The owner of a missing cat is asking for help. “My baby has been missing for over a month now, and I want him back so badly,” said Mrs. Brown, a 56-year-old woman. Mrs. Brown lives by herself in a trailer park near Clovis. She said that Clyde, her 7-year-old cat, didn’t come home for dinner more than a month ago. So she called the police.

When the policeman asked her to describe Clyde, she told him that Clyde was about a foot high. A bell went off. “Is Clyde your child or your pet?” the officer suspiciously asked. “Well, he’s my cat, of course,” Mrs. Brown replied. “Lady, you’re supposed to report missing PERSONS, not missing CATS,” said the irritated policeman. “Well, who can I report this to?” she asked. “You can’t. You have to ask around your neighborhood or put up flyers,” replied the officer.

Mrs. Brown figured that a billboard would work a lot better than a “8×11” piece of paper on a telephone pole. There was an empty billboard at the end of her street just off the interstate highway. The billboard had phone number on it. She called that number, and they told her they could blow up a picture of Clyde （from Mrs. Brown’s family album） and put it on the billboard for all to see. They told her it would cost only $ 3, 000 a month. So she took most of the money out of her savings account and rented the billboard for a month.

The month has passed, but Clyde has not appeared. Because she has almost no money in savings, Mrs. Brown called the local newspaper to see if anyone could help her rent the billboard for just one more month. She is waiting but, so far, no one has stepped forward.

【小题1】Why did Mrs. Brown call the police?
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【小题2】It wasn’t the police’s responsibility to look for the cat, was it?
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【小题3】Which one did Mrs. Brown prefer, a billboard or a piece of paper?
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【小题4】How did the owner of the billboard help to find the cat?
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【小题5】What does the underlined sentence ‘no one has stepped forward’ mean?
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【小题6】Would you like to help Mrs. Brown and why?
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