Non-discrimination GATT Law

Non-discrimination GATT Law Non-discrimination is a cornerstone of GATT law Introduction The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is a treaty to which the U.S. and many other countries are signatories. Its purpose is to free international trade and reduce tariffs. GATT has been revised several times; each revision is called a round. The latest is the Uruguay Round of GATT requires signatories to protect intellectual property and provide similar protection of intellectual property owned by nationals and foreigners. Adherence by the U.S. to GATT has brought about numerous changes to the U.S. Patent System that brings U.S. patent law into closer harmony with the patent systems of other countries. (Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC, 1993). The GATT established trade principles that continue to be applied today. The most important trade principle was non-discrimination with regard to the treatment of trade in goods among countries. Article 1 of the GATT, states that any advantage given by a contracting party to a product of another country, must be extended unconditionally to a like product of all other contracting parties. The above article is the most favoured nation principle. A second rule of non-discrimination is national treatment, the principle that imported and domestic goods should be treated equally. Although non-discrimination is a cornerstone of the GATT, some exceptions are allowed. For example, custom unions, free-trade areas, and special treatment for developing countries are permitted. (Fergusson, 2007). Another principle is the open and fair application of any trade barriers. Tariffs were the most common and visible form of trade barrier at the time the GATT was established. (Fergusson, 2007). Tariffs are bound or set at maximum levels, and not to increase above the negotiated level. In general, quantitative restrictions such as quotas were not allowed, since tariffs were much easier to identify and to eventually reduce. The paper will focus on the most favoured principles and the national treatment principles. Studies and researches will be presented to evaluate the cornerstone of GATT law which is non-discrimination. Definition of Terms GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Like Products or Likeness having the same characteristics. The term applies to the products of different countries being exported and imported. The purpose of defining â€Å"Like Products† is to create a criterion by which likeness to be measured. One must described the individual criteria with some care, and after that it is possible to talk about degrees of likeness within the boundaries of those criteria or characteristics. Discrimination in economic, the definition is less favourable treatment of goods from one foreign country vis a vis the goods of another foreign country. Brief History of GATT Law After World War II a new order came in about trading. The Breton Woods Conference1 in 1944, created the International Monetary Fund2 nd the World Bank for economic restructuring and development in Western Europe. The General Agreement on Trade and Tariff was created at the first session of the Preparatory Committee of UN Conference on Trade and Employment in 1946. (Williams, 2006). The GATTs initial purpose was to negotiate tariff concessions among members and to establish a code of conduct and procedures for the resolution of trade disputes by negotiation. Successive negotiations (called rounds) have also focussed on the code of conduct for no tariff barriers. The GATT was founded on the principles of non discrimination and multilateralism in international trade. Non discrimination is expressed via unconditional Most Favoured Nation status for all contracting parties. By this convention if the tariff on imports from one country is decreased, the tariff on all imports of the same goo ds from other GATT members must be reduced. (Williams, 2006). The debacle of the 1930s led to a reassessment, realignment and restructuring of the world economy. The result of the reassessment was that tariff wars were destructive to all parties, it should not be allowed to happen again and a more coherent framework was needed. (Williams, 2006). Conventional wisdom attributes much of the prosperity that occurred in the global economy since the 1 officially known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference was a gathering of delegates from 44 nations that met from July 1 to 22, 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to agree upon a series of new rules for the post-WWII international monetary system. 2 oversee the worlds monetary and exchange rate systems 1940s to the existence of the GATT. In particular, the GATT is lauded for the dramatic increase in world trade and (until the mid 1980s) the absence of any serious trade friction. Beginning in 1986, the Uruguay Round negotiations included the areas of tariffs, services and intellectual property. Over seven years of negotiations, the GATT agreements evolved into their current state. The Uruguay Round concluded in 1994 with numerous agreements to reduce trade barriers and institute more enforceable world trade rules. One of the major results of the Uruguay Round was the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which officially began operations on January 1, 1995. The WTO is a multilateral organization with the mandate to establish enforceable trade rules, to act as a dispute settlement body and to provide a forum for further negotiations into reducing trade barriers. According to the WTO website, there are 147 WTO member countries and observer countries. 