Friday, May 26, 2006

Talk about mixed emotions

I still find typing in blogs an enjoyable way of writing. No pressure.. no time limit.. no word limit.. and I can be as informal as I want to be.

Anyway, English paper was quite a coaster ride for me. Well I mean the essay paper. Time allocated is 1 hour 45 minutes. Two essays, one directed and one continuous. Just like our BM counterpart. And BM is given 2 hours and 30 minutes. Go figure the 45 minutes balance. Anyway, we are supposed to spend 45 minutes on the directed one and 1 hour on the continuous one, since the continuous writing has to be longer than the directed ( though not specified, but its a general opinion. Mob rule syot.. )

We started at 8.00am and scheduled to end at 9.45am. I began writing my directed essay with confidence. Easy easy lar.. points given, only need to show show a bit of flowery language used in the correct way. I got too engrossed in writing, and soon found I had already written three pages and only nearing the end. So I finished it at three and a half pages, that's like two pages extra from what teacher expects. Checked the time, 9.05 ( or was it 9.10? ) then sweared. Bloody hell!@#?? That's like half an hour off my continuous writing!! So I grabbed the nearest topic to me, LITERALLY! I really DID that! Question 5 was at the bottomest of the 5 questions and nearest to me. lol..

Grabbed the question, and began writing without thought at all. I finished at three and a half pages also. Checked the time. 9.30am. WTF?@?!#?? 25-30 minutes to produce a three pages and a half essay?? I felt stupid for a moment. Then I felt proud for a moment. Then I felt stupid again. Then I gave up, stapled and covered the paper and slept for 15 minutes.

Will post it in my blog to brag if it exceeds my initial expectation ( before I entered the exam class ), which is 42 out of 50. If its less, forget it.

Anyway, there seems to be a reason to brag after all. I was told that I scored highest in English in Science and Technology paper in my class. 94 out of 100. I was like.. what? Zhi Wei is second highest I think, and he lost to me by 5 marks!! YEAAAAaaa!! What a lead!

Forget it. Anyway, just submitted my entry for the BRATs elephant thingy in Endau-Rompin. Hopefully it gets through. The dateline given was 23rd I know, and its the 26th now. Well, I was informed the dateline was extended ( the notification mail was sent on the 22nd. Bloody hell ) So what the heck, go for it.

Anyway, whether or not I get through, here's the essay. Criticize more than praise. This is done with my mental state at its lowest, that's when I talk normally but brain absolutely halt all processes. Meaning, I talk or type without thinking. Belief me, you wouldn't want to see the original one. This is the 2nd one I wrote, more effort is put into it.

Why do you think we should help save elephants and how you can help create awareness in your community.

Why do you think we should help save the elephants from extinction? The reason is because WE can!

As each day passes by, the list of wildlife extinction grows at a steady pace. Our own elephants are not that far down the list, and they are nearing the brink of extinction. When that happens, many will lament how useful and fun it was to have elephants while they existed.

This is because elephants have proved themselves to be extremely useful to mankind. Since ages past, elephants have been used as a form of transportation and to pull the royal coaches. Even up until today, they are still used for ceremonial and religious purposes.

Elephants are one of the most popular creatures among humans. Even as we learn our alphabets, we recite that “E” stands for Elephants. Walt Disney also made a classical cartoon that is well loved throughout the world, which is “Dumbo” based on an elephant that can fly. If these elephants are extinct, then we are denying our future generation the pleasure of seeing an actual elephant! They have learned and watched so much, but are unable to see an elephant in reality!

Elephants are also part of the biosis component in the ecosystem. They play their biological part in the food chain and maintain the population of other animals and plants. This interdependent relationship is what makes them a key biological species in the tropical forests and therefore they must be protected. If they are unable to play their role, then the ecosystem’s delicate balance might be severely disrupted and result in a catastrophic chain events that could alter our rainforests!

Elephants are dwindling at an alarming rate mainly because of human activities. As human population grows at a steady pace, the demand for food also increases. This result in more land being cleared for agricultural purposes, which leads to the elephant’s natural habitat being destroyed! When their natural habitat can not support them, they will eventually lose and die out. What we should do is gazette larger areas as forest reserves and wildlife rehabilitation centers to create a haven for these great gentle beasts.

We must show our people the sorry plight of these elephants to instill awareness in our community. Documentaries are generally described as boring; therefore a new approach to producing a documentary must be implemented. Instead of just some narrator droning while a video of elephants are shown, we should try shooting the documentary in such a way that it can capture the viewer’s attention.

Besides that, we should place more emphasis on rural areas instead of focusing our campaigns and public speeches in urban areas. It is pretty common nowadays to read in the newspaper about elephants being shot dead by villagers for destroying their crops. It is an undeniable fact that the destruction of their habitat is what leads them to invade our villages. Rural folks must be enlightened not to kill them, instead cooperate with the authorities to relocate these elephants to our wildlife rehabilitation centers.

Elephants are also hunted for their hides and tusks as these possess high commercial values. We must launch campaigns and include a topic in Moral Education regarding endangered species to educate our people to stop trading in these goods. When there is no substantial support, the market will eventually collapse and poachers might leave these elephants alone for good. That is an effective way in the long run to preserve our elephants.

In conclusion, everyone must play their part in ensuring that our elephants are not wiped out from the face of the Earth!

Written by,

Ng Leslie

Kuching BRATs 2005

(600 words)


Feel free to comment. Aisyah helped me a lot. She even dared to call Ju Eng at night lol. Got herself scolded. Thanks a bunch ^^

3 comments:

Zhi Wei said...

I still maintain that your article lacks research ;P and depth in the parts where you talk about the measures that need to be taken. somehow it comes across me as a BM-essay-sort, if you know what I mean :P

siao siao lah EST beat me.. haha.

Anonymous said...

What a great site, how do you build such a cool site, its excellent.
»

Anonymous said...

Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
»