What is the difference between a fear and a phobia? You might have a fear of dogs if a dog has bitten（咬）you. However, if you avoid（避免） walking down streets where you think there might be a dog, you may have a phobia, which is a strong unnatural fear. If the fear has started to change a person's life, he or she probably has a phobia. Different researches say that between 10 and 80 percent of us have at least one phobia.
You can probably guess what some of the most "popular" phobias are. Flying may be the safest way to travel, but many people are scared of doing it. Fear of heights is also very common. For example, Spider-Man actor Tobey Maquire can't stand high places However, Tobey is not afraid of spiders that most people are afraid of. Rupert Grint, who plays in the Harry Potter movies, is in fear of spiders. "In one scene of the movie, we come into the large spider's hole, and there we meet a spider that is the size of an elephant and really scary because he has these hairs. I'm really scared of spiders. " He said.
. For example, cats are very cute for most of us, but not for such great people in history as Alexander the Great and Napolean Bonaparte. Actor Nicole Kidman says, "I'm not scared of snakes or spiders, but I'm scared of butterflies. Sometimes when I came home from school, the biggest butterfly you had ever seen would be just sitting on our front gate. I would climb over the wall, move slowly to the side of the house, or do anything to avoid having to go through the front gate. ＂ Clowns （小丑）are not so funny for actor Johnny Depp, whose childhood memory of the ＂painted faces and fake smiles" still makes him scared. Some other weird（怪诞的）phobias, including chewing gum, old doors or windows and footsteps, also fear some famous persons, such as Orah Winfred, Billy Bob and Sigmund Fred.
