My Life as a Spider

by 3D Jason Chow Chun Lai

Hi, I’m a spider.  I don’t actually have a name.  I’m just a jumping spider…

I woke up in the morning.  I yawned.  I tested my eight legs.  What’s for breakfast?  I used my eight eyes to look out for food. I tightened my leg muscles and jumped.  I flew in the air for a while and landed on sticky soil… the best environment for hunting!
　　　
I looked around for food.  I thought I heard something and stopped to listen. I stood as still as a stone.  I didn’t move a single muscle. Although I couldn’t see it, I could make out what it was by looking at its shape; it was a praying mantis, an adult one.  The mantis didn’t seem to notice me.

I stealthily jumped on to the grass and carefully stalked the mantis. I tightened my muscles - and leapt!  I landed on the mantis and took it by surprise.  My front legs pinned it on the grass – and I sank my fangs deep into the mantis’s back.  Blood spilled out of the mantis.  He cried in pain and struggled frantically.  I raised my fangs, but just as I dug them into the mantis’s head, it broke free and sliced its claw through my skin.  Pain shot through my body.

The mantis stood up, stretched its arms and pinned me back on the grass.  I screamed in agony.  I couldn’t die here.  I thought.  I had to fight back!

I used my ultimate weapon, stabbing my poison into the mantis’s abdomen in a last ditch effort to survive my ordeal.  It fell to the soil.  I didn’t wait for it to flip back, and knocked him over.  I raised my fangs and tried to stab the mantis again, but missed.  The mantis’s menacing claws swiped towards me.  Oh no! I t stabbed its claws into my body, I was going to die…

Well, I could envisage my end in graphic detail. The mantis froze there. What happened?  Oh right!  My fangs! They have venom and it was working at last!

I didn’t waste my time. I spun a web and moved around and around so the web wrapped around the mantis. Then I dragged the mantis into my cozy home.

I ate the mantis from one of the fang marks I had made. I ate half of it and felt really full.  Time for a nap.  Soon, I drifted off to sleep.  Zzzzzzzzz…

The Story of a Wolfgle

W.K. Ku 2A

My name is Chanying, and I’m a wolfgle.  Actually, my father is a wolf but my mother is an eagle, so you can imagine that my appearance is very special: I have the head and legs of an eagle, and the body of a wolf.  My body is grey.  My mouth and teeth are big, so I can eat my favourite food, pork, quickly and easily.

I was born in mainland China, but when I was two years old the Chinese Government sent me to Hong Kong to kill the people who had joined the Umbrella Movement.  My best friend is a wolf called CY…

Now I’m three years old, and my body has grown a lot in a year.  The Hong Kong police train me every day, but I don’t want to hurt the Umbrella people; however, if I refuse to be trained the police will punish me…

Once they made me attack the people who were taking part in the Umbrella Movement protests.  They gave me tear gas and told me to let it off where all the people were, but I really didn’t want to hurt them, so – I took it back to the police and let it off where they were!  The police shot at me and I was hurt, but the protesters saw what I had done and saved me.

Now I want to thank the protestors for what they did for me.  I’m proud of them!

The Story of a Lizbat

 Ip Chun Fung, Jeffrey 2A

My name is Mac.  You can call me ‘Mad Mack.’ I’m a lizbat: my father was a bat and my mother was a lizard, but they’re both dead now.  After they died I flew to the Amazon jungle; it is so big, so quiet, and I love living here very much.  I now live in a nice, dark cave.

My appearance is very special, and I guess a little scary.  In fact I am a lizard, but I have a pair of bat’s wings and I use two legs to walk.  So – I can swim, run and fly, and I think I’m the luckiest animal in the world to be able to do that.  I love to fly, and climb trees…

I’m now eight years old; I’m two meters long and I weigh 82 kilos.  A few of the native jungle people have seen me.  Because they think I am a god they respect me, and they bring food for me every week.

One day something horrible happened: some men from the city with guns came hunting and tried to kill me.  At first I thought they had come to give me food, but suddenly they started shooting at me, so I pounced on them and bit them with my razor sharp teeth.  Now their bodies are in the river…

Do I like my life in the Amazon jungle?  Yes - I think it is really nice; I have the best food brought to me every week and a comfortable place to live, but these days more and more people are coming to the jungle, so maybe in the future I will fly to another place… or maybe I will stay here and ‘play’ with them, as I did with the men from the city...

