Transformation of transport

Winner:

Many thousands of years ago, people travelled on foot carrying their goods. Then they used animals. Horses, camels, elephants, oxen, donkeys and other domesticated animals became their carriers. People found that it was faster to travel using animals than to walk.

Next came the wheeled vehicles. Carts and wagons were the first. Wheeled vehicles transported more than one person at a time. Also they were able to transport heavy loads of goods. Our ancestors would have used wheeled vehicles which were pulled by animals to transport bricks, stone blocks, slabs and columns and other heavy building materials to building sites. Today, we marvel at the ruins of these massive constructions.

Water transportation is another popular mode of travel and transport. Inland waterways and seas are tapped for this purpose. Today thousands of passengers as well as cargo ships move in the high seas at any given moment.

James Watt invented the steam engine in 1775. This brought about a revolution in movement. Steam power was introduced to ships, boats , trains and many other vehicles.

In 1903, the Wright brothers invented the first airplane. The speed and the comfort of travel increased with this invention. Passenger and cargo planes began to fly through the skies bringing the world together. Now it is possible to travel in spacecraft from planet to planet.

G.B. Apeksha Rathnamali,
Grade 8, G/Sri Devananda Vidyalaya,
Ambalangoda.

Tropical rain forests

Winner:

When there is rain and sunshine plants grow faster and form dense forests. These forests are known as Tropical Rain Forests. These rain forests become the habitat for birds and animals. Tall trees become homes for birds as there is food and shelter.

There is valuable hard-wood timber in these forests. Organised timber thieves cut down these trees, turn them into timber and carry them away. In the process these unscrupulous men destroy the habitat of birds and animals, making them move on to other parts of the forest, searching for food and shelter. Then these forests become overcrowded. Food becomes scarce, as a result the animals begin to roam about in nearby villages looking for food As a result animals and birds begin to feed on paddy land and other cultivation. This leads to unending confrontation between man and animal leading, to a tragic end. Farmers encroach on these forests, clear trees, burn them and open up vast stretches of land for cultivation. Within a few years the land loses its fertility. It dries up as there are no trees and the fertile layer of the land is swept away by wind. The farmer moves on to another part of the forest and continues his destruction. By 2000 nearly two thirds of the world’s tropical rain forests were destroyed in this manner.

Mohan Lahiru Gamage
St Sylvester’s College
Kandy

Flowers and pollination

Winner:

Flowers are the coloured part of a plant or tree, from which fruit or seed is later developed. It is the reproductive organ in plant containing one or more pistils or stamens or both and usually a corolla and calyx.

The main purpose of the flowers of a plant is to make seeds and fruits. There will be no fruits without flower blooms. First the flower and then the fruit is the end result. Flowers have beautiful colours and scents to attract bees and butterflies. When these insects come and sit on flowers to drink the sweet honey a kind of powder in the flowers sticks to their body and when these insects visit from flower to flower, the powder is sprinkled with pollen on them and thus pollination takes place.

If the pollen of a flower reaches the same flower’s female part, then this is known as self pollination.

If it occurs with different flowers, it is known as cross pollination. Thus fertilisation happens and fruits grow. There are many thousands of different kinds of flowers.Flowers are interesting whether they are small or big, whether they have a scent or not, flowers have different shades of colour, from pure white through to cream, pink and yellow to deep crimson and red. The rose is known as the queen of flowers, while the lotus is referred to as the ‘divine one’.

Hilma Illyas,
Al-Mubarak National College,
Malwana.

How the heart is affected

Winner:

We know a heart attack is when the heart is affected. Blood vessels are blocked with cholesterol and this prevents the transportation of blood and then the heart has to apply high pressure. This pressure makes the heart to rapidly fail and annually in America many people die due to this disease.

An Electro Cardiogram, is a test that could predict the condition of the heart, but this test is no better than a routine clinical test.

Symptoms of a heart attack is when the infected person's body begins to get cool, his internal body begins to ache and he feels his body burning, then his left hand starts to ache and suddenly his heart begins to feel a stabbing pain. When a person thinks that he is getting a heart attack, he should go to the doctor and then get the necessary treatment.

A person should get the prescribed treatment then he will survive.

This disease occurs because of the intake of oily food and the use of alcohol. Now it has been found that this condition passes from generation to generation.

For treatment to be given, the person should be seen by a cardiologist.

Even Sinhala medicine has cured this sickness. Some medicines like Perumkayam, Sahinda salt and Thippili powder has cured this disease.

If the heart stops, an electronic pacemaker will help it to work efficiently by sending small electrical shocks to the heart so that it begins functioning..

Aruni Shamila Peiris,
Girls' College,
Dankotuwa.

An interesting place I like to visit

Winner:

There are many attractive and interesting places all over the world. From all of that, there is one place in my mind which I like to visit.

The Keukenhof flower garden is the place I like to visit and is always on my mind. It is the biggest flower garden in the world. The Keukenhof garden is situated in the Netherlands, between Hilagam Town and Lis Town. This garden is also known as the 'Europe garden'. It is large and is said to be about 70 acres.

This amazing garden was built up in 1949, according to an image of a duke in Lis Town at that time. The Keukenhof garden opens for the public only from March to May.

Once a year they plant about seven million flower seeds.

Daffodils and nasisa are in full bloom when the garden opens in March. After a few weeks, the tulip begins to bloom. There are about 1000 kinds of tulips in the garden. In the middle of April highersintis bloom.The garden is full of flowers by the end of April. I think that is the most suitable time to visit the garden.The biggest water flower in Europe is also found in this garden. This is an attractive place in the world. I like to visit this garden one day!

V.T. Samudi Shankapani Rohana
Devi Balika Vidyalaya,
Colombo 8.

My favourite author

My favourite author is Charles Dickens. He was born in 1812. His father was a Navy clerk. His father used to spend more than what he earned. He was sent to jail because he could not pay the debts. So, Charles Dickens had to stop going to school and do a job at the age of 12. He wrote books about people like his father. He went to see his father. He got personal experiences.

He started writing novels. His novels were Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times and a lot more. The stories were full of characters. Some were invented by him.My favourite novel is Oliver Twist. It is about a boy born in a workhouse. At birth his mother died. At the end he gets to know his real parents and lives happily. I like his novels a lot. His life ended at the age of 58, in 1870.

Janani Ranasinghe,
Grade 7,
Sussex College,
Kurunegala.