Q: CHAPTER IX

THE SMITING OF AMON

That evening I sat ill at ease in my work-chamber in Seti's palace, making pretence to write, I who felt that great evils threatened my lord the Prince, and knew not what to do to turn them from him. The door opened, and old Pambasa the chamberlain appeared and addressed me by my new titles, saying that the Hebrew lady Merapi, who had been my nurse in sickness, wished to speak with me. Presently she came and stood before me.

"Scribe Ana," she said, "I have but just seen my uncle Jabez, who has come, or been sent, with a message to me," and she hesitated.

"Why was he sent, Lady? To bring you news of Laban?"

"Not so. Laban has fled away and none know where he is, and Jabez has only escaped much trouble as the uncle of a traitress by undertaking this mission."

"What is the mission?"

"To pray me, if I would save myself from death and the vengeance of God, to work upon the heart of his Highness, which I know not how to do----"

"Yet I think you might find means, Merapi."

"----save through you, his friend and counsellor," she went on, turning away her face. "Jabez has learned that it is in the mind of Pharaoh utterly to destroy the people of Israel."

"How does he know that, Merapi?"

"I cannot say, but I think all the Hebrews know. I knew it myself though none had told me. He has learned also that this cannot be done under the law of Egypt unless the Prince who is heir to the throne and of full age consents. Now I am come to pray you to pray the Prince not to consent."

1. Hebrews
2. that Pharoah wishes to destroy Hebrews
3. Jabez
4. Merapi
5. Seti's
6. no
7. threats to his Prince
8. yes
9. Pambasa
10. chamberlain
11. to announce Merapi
12. Jabez
13. yes
14. Jabez is her uncle
15. Laban
16. by sending Merapi to plead

Numbered questions:
1. What people all have a certain knowledge?
2. What do they know?
3. According to whom?
4. Who agrees with this idea?
5. Whose place did someone try to do their job in?
6. Were they writing enthusiastically?
7. What did they fear?
8. Did someone enter?
9. Who?
10. What was her job?
11. What did she want?
12. Who had Merapi recently interacted with?
13. Are they related?
14. How so?
15. Who had run and is missing?
16. How has her relative avoided problems?

Q: In their small town there are not very many kids. Joe is 8 years old. Nate is 9 years old. They have been the only two boys since they were born. One day Joe saw a White moving truck down the street from his and Nate's tree house. Joe got really excited and told Nate about it. Nate and Joe waited, hoping to see another boy that could join their club. The Boy's Club started when they were 6 and their dads helped them build their tree house and paint it dark blue. Joe and Nate both wanted more friends so they could play team games like baseball and football. Nate started day dreaming about playing baseball. Joe started thinking about how fun football would be. They don't like playing board games, Go Fish or Old Maid any more. They were both looking out the window of the tree house, waiting for the family to get out of the dark blue van that pulled up next to the moving truck. The sun's bright yellow light made it hard for the boys to see as the van door opened Nate looked close and yelled out "There are three boys"! Both boys got really excited and started walking down the street toward the new family. Nate broke into a run and brown dust started coming up from the ground behind his feet. Joe started running to catch up to Nate. They made it to the house quickly and one of the new boys gave a strange look as Nate and Joe both held their knees trying to catch their breath. A few seconds later Nate stood up and said, "Hi I'm Nate and this is Joe. Do you want to join The Boy's Club"? The boy said, "Sure. Can my brothers be in the club too? And Joe said, "YES!" The boy took a step back and said, "Well, I'm Jacob and my twin's name is Josh. We are 9 and our little brother is Alex. He's 7." Nate and Joe started planning games and made friends quickly with the new boys.

1. Eight
2. Nine
3. a tree house
4. white
5. board games
6. more friends to play games like baseball and football
7. Three
8. Jacob, Josh and Alex
9. Go Fish and Old Maid
10. no

Numbered questions:
1. How old is Joe?
2. And Nate?
3. What did they make?
4. What color was the truck?
5. What were they tired of?
6. What did they want to do instead?
7. How many boys were in the van?
8. What were their names?
9. What card games were they sick of?
10. Were there triplets?

Q: Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralyzed from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted them into his back and re-grew his spinal cord . Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly re-grows. "The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself," Professor Raisman said.

Polish doctors injected the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990's, but this is his greatest success. "I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat, which couldn't control its hand, put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true."

Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt--it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

"What you've got to understand is that for three million paralyzed people in the world today, the world looks a totally brighter place than it did yesterday," he said.

1. nasal cells
2. damaged tissue
3. spinal nerves
4. No
5. a knife attack
6. He was paralyzed from the chest down
7. 38
8. Yes
9. four years
10. His was the easiest case
11. 40 years of research
12. by Professor Geoff Raisman
13. nasal nerves
14. They injected them
15. David Nicholls
16. Yes
17. With researchers across the globe
18. Yes
19. rats

Numbered questions:
1. What did doctors put in Fidyka's spinal cord?
2. What were they hoping to fix?
3. Which nerves needed to be fixed?
4. Could he walk before that?
5. How was he injured?
6. How much of him was unable to move?
7. How old is he?
8. Can he walk now?
9. How long was he without that ability?
10. Why did doctors want him for the first try?
11. How much research was behind this?
12. By who?
13. What is always growing?
14. How did they get the cells in his spinal cord?
15. Who gave money towards this?
16. Will they be sharing their info?
17. With who?
18. Did Raisman try this on an animal first?
19. What kind?