3 Beginning in 2001 and proceeding through at least 2005, the Doha Agenda represents the current round of negotiations. The Most Favoured Nation Treatment (MFN) During the first years of International Trade, Most Favoured Nation status was usually used on a dual party, state to state basis. Generally bilateral, in the late 19th and early 20th century unilateral most favoured nation clauses were imposed on Asian nations by the more powerful Western countries. One particular example of most favoured nation status is the Treaty of Nanking as part of the series of unequal 3the complete list of members is available in the WTO website. treaties. It was implemented in the aftermath of the First Opium War between Great Britain and China Qing Dynasty involving the Hong Kong islands. Most favoured nation relationships contrast with reciprocal relationships, since in reciprocal relationships a particular privilege granted by one party only extends to other parties who reciprocate that privilege, rather than to all parties with which it has a most favoured nation agreement. The Most Favoured Nation Treatment or National Trade Relation is an obligation to treat activities of a particular foreign country or its citizens at least as favourably as it treats the activities of any other country. MFN is the policy of non-discrimination in trade that provides to all trading partners the same customs and tariff treatment given to other favoured nations. The phrase most favoured maybe interpreted as especially favourable treatment but the concept of GATT is equal treatment to other party which is most favored. In the GATT the MFN obligation calls for each contracting party to grant to every other contracting party the most favourable treatment that it grants to any country with respect to imports and exports of products. (Abimbola, 2005). Article 1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade states that â€Å" with respect customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with importation or exportation or imposed on the international transfer of payments for imports or exports and with respect to the method of levying such duties and charges, and with respect to all rules and formalities in connection with importation and exportation and with respect to all matters referred to in paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article III, any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by any contracting party to any product originating in or destined for any other country shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to other like product originating in or destined for the territories of all other contracting parties.† This clause speaks of MFN treatments fro â€Å"like products†. A 1982 GATT panel found in favour of Brazil that Spain had not lived up to GATT MFN obligation when it subdivided its cu stoms classification of coffee and applied a much higher duty on those types of coffee imported from Brazil. The panel stated that the coffees were so nearly the same that they were â€Å"like products†, and that this must be treated non discriminatorily even though no tariffs were binding by Spain on the product. GATT Article XIII stipulates that quantitative restrictions or tariff quotas on any product must be administered in a non-discriminatory fashion regarding like products, and that in administering import restrictions and tariff quotas, WTO Members shall aim to allocate shares close to that which might be expected in their absence. Article XIII provides for most-favoured-nation treatment in the administration of quantitative restrictions, and supplements the disciplines under Article I. The MFN principle has been expanded and it includes not only importation and exportation of gods but it also includes foreign investments and trade in services. (Abimbola,2005). In Bilateral Investment Treaties4 (BIT) over 1800 BITs (Abimbola, 2005) were compared with about 500 only a decade ago. In the treaties 4 the aspect of foreign investments can be found in BIT. each state generally undertakes to admit, in accordance with its laws and regulations, investments from other state. Also in the treaties are the Covered Investment, it guarantee not only national treatment, but also most favoured nation (MFN) treatment. The BIT also undertake to allow the investor the free transfer abroad of capital, profits and other sums that are related to the investment. It prohibits the expropriation of investments except in the public interest and against prompt, adequate and effective compensation. (Stevens, 2001). Exceptions to the Most Favoured Nation Rule There are some exceptions to the Most Favoured Nation rule, among them are as follows: a) Regional Integration (GATT Article XXIV). Regional integration liberalizes trade among countries within the region, while allowing trade barriers with countries outside the region. GATT Article XXIV provides that regional integration may be allowed as an exception to the Most Favoured Nation rule only if the following conditions are met. First, tariffs and other barriers to trade must be eliminated with respect to substantially all trade within the region. Second, the tariffs and other barriers to trade applied to outside countries must not be higher or more restrictive than they were prior to establishment of