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Reasons for floods and droughts

Nowadays there are many floods in Sri Lanka due to heavy rains. Sometimes they happen unexpectedly.

Floods mainly occur due to global warming and are highly dangerous when they are not expected.

It is a big problem for humans. Due to global warming the Earth’s temperature is rising.

Floods occur unexpectedly after heavy rains. This happens often in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Since the early 20th century, the Earth’s temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees C, making it about 37.8 degrees C. Poisonous “green house” gases have an adverse impact on the ozone layer, thinning it and letting in dangerous ultraviolet rays.Drought is caused by intense heat waves.

Some parts of Sri Lanka were hit by a 10-months drought before torrential rains lashed the Northern and Eastern provinces leaving a number of houses after the rain stopped.

To prevent this we must stop destroying forests and plant more trees. We should also start buying more recycled and ozone-friendly items.

To protect ourselves from floods, we must build dams and open the gates when there is heavy rain.

We can stop the drought, floods and global warming by being careful about inventions.

Shivangi Sritharan, Grade 4-A, St. Jude’s College, Negombo.

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How paint is made

Paint is one of the greatest things in the world. But what is it?

Paint has two main parts. The first is pigment, which is a powder that gives the paint its colour. The other is a formation of liquid such as water.

The liquid usually has something like a resin dissolved in it.

To make paint, the pigment and the liquid are mixed together. After you paint a surface, the liquid part of the paint dries but the pigment stays on the surface.

You should always buy the cheapest paint you can find.

People have been making use of paints for more than thousands of years.

When they were living in caves, some of them used paints to draw pictures on the walls. These paintings are better than modern arts hanging in museums.

Today, people still use paint to make pictures on walls. These pictures are called murals.

You have known something about paint and now you can have fun using this and make wonderful creations.

Marwa Jowsi,Grade 8,Malwana International School,Malwana.

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Habits help us to succeed in life

Anything that is done repeatedly becomes a habit. Once we get into a habit we do it without thinking about it.

Habits may be good or bad. Rising early, working hard and being punctual are good habits. Gambling, swearing, lying, using bad language, drinking, stealing and quarrelling are some bad habits.

There is a saying, “Habits are first cobwebs but afterwards cables.” This shows that habits might be weak at first, but, once they become strong, they are difficult to break.It is necessary to cultivate good habits and avoid bad ones.Everyone respects a child who has good habits which helps one to succeed in life.

Childhood is the right time to instil good habits among children.When we grow up with bad habits no one will like us. Parents should be careful to see that children cultivate only good habits.

Pravesha de Silva,Grade 7,Good Shepherd Convent, Panadura.
 

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My favourite storybook

My favourite storybook is Cindrella. It is a fairy tale story book.

It is the most interesting book I have ever read in my life.

My parents gave me a DVD of the story of Cindrella as my birthday gift.It is about a girl who lost her mother during her childhood and she was looked after by her stepmother. Later she was loved by a person and got the chance to go to the Palace.

A fairy helped her and later on she got married to him.I have read this book many times and I know the story by heart.My sisters and I love this story very much.

Fathima Zahara Asger,Grade 8-B,Sailan International School, Negombo.




 

A rainy day

The dark clouds
began to rise,
To show its heavy rain.
And birds began
to fly to their nests,
With all their
mighty strength.
Flowers are sleeping,
because it is raining,
Branches are breaking and laves are flying.
Thunder and blowing of the wind is rising,
To fill the world with rain.
Pip pop, Pip pop then rain drops are falling
To the ground, with all their strength,
Dark clouds are roaming here and there
To see the places filled with rain.
When rain began to leave
The beautiful sight vanished away
Rain is a very beautiful sight
That sparkles our eyes with gold.

D.L. Savithi Siyathma,“Brilliant Stars” International College,Nupe, Matara.

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Cats

Cats are rather medium in size,
Their ears are small and tails are short,
They don’t like water at all,
Their whiskers are long.
They purr and walk slowly and slowly,
Their eyes shine in the dark,
They don’t like rats at all,
They steal meat from the butcher,
Still cats are cute and playful.

Kusala Gayathri Akmeemana,Grade 4-I,Ecole International,Digana.




 

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At the beach

One Tuesday I went to the beach
with my teacher and friends.
I built sand castles on the beach.
I collected seashells
which had come on to the shore.
I saw big ships sailing far away in the sea.
Some of my friends were flying kites.
I made a pond with my friends’ help.
I played in the water
and enjoyed very much.
I found crabs, sea snails
and small fish along the beach.

Vasavan Dhiviyan,Grade 3,S. Thomas’ College,Mt. Lavinia.

The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is a wonderful momument and a marvel of architecture. It is considered to be one of the eight wonders of the world. It depicts a love story told in marble.it looks different at different times of the day. But it is known to look its best in the moonlight.

This great monument of love was built by Emperor Shah Jehan for his Queen Mumtaz Mahal.After the death, she was laid to rest there.The Taj Mahal is located on the banks of the river Yamuna and is built in white marble.

It stands on a red sandstone platform in Agra.It is believed to have taken 17 years to build the Taj Mahal.

Thousands of workers were used to build the wonderful creation.It has four tall towers or minars. It is all surrounded by lawns of green grass and flowers.In front of this you can see a water channel with many fountains.Under the huge dome lie the graves of Mumtaz and Shah Jehan.

Thousands of tourists visit the Taj Mahal daily.A visit to India may be considered a trip incomplete without visiting the Taj Mahal.

Mohamed Himash,Grade 6-SC.Zahira College.

Rats

Rats are disease-carrying vermin that attack anything they come across. However, do you know that rats can save our lives? The latest finding is that they can clear landmines. It is easy for them to clear landmines because they have small legs.If a dog is used to clear a landmine it is dangerous because it will dig the ground quickly and the landmine will blast.

The process of clearing landmines is slow and painstaking. It is also a dangerous job.

A person will roughly take a week to clear a one hundred square metre area using a metal detector. A rat can find all the landmines in less than half an hour, because of its acute smell. However, rats need training to clear landmines. I think although rats are disease-carrying vermin they are useful in clearing landmines.

So the rats are intelligent and talented creatures.

A.A. Nilsha Jayawardena,Grade 8,O.K.I. International School,Wattala.