Read the following paragraph and answer the questions after each paragraph.

Some people say the business about the jolly fat person is a myth, that all of us chubbies are neurotic, sick, sad people. I disagree. Fat people may not be chortling all day long, but they’re a hell of a lot nicer than the wizened and shriveled. Thin people turn surly, mean, and hard at a young age because they never learn the value of a hot-fudge sundae for easing tension. Thin people don’t like gooey soft things because they themselves are neither gooey nor soft. They are crunchy and dull, like carrots. They go straight to the heart of the matter while fat people let things stay all blurry and hazy and vague, the way things actually are. Thin people want to face the truth. Fat people know there is no truth. One of my thin friends is always staring at complex, unsolvable problems and saying, “The key thing is… .” Fat people never say that. They know there isn’t any such thing as the key thing about anything.
—Suzanne Britt Jordan
1. What is the paragraph’s main idea?
2. What topics is Jordan comparing and contrasting? List the points for each topic.
3. Does the author organize the paragraph by topics or by points of comparison?


1. Fat people are jolly people.
2. Thin People
Fat People
turn surly, mean, and hard
nicer
crunchy and dull
gooey and soft
go straight to the heart of a matter
stay blurry and hazy and vague
want to face the truth
know there is no truth
want to find the “key thing”
know there is no key to anything
3. By points of comparisons

Language Arts & World Languages

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