regional integration. Regional integration has a vast impact on the world economy today and is the subject of frequent debate in a variety of forums, including the WTO Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. b) Generalized System of Preferences The Generalized System of Preferences or â€Å"GSP† is a system that grants products originating in developing countries lower tariff rates than those normally enjoyed under Most Favoured Nation status as a special measure granted to developing countries in order to increase their export earnings and promote their development. c) Non- Application of Multilateral Trade Agreements between Particular Member States (WTO Article XIII) The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization provides that this Agreement and the Multilateral Trade Agreement in Annexes 1 and 2 shall not apply as between any Member and any other Member, when either of the following conditions are met: a) at the time the WTO went into force, Article XXXV of GATT 1947 had been invoked earlier and was effective as between original Members of the WTO which were contracting parties to GATT 1947. b) Between a Member and another Member which has acceded under Article XII only if the Member not consenting to the application has so notified the Ministerial Conference before the approval of the agreement on the terms of accession by the Ministerial Conference. d) Other Exceptions Other exceptions to the Most-Favoured-Nation principle include Article XXIV:3 regarding frontier traffic with adjacent countries, and Article I:2 regarding historical preferences which were in force at the signing of the GATT. General exceptions to the GATT that may be applied to the Most-Favoured-Nation principle include Article XX regarding General Exceptions for measures necessary to protect public morals, life and health, etc., and Article XXI regarding Security Exceptions. It is also possible to obtain a waiver to constitute an exception to the Most-Favoured-Nation principle. Under WTO Article IX:3, countries may, with the agreement of other contracting parties, waive their obligations under the agreement. National Treatment Principle National treatment stands alongside MFN treatment as one of the central principles of the WTO Agreement. Under the national treatment rule, the members must not accord discriminatory appropriate treatment between imports and like domestic products. GATT Article III requires that WTO members provide national treatment to all other members. Article III:1 stipulates the general principle that members must not apply internal taxes or other internal charges, laws, regulations and requirements affecting imported or domestic products so as to afford protection to domestic production. In relation to internal taxes or other internal charges, Article III:2 stipulates that WTO standards shall not apply standards higher than those imposed on domestic products between imported goods and â€Å"like† domestic goods, or between imported goods and a directly competitive and substitutable product. With regards to article III:4 provides that member shall accord imported products treatment no les s favourable than that accorded to â€Å"like products† of national origin. National treatment is a principle in customary international law vital to many treaty regimes. In National treatment, if a particular right, benefit or privilege is granted by a state to its own citizen, then it must be also granted to the citizen of other states while they are in the country. It is stated in the international agreements that a state must provide equal treatment to those citizen of other states that are participating in the agreement. Exceptions to National Treatment Rule Although National Treatment is a basic principle, GATT still provides exceptions as follows: Government Procurement GATT article III:8 a) permits governments to purchase domestic products preferentially, making government procurement one of the exceptions to the national treatment rule. This exception is permitted because WTO members recognize the role of government procurement in national policy. While the GATT made government procurement an exception to the national treatment rule, the Agreement on Government Procurement resulting from the Uruguay Round mandates signatories to offer national treatment in their government procurement. The national treatment rule applies only between those who have acceded to the Agreement on Government Procurement, and for others, the traditional exception is still in force. Domestic Subsidies GATT Article III:8 (b) allows for the payment of subsidies exclusively to domestic producers as an exception to the national treatment rule, under the condition that it is not in violation of other provisions in Article III and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing measures. The reason for this exception is that subsidies are recognized to be an effective policy tool, and is recognized to be basically within the latitude of domestic policy authorities. However, because subsidies may have a negative effect on trade, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures imposes strict disciplines on the use of subsidies. GATT Articles XVIII:C Members in the early stages of development can raise their standard of living by promoting the establishment of infant industries, but this may require government support and the goal may not be realistically attainable with measures that conform to the GATT. In such