Both of Omar's parents liked writing poetry. His father taught poetry in a college. Although his mother worked at a bank, she wrote poetry when she was free. His parents spent one evening each week on poetry readings. Most readings were at a small coffee shop.

    Omar loved going to the coffee shop with his parents. The nice smell of coffee and the beautiful voice of reading blew him away. One woman came to the coffee shop every week. People called her Mrs Abboud. She never read, but she always had a bright smile for everyone, and she would clap(鼓掌) loudly after each reading.

    Later, Omar began writing his own poetry. He did quite well. Mrs Francis, Omar's English teacher, advised him to go to a poetry competition. At first Omar was excited. However, when he read the competition rules, he became worried. The competition was an oral (口头的) reading. Omar was sure that he could write good poetry, but he was afraid of reading in front of others. "We'll be very happy to see you in the competition," his father said. And Omar knew that he had to go through with it somehow.

    On the day of the competition, he chose his favourite poem and put on his best clothes. When it was his turn, something wonderful happened! Mrs Abboud was sitting next to his parents. He saw her warm smile. He could almost smell the coffee at the small coffee shop. Now it was easy for him to read. When Omar finished, everyone clapped loudly. Omar felt great joy in his heart.

    When Mr. David retired（退休）, he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said, "If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, come in and look around. Price twenty dollars. "Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. "I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）, "he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room. But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.

    Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on (穿上) his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to cat. Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, "Eat, coat!" "The other people were surprised and asked, "What are you doing? Why do you do that?" Mr. Smith answered," I am asking my coat to eat food. When I wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down. Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me."

    Garfield first appeared in a comic strip on June 19, 1978. Garfield is well known all over the world. Lots of Garfield books have been translated into 26 languages. Garfield products are sold in 69 countries.

    Jim Davis is Garfield's creator. Jim was born on July 28, 1945 in Indiana. He grew up on a farm where his dad raised cows. Jim and his brother Dave helped with the farm work. They had 25 cats. Their mom always made sure there was plenty of food for the cats.

    As a boy, Jim was in poor health. When he had to spend time resting, he drew pictures. He added words to his pictures to make them funny.

    After college Jim worked a few years at an advertising company. In 1969, he got a job to help a cartoonist. Jim noticed that there were many comic strips about dogs but few about cats. He thought that was strange since the world is full of cat lovers.

    He remembered the 25 farm cats he grew up with. They gave him ideas for a cat comic strip. In the comic strip, Garfield became the central character in daily difficult experiences with Jon, his owner, and other characters. He is lazy, funny and hungry.

    Jim Davis has received many awards for his work. Twice he was given the Best Humour Strip Cartoonist of the Year Award. He has won four Emmys(艾美奖)and other honours.