Passage 6

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

I was sixteen when I first spoke to Ms. Costelloe. She asked me where I got my coat. I was painfully shy and barely managed to spit out the name of the store. The following year, still hopelessly shy, I joined her English class. Illness soon took over my life after that, and from there Ms. Costelloe became my strong support, and would continue to be so over the next three years.

I suffer from a disease called Social Anxiety Disorder and it had shaken my world. When I thought I had no one to turn to, I found hope in the smile of one particular teacher. She had not only opened my mind up to the wonderful works of Emily Bronte, she has also encouraged my own creative writing. She has not only inspired me to read more and create more, she has also given me a zest for life. She has shown me that I do not need to run away from my diagnosis, instead she has helped me come to terms with it.

The first time I went to hospital I found it almost impossible to imagine continuing in school. I was seventeen and scared of both leaving and staying in the walls of education. I was cajoled(巧妙地说服）into going back for one half day, first class English. After the forty minutes of Wuthering Heights, the bell rang, ending the lesson. Ms. Costelloe asked me to stay back. She spoke softly and kindly about how I was missed and how she was happy to see me back. It gave me a sense of place, a class to look forward to, a reason to come back to school.

I let myself fall in love with great poets and sad novels. I didn’t know what illness I was battling with yet, but I knew reading and writing soothed it. Ms.Costelloe has picked me up every time. She has calmed me down from many a panic attack and her words have given me the courage to face my diagnosis.

She is not just an English teacher, amazing at that as she is; she is also a teacher of life. She has given me life lessons that I carry with me each and every day. I can honestly say she is the reason I am still alive, living not just existing. She is truly the best teacher any student could hope to come across, and I thank her for all she has taught me in three short years.

How did the author respond to Ms. Costellow’s question at their first meeting?