cases, countries can use the provisions of GATT Article XVIII:C to notify WTO members and initiate consultations. After the consultations are completed under certain restrictions, these countries are then allowed to take measures that are inconsistent with GATT provisions excluding Articles, I, II and XIII. The GATT article XVIII:C procedure allows both border measures and violations of the national treatment obligations in order to promote domestic infant industries. Other Exceptions to National Treatment Exceptions peculiar to national treatment include the exception on screen quotas of cinematographic films under Article III:10 and Article IV. The provisions of GATT Article XX on general exceptions, Article XXI on security exceptions and WTO Article IX on waivers also apply to the national treatment rule. Problems on Trade Policies and Measures National treatment as well as MFN is invoked in WTO disputes. National treatment principle is usually invoked in conjunction with other provisions regarding MFN, quantitative restrictions, TRIMs and standards and conformity assessment. Among the countries that are having problems in trades are the United States, Korea, Indonesia and Brazil. Conclusion Under the WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners. Grant someone a special favour (such as a lower customs duty rate for one of their products) and you have to do the same for all other WTO members. Most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. It is so important that it is the first article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which governs trade in goods. MFN is also a priority in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (Article 2) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), although in each agreement the principle is handled slightly differently. Together, those three agreements cover all three main areas of trade handled by the WTO (World Trade Organization). Some exceptions are allowed. For example, countries can set up a free trade agreement that applies only to goods traded within the group — discriminating against goods from outside. Or they can give developing countries special access to their markets. Or a country can raise barriers against products that are considered to be traded unfairly from specific countries. And in services, countries are allowed, in limited circumstances, to discriminate. But the agreements only permit these exceptions under strict conditions. In general, MFN means that every time a country lowers a trade barrier or opens up a market, it has to do so for the same goods or services from all its trading partners — whether rich or poor, weak or strong. 2. National treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally. Imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally — at least after the foreign goods have entered the market. The same should apply to foreign and domestic services, and to foreign and local trademarks, copyrights and patents. This principle of â€Å"national treatment† (giving others the same treatment as ones own nationals) is also found in all the three main WTO agreements (Article 3 of GATT, Article 17 of GATS and Article 3 of TRIPS), although once again the principle is handled slightly differently in each of these. National treatment only applies once a product, service or item of intellectual property has entered the market. Therefore, charging customs duty on an import is not a violation of national treatment even if locally-produced products are not charged an equivalent tax. While this is generally viewed as a desirable principle, in custom it conversely means that a state can deprive foreigners of anything of which it deprives its own citizens. An opposing principle calls for an international minimum standard of justice (a sort of basic due process) that would provide a base floor for the protection of rights and of access to judicial process. The conflict between national treatment and minimum standards has mainly played out between industrialized and developing nations, in the context of expropriations. Many developing nations, having the power to take control over the property of their own citizens, wished to exercise it over the property of aliens as well. Though support for national treatment was expressed in several controversial (and legally nonbinding) United Nations General Assembly resolutions, the issue of expropriations is almost universally handled through treaties with other states and contracts with private entities, rather than through reliance upon international custom. National treatment is an integral part of many World Trade Organization agreements. Reference: Abimbola, FO., 2005, The Most Favoured Nation Principle http://primesolicitors.com/papers/website_resource_3.pdf?PHPSESSID=0fb5d787e50d5e25a3253641c6fe4405 http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/legal_e.htm#GATT94 Fergusson, I. May 2007 CRS Report for Congress- The World Trade Organization: Williams, M. A, 2006 Brief History of GATT and NAFTA Womens Alternative Economic Network, http://www.greens.org/s-r/06/06-15.html The Bretton Woods Conference, 1944 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwii/98681.htm http://www.law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/gatt.html http://www.worldtradelaw.net/articles/hudeclikeproduct.pdf http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides/internat_law/trade_guide#general_intro Stevens, M., September, 2001, Experience in Arbitrations under the ICSID Rules pursuant to Bilateral Investment Treaties, Vol. 29, No. 8 Page 377. Chapter 2 : National Treatment Principle http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/downloadfiles/gCT0002e.pdf