Anyway, please remember that if you come to the Amazon, don’t go into any caves – especially if you have a gun!

How to Make New Friends

Li Yuen Tung 2A

We can make new friends by chatting to someone we don’t know.  We can talk about some topics that we are both interested in, for example K-pop stars, sports, favourite subjects and songs.  If we have things in common we will chat more and so get to know each other better.

Also, we can suggest joining some activities together, like basketball or badminton teams, which improve our teamwork skills and let us make more friends; if we join some activity we will have more time to work together and become good friends.

Apart from chatting and joining activities together, we can also help new friends when they are in need: if they are carrying a lot of books we can offer to help them.  If they don’t know how to do their homework, maybe we can help them with that.

Lastly we can study together.  For example, we can teach and help each other and revise together before exams.  If we know something the other doesn’t we can explain things; show them the steps to solve a problem in maths for instance.  We can ask them questions to make sure they understand something.

If we use these methods, I think we can make new friends – even new best friends

Blind Love

by 2D Candy Lee

 

Ken is a bank clerk.  His daily repetition of boring work was his life, until one day, something happened…

“Stop moving! Put your hands up!”  Five bandits with scarves tied around their faces rushed into the bank. They were armed with guns and smashed the door open.

“Oh my God!”

“Help!”

“Call the police! Hurry!”

People were confused and started screaming.

“No talking!”  The tallest bandit shouted, and walked over to the counter. “Give us all the money!” he shouted at Ken, who was very scared.  He began to tremble all over, moved back a step and stepped on someone’s foot. “Aah!” a female employee, Kelly, screamed.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Ken said.

“Are you okay?” one of the bandits asked Kelly, politely.

“I’m fine thank you,” replied Kelly, surprised at the bandit’s concern for her.

At that moment, the police arrived.  The five bandits rushed out of the bank without any money. “What?!” Ken could not believe what had happened. “They just ran away?”

Three months later, Kelly told Ken that she was going to marry one of the bandits, whose name was Jerry.  Ken was amazed - love really is blind!

Should Secondary School Students Do Part-time Jobs?

Is it a good idea for secondary school students to take part time jobs? Two Form 4 students of our school present two opposing views on the topic below.

Lee Hoi Lam from 4C believes that working part time is good for students.

Firstly, teenagers who has a part time job can get some valuable work experience.  If teenagers have work experience, they won’t have so much pressure when they get a job in the future as they know how hard work can be.  Take my sister Amy as an example, she is eighteen years old now.  When she was sixteen she worked as a sales girl.  She was so nervous when she went to work on the first day but as time passed, her experience increased and she knew how to strike a balance between work and study.  So, having work experience is good for teenagers.

Moreover, when teenagers have a part time job, they can earn pocket money, become more independent and less of a financial burden on their parents, which will make them feel good about themselves. 

Also, when they know how hard it is to make money, they won’t spend it carelessly, and develop good money management skills. 

The last reason why I think teenagers taking part time jobs is a good idea is that having a job is suitable for them.  For example opening an online shop with friends is a good idea for teenagers, as they tend to know the latest trends and fashions. One possibility would be for them to start an online shop to sell their chosen goods; this can be quite profitable if well researched and managed, as there is need to rent a shop and it is quite a relaxing way to do business.  They can study and work at the same time, which is a good balance of the two.

In conclusion, I think it is a good idea for teenagers in Hong Kong to take part time jobs while they are studying at school. Interference with their studies will be minimal and undertaken in their free time. They will develop money management skills, gain work experience and become more financially independent.

On the other hand, Leung Hau Shan, also from 4C thinks that working part time brings negative impacts to students.

Firstly, it is true that a teenager who has a part time job can get work experience and earn money, but there are some negative effects to having a part time job.  If students work, even if only part time they will concentrate more on the job than their studies.  Let's take my friend Ivan as an example. When he was a student, he also had a job, and lost interest in school work. Later, he still worked and he only concentrated on the job because he thought earning money was more important than the school work.  He didn’t have enough time to rest so he often slept in his lessons.  Then of course his results became worse and worse.  Finally he didn't go to school at all.

