English For Second Secondary - Two Terms - Chapter 2

من طرف **Admin** الإثنين يونيو 29, 2009 8:27 am

THE DEADLY SPIDER ESCAPES esd

Later, when a police officer discovered the treasures in the cars, he
ran to tell his superior. Meanwhile, the deadly spider at the back of
the car found its way out and escaped. It looked for a dark and safe
place.

AYMAN'S FAMILY
The Hassan Family lived in the house next to the police station. Ayman
was the eldest brother. He was 20. His brother, Mohamed, was 16. His
two sisters were Lamia, 12 and Najat, 10

AYMAN'S COMPUTER AND INTERNET FRIENDS
Ayman's room was on the top floor. When his uncle bought a new
computer, he gave his old one to him. Ayman's hobby was the internet.
He used it both for his university studies and for making internet
friends from different countries. On the screen, conversations
including more than two people could be read.

A CONVERSATION ABOUT GETTING JOBS
That day, Ayman had a conversation with his two Internet friends Ed and
Jill about getting jobs after graduation. Finding a good job was a
problem. Jill believed they would be flexible as any job was better
than none.

THE SPIDER'S JOURNEY IN HAMDAYYA
When the deadly spider escaped, it went to Hassan's house. Their mother
called the two sisters and they were leaving the room. Najat's foot
landed near the spider. Her foot moved away when the spider was about
to attack her. Thus Najat was saved. The house was full of light and
noise, so the spider left it. It climbed out of the window and went to
the garden.

AYMAN WITNESSES THE SPIDER
Ayman was going to the shops when he saw the deadly spider. He got
interested in it. It was black and had two yellow lines on its back.
The spider was big in the size of a small apple. It had eight eyes, two
of them were about a centimetre each. The eight legs were like a pencil
in length. When it opened its mouth, he saw two long fangs 1 cm each.
The spider ran away and disappeared.

A ZOOLOGY STUDENT CONSULTS A SPIDER'S BOOK
Ayman phoned a zoology student and described the spider he had seen to
him. The student consulted a book about Spiders of North Africa. He
didn't find the big black spiders with two yellow lines in that book.

AYMAN RESORTS TO THE INTERNET
Ayman resorted to his computer. He turned to the World Wide Web the
internet. The communication lines between thousands of computers would
provide any information he needed. So, he typed "Spider black and
yellow" in the search box and clicked on the "Search Button". He got
information and pictures about thin small spiders in different parts of
the world but nothing about the spider he saw.

THE TRANSLATION OF AN OLD EGYPTIAN TEXT
A page with no pictures appeared on the screen. It was an English
translation of an Egyptian text. The translation was made by Dr Shereen
Fakhry who worked on the Department of Egyptology, Oxford University.
It told the story of hundreds of people killed by black and yellow
spiders in an Egyptian town. To get rid of these dangerous deadly
spiders, the people burnt down the town for six days and nights.
Nothing remained in that town and they wanted to rebuild it. However,
many spiders found their way into underground tombs and passages. Those
tombs were unknown to the townspeople as their dead were buried for a
thousand years. The spiders were safe in them and the people had to
leave the town.

AN E-MAIL TO DR SHEREEN
Ayman sent an e-mail to Dr Shereen asking if the story about the black
and yellow spiders in the Egyptian text was true. He had seen a big
black and yellow spider himself and could not identify it.

DR SHEREEN'S REPLY
Ayman received Dr Shereen's reply. She believed the town was real. No
one knew its place as many towns and villages in Egypt disappeared
because of the dry climate 2000 years ago. However, the story might be
just a story.

THE DEADLY SPIDER LAYS ITS EGGS
The big Spider succeeded in finding a home in a secret place in the
house next to Hassan's. It was a safe place with nobody to disturb it
and with plenty of food. The Spider was a female. It laid 2000 eggs and
enclosed them in sacs of white silk. It began its long wait.