Features of spoken English

Features of spoken English Task 2 Spoken discourse It is broadly accepted that spoken English has some features different from written English. Some scholars have generalized these characteristics. For example, Leech (2000) has put forward linguistic characteristics of the grammar of spoken English. Cornbleet and Carter (2001) also analysed certain features of spoken English. With the examples from the provided text1 and text2, some of these characteristics can be found and examined. Leech mentions one of the characteristics of the spoken language grammar: the use of personal pronouns which appears in both the two texts. Within the first text there are the first person I and the third person he frequently used; whereas the frequent pronouns are the first person I and the second person you in text 2. The use of substitutes and ellipsis also embody in the texts. In text1 line4 and line6, he can be viewed as a substitute of Doc Timm. Example of ellipsis can be found in text1 as well: in line 7 and I always remember putting that ether on me, the sender of giving the action of putting ether in the clause is omitted. Same ellipsis occurs in the next line. The sixth characteristic given by Leech, vague meaning can be seen in text2. Like that in line5 and line7 and that bit in line12 are rather vague expressions. Yet the lack of variety in word choice and the use of questions and imperatives are both distinct characteristics of spoken English. For example, in text1 the speaker uses took twice, putting and put respectively once. Text2 seems to be more obviously lacking the word variety: loop three times, twist twice, pull three times, which are frequently used and repeated with few alternatives. As for the imperatives and questions, many examples can be found in text2 as well. The speaker C keeps asking questions like That one?, Twist it? and so on, while speaker R answers with many operatives, for instance, line2, Then make it smaller in line6, Do a loop in line11, And then put your fingers out in line14. The eleventh one indicates that the discourse markers, response forms, and greetings are used in spoken English. As Cornbleet and Carter (2001) say discourse markers mark the beginning of a turn and the end of it (p.65). From text1, we can find that the speaker begins his monologue by a discourse marker So. A response form Yeah, thats it in line6 can be found. Subordinates, modals, adverbs are frequently used in spoken English. This characteristic is echoed by the examples from text. In line1 text1, who is in the clause as a subordinator. A lot of adverbs can be found in text2 as well. And then occurs all together seven times. Others include there in line4, just in line2. Hesitation, pauses, fillers and repeats are also common in spoken English. Pauses seem to be frequent in text2. In line2, there are two pauses. And others appear in line4, line6, line7, and line11. In line6 text2, Then make it smaller by pulling the stringby putting your fingers like that seems contain a hesitation between by pulling the string and by putting your fingers. From Cornbleet and Carters view, spoken English has a common feature that is deixis, which is used to orient the conversation and the listener (2001). The speaker C from the txet2 is trying to make sure his operation is right before move on through like that in line5 and line13 while this phrase would make a different sense outside this context. In text1, there is deixis as well. That ether appears in line7 and line9 specifying the unique item to the speaker. What is more, Cornbleet and Carter say that back-channelling signs in conversation indicate speakers attention. In the text2, Speaker C asks short questions in line5, line7 and line10 to ask for speaker Rs clarification and explanation. In spoken English, incomplete clauses and simple clauses are frequently used. Simple clauses such as I always remember in text1 and so its like crossed in text2 are commonly seen. Meanwhile, an incomplete clause so its can be found in line2 of text2. Task 4 Grammar The analysis is problematic in the eighth sentence which can be divided differently by two means. The difference lies in how to deal with the preposition phrase at the next full moon. It can be divided into the previous clause, or be divided as a separate adverbial. The meanings are subtle: for the former, we might start waiting and looking forward from now; but for the latter, it means that we may just start waiting for something to happen at that certain time, the next full moon. In a traditional EFL grammar, verbs are examined and discussed a lot. Swan (1995 p. 606) claims that different verbs can be followed by different kinds of word and structure. Some structures can be found in those given sentences. For example, some verbs can be followed by other verb structures. Jack seems to have been killed in sentence 5 embodies that structure: the first verb seem does not show the subject Jack does, while the following verb infinitive gives the real information. About the passive voice, sentence 2, 3 and 5 can be used as examples. Moreover, the first sentence is a good example of showing the relation of apposition which is common between two noun phrases in which David Kessler and