whom he taught to switch off the lamp at night and took great delight in having it show off this party trick when visitors came to the house.

In the early 1940s, Hemingway moved to Cuba. Boise became the author’s constant companion. Hemingway later featured a cat of the same name in his novel, Islands in the Stream, which shared many characteristics of his real-life cat including a fondness for hunting fruit rats.

【小题1】What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?

A．The majority of people recorded their pet cats.

B．Some past creative people liked cats and wrote about them.

C．Most of the funny behavior of cats was not recorded.

D．Modern people like to show off their cats on social media.

【小题2】What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 2?

A．The cat in the entry is vividly described.

B．The description makes the cat attractive.

C．The definition of the cat is objective.

D．The entry for the cat is eye-catching.

【小题3】How was the cat described in the story The Black Cat ?

A．Devoted.

B．Adorable.

C．Merciless.

D．Reliable.

【小题4】What did the past literary greats mentioned have in common?

A．They enjoyed the company of their pet cats.

B．They took great delight in showing off their cats.

C．They named the cats in their works after their pet cats.

D．They achieved fame because of the cats they wrote about.