Read the text carefully and choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).
GROWING UP BULIMIC: ALLEGRA'S STORY
(1) I remember standing in front of the mirror as a small five-year-old child, thinking that I was far too heavy. I started to diet when I was six. I would eat nothing but fruit for several days, and then I would become "weak" and eat. My mother was dealing with her own eating issues at the time and decided that not allowing food with fat to be in the house was the way to go. She also decided that locking the kitchen cabinets was healthy. I missed having food around that I liked, so whenever I was at school or at a friend's house I would eat lots of ice cream or chips or sweets because I thought that if I ate enough of it I wouldn't want to have any more when I returned home. But then I would remember that my mother didn't want me to be fat, and I would make myself throw up.
(2) By the time that I was ten I was clinically bulimic. I was purging at least a few times a day and was physically and emotionally exhausted. Soon, I turned to anorexia. I became fully anorexic at 12 years old and decided that at 5'7" and 130 pounds I was far too fat. From the ages of 12 to 14 I grew two inches and lost a good deal of weight.
(3) My body was shutting down. I was losing my hair, my fingers and toes would turn blue, I was cold all of the time, whenever I stood up I would feel like I was going to pass out, and worst of all I felt so isolated and alone all of the time. The body cannot survive for very long on a complete starvation diet. So I turned back to bulimia.
(4) I am 18 now, and I'm still battling these eating disorders. I'm not as sick as I was about two years ago when I was purging 15+ times a day, but I'm far from healthy. I have been hospitalized twice and have had little improvement.
(5) The worst part of the eating disorder is not the physical aspect, which is HORRIBLE and can kill anyone at any time, but the mental aspect. It's hard to wake up every morning and be afraid of looking in the mirror. It's hard to stay home on Friday nights when your friends are going to parties, because I feel too fat to go. It's hard to keep up with school work when I go home every day and feel like I have to go downstairs and run on the treadmill for hours. It's hard to want to avoid eating in front of anyone because I'm afraid that they will judge me on what I'm eating. It's just hard.
Allegra’s mother:
thought her daughter was not eating enough.
banned fatty food from home.
didn’t allow Allegra to keep food in the kitchen cabinets.
encouraged Allegra to eat fruit.
When she was 12:
she believed she was too fat for her size.
she looked older and fatter than most.
she decided to stop loosing weight.
she had to be hospitalized.
Allegra doesn’t go out much because:
her friends don’t invite her to parties.
she feels she has to do exercises.
she doesn’t like when others watch her eat.
she hates getting up in the morning.
What does Allegra mean when she says “My mother was dealing with her own eating issues at the time” (paragraph 1)? Explain in your own words:
How does she assess her condition now?
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problems (noun, paragraph 1)
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cupboards (noun, paragraph 1)
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vomiting (verb, paragraph 2)
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not functioning (phrasal verb, paragraph 3)
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suffering caused by lack of food (noun, paragraph 3)
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fighting, dealing with (verb, paragraph 4)
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related to the mind (adjective, paragraph 5)
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