Jack Goodman is the appositive. And within sentence 7, a relative clause that attacked them is embedded in the first simple sentence of this compound sentence. According to Hopper, there is a tendency of verbal dispersal in discourse grammar. One of the expanded verb expressions in English formulation is like this: one of a small set of common verbs with a noun denoting an action (1997 p. 97). Makes a terrifying visit in sentence 6 can fit this, containing a common verb make with a noun visit illustrating the action. There is also a preference for extended verbal expression (Hopper, 1997). For example, are backpacking around in sentence1 and seems to have been killed in sentence 5, may fall prey to in sentence 7. In those eight sentences few have solitary verbs, except sentence4 containing a single verb sees following the inanimate subject morning seemingly de-personalized. Jackson values the notion pattern which is important to our conception of grammar and especially when we consider the syntactic cooperation of individual words (Jackson, 2003 p. 156). According to Hunston and Francis, a pattern is description of the behavior of a lexical item, or one of the behaviours of that item, as evidenced in a record of large amounts of language use ( Jackson, 2003 p. 156, reprinted from Pattern Grammar: A corpus-Driven Approach to the Lexical Grammar of English (2000) ). There are two aspects which pattern grammar explores: each different syntactic structure of a word is associated with a different meaning; and words with similar syntactic structures tend to have related meanings. With regard to the first aspect, examples can be found in the given sentences. In sentence 2, the first welcoming appears in a preposition phrase followed by Yorkshire inn which is a place name; whereas the second one is followed by locals referring a group of people. Within different syntactic structure, their meanings differ: the first welcoming means not friendly to someone who is visiting or arriving, yet the second one means unattractive and discomfortable to be somewhere. Thus their slight difference can be seen. Similarly, another example, sees in sentence 4 is used after an inanimate subject of time morning and before an object modified by a preposition phrase which indicates a event; see in sentence 8 appears in a verb phrase after wait and before a nominal clause which indicates something in future. Their meaning difference also exits: the first sees means to be the time when something happens while the second see referring to figuring out something by waiting. Task 6 Lexis According to Lewis, a collocation is a predictable combination of words and he judges that some combinations may be very highly predictable from one of the component words (2000 p. 51). Moreover, as he mentions that all collocations are idiomatic and all phrasal verbs and idioms are collocations or contain collocations (2000 p. 51). Some examples from the given text can support his view to a large extent. In line 1, the collocation at the age of twelve is an example. People can easily tell which kind of words should be after of, because it is predictable as the existed rest parts, especially the noun age. Some place names as set combinations are highly predictable. For instance, Gold Gate Park in line 12 and Speckels Lake in line 11 and San Francisco in line 16 are predictable particularly to those local people who are familiar with the places. To most people, it is also easy to predict one of the collocation willow tree and park bench in line 19. Many other collocations are viewed so common that they hardly seem worth remarking upon (Lewis, 2000 p. 51). A lot of common collocations can be found in the given text, like look back in line 6, a pair of eyes in line16, look(ed) up in line 21, early-afternoon sun in line 12. These common collocations are abundant in peoples daily speaking and are regarded as natural combination or gathering. According to Lewiss suggestive way, collocations basically can be divided into several types, many of which can be seen in the text: adjctive+noun, like a frigid overcast day in line 1; noun+noun, for instance, willow tree in line 19; verb+adjective+noun, like remember the precise moment; verb+adverb, like look back in line 6; verb+preposition+noun, like propelled by a crisp breeze in line 13. With regard to metaphor, it is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain in the cognitive view (K?vecses, 2007 p. 4). The two domains are known as the source domain and the target domain. Knowles and Moon give us the definition which examines the language use of resemblance or make a connection between the literary meaning and its figurative meaning (2006 p. 3). As an excerpt from a literature work, this text contains several metaphors. For instance, Because the past claws its way out. in line 6 falls into the category of metaphor. The writer compares his past to an animal, endowing his past experience and memory some characteristics of living creature so that them can claw its way out which they originally cannot. In line 14, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky is also a metaphor. The writer compares the kites to certain animals perhaps birds so that it has tails and can soar. The next long sentence is full of metaphors. In They danced, he compares the kites to human beings enabling them to dance which is traditionally used for human. Floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco also contains