Secondly, when teenagers have a part time job they may meet bad friends in the workplace and develop bad habits.  For example, they may start smoking and drinking with their bad friends, and in extreme cases they may even take drugs, which will of course be very bad for their health.  Moreover, they will not go to school because they want to avoid their friends who may find out they are taking drugs.

The last reason why I think teenagers should not take part time jobs is that they may spend money carelessly because they may think the money is earned easily. Afterwards, they might spend more and more money to buy useless things.

In conclusion, I don't think teenagers taking part time jobs is a good idea.  It may lead them to lose interest in school work, meet bad friends and develop bad habits.  It may also affect their money management skills.

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The Pet Sitter

by 3B Ethan Ho

The ad in the paper said:

Wanted: pet sitter

Need someone to look after little monkey Jolly

while I am away.

Willing to pay $400/day to the right person.

Four hundred dollars for looking after somebody’s pet!

‘Easy money!” I thought so I took the job. When I arrived at the house, a man gave me the keys. He then took his suitcase and left. I was left alone with Jolly.

“Just a monkey,” I thought, “they have those in zoos too.”   But you know, monkeys in zoos are locked up.  I immediately noticed the door swinging open because of the wind, and there Jolly went, as I chased after it.

After 15 minutes or so I got the little monkey back, and almost “stabbed” the door lock with the key, so anxious was I to get it back into the house.

“You… you sit there!”  I was furious.  Looks like the monkey wasn’t trained to listen to people.  You see, the pet owner’s house had fancy lights like chandeliers, and I could see why some lights were out.  The monkey almost brought down one of them.

“Get down now!” I was shouting like a barbarian or something, shouting up at “King Kong”.  But this time he listened, though he landed on my head and gave me a few scratches to my face.  Meanwhile, I noticed something on my head.  It was poop. He had pooped on my head!

Then I just yelled like a maniac.  I looked over to the neighbour’s place and saw an old man staring at me.  It was almost like he was saying, “Go see a doctor.”

I washed my head and began to leave.  I saw the monkey and almost kicked him - but I wouldn’t do that.  As a last resort, I saw a banana, and threw it at him like a boomerang.  Guess what, he caught the banana and started poking at the television’s power switch.  Then he just sat and watched television without any more fuss.

“Wow,” I thought, “You didn’t train him to obey, but you trained him to watch television.”

So, I put a bunch of bananas next to Jolly and left.  I left the keys under the “Welcome!” rug at the door. Not easy money, for sure.  Today hadn’t been ‘jolly’ at all!

Growing Pains and Gains

 by 2D Janet Wong

Ashley’s birthday party was over.  It was very late when Constance left for home.  When she arrived, her parents were in the living room.

“Why are you so late?  It’s nearly twelve o'clock!  I didn’t get any call from Ashley’s home!  Where have you been all night? At a bar or somewhere?”

“Mum, I'm so tired. Maybe let's talk in the morning.  I had better go to bed now.  Good Night.”  Constance yawned and pretended to be very tired.

"Constance!" yelled mum.

"Mum, I've said goodnight," Constance replied in an impatient tone.

"Sorry, Constance, I don’t think I can let you go out at night anymore! You are NOT allowed to go out at night!"  Dad shouted furiously.

"Why dad? What have I done wrong?  FINE! You're so annoying!" Constance started crying and rushed out of the flat.




Constance looking down at the dark street

At midnight, she was walking along the street as a dark shadow moved slowly up behind her.  Constance looked round and trembled with fear.   She was about to scream, when the dark shadow moved towards her.  A girl with a friendly smile waved at her… "Hi,” she said, “I'm Jo."

She asked why Constance looked so sad.  Constance told her she had had a fight with her parents.  Jo gave her some medicine.

After meeting Jo, Constance never went home.  She stayed with Jo and some bad guys every night.  She seldom went to school.  Constance's bosom friend, Leah, was worried about her. She called Constance many times but every time she phoned her, Constance’s phone was switched off.  She left a voice message reminding Constance not to take drugs.

One day, Leah was on the way home and she saw a girl; she couldn't believe her eyes, Constance was lying on the street!  She phoned the school counsellor, Mrs Leung, and they took Constance to hospital at once.

Constance received residential drug treatment and realised that she had been extremely stupid. She felt sorry for her parents and apologised to them, and finally she regained a good relationship with them.  She really thanked her bosom friend Leah for the emergency help and realised that every teenager has problems; she had gained a valuable lesson.