metaphors. Here looking down indicates that the writer compares the kite to a living creature with eyes so that they would be able to looking down. From a holistic view, it is natural to conclude that the metaphors i n this excerpt tend to associate the kite(s) with the domain of living things. Sinclair illustrates the idiom principle as language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might appear to be analysable into segments (1991 p. 111). He also shows that it is complementary to the open-choice model for explaining how meaning arises from language. Many phrases allow internal lexical variation is one of the features of the idiom principle according to Sinclair (1991 p. 111). Examples from the given text can be found. glanced up in line13 and looked up in line21 seem to be close both in form and meaning with little space to choose between them. There is also little to choose between I became what I am today in line1 and the phrase made me what I am today in line23. Another feature of the idiom principle is many uses of words and phrases attract other words in strong collocation (Sinclair, 1991 p. 112); for instance, look back in line6, look down in line16, and look up in line 21 show that look has this feature. And repeated appearance of a pair of:a pair of kites in line14 together with a pair of eyes in line16, demonstrates this phrase also has this feature. What is more, according to Sinclair (1991 p.112) many uses of words and phrases show a tendency to occur in a certain semantic environment. For example, the phrase peek into is often associated with some secret scenes and in this text it does connected with this scene the alley near the frozen creek or the deserted alley where something miserable happens. Task 7 Register and genre It is generally believed that variation based on the use of language and variation based on the user of language are two main types of language variations (Gregory 1967, cited in Ghadessy 1994 p. 288). Register, to be exact, here stands for the variation based on the use of language (Ghadessy, 1994 p. 288). Halliday (1978, cited in Ghadessy 1994 p. 288) terms register with three variables known as field, mode and tenor: Types of linguistic situation differ from one another, broadly speaking, in three respects: first, as regards what actually is taking place; secondly, as regards what part the language is playing; and thirdly, as regards who is taking part. These three variables, taken together, determine the range within which meanings are selected and the forms which are used for their expression. In other words, they determine the register. Painter describes that the field can be seen as the cultural activity or subject matter with which the speaker/writers are concerned (2001 p. 173). The given text concerns introducing and crucially promoting selling a town house which is non-technical. This field to a great extent determines the used vocabulary and some grammatical features of the language. The text producer needs to persuade his potential customers to buy the house therefore a friendly and unbiased manner is popular and demanded. The inanimate subject sentences are used throughout the whole text, together with short phrases like marked by and Cricketers Green, Yeadon. In this way, the text producer seems to be objective in his persuasion; meanwhile language is concise and clear with those short phrases. Certainly, many house related words are used in this text, like vestibule, kitchen, garden and parking place. Tenor refers to the social relations between the interactions in any discourse (Painter, 2001 p.174), which determines the level of formality and the level of technicality of the language to a great extent. In terms of the tenor, the given text involves the advertisement producer/marketing person and his potential customers; they are in a relationship of persuading and to be persuaded. His language is not casual but formal. It can be seen from the imperative mood Phone the agent which seems commanding and cold. This is relatively formal because their social distance is not short: the advertisement producer who has already known most information about the house whereas readers have not. The marketing person needs to inform and persuade others who have not the same common share with him. Meanwhile, there are almost no technical words within the text which can cause barriers in readers understanding as most are common words. Mode is deemed as the medium of communication, in particular whether it is spoken or written, which will have far-reaching effects on the language used (Painter 2001 p. 175). Obviously, the mode of this given print text is written not spoken. The use of inanimate subjects in sentences, like The accommodation incorporates a number of attributes, is a feature of written language. According to Allison, genre which traditionally serves to indicate different kinds of literary and artistic works has been introduced and expanded to identify classes of language use and communication in all areas of life (1999 p. 144). Swales (1990) put forward some important features of examples of genres; some of them are worth mentioning here. For instance, the given text belongs to the category of advertisement in terms of specific name for genre. The purpose of the text can be identified as informing and prompting a sale of the house to potential customers. It is connected with certain discourse community, here referring to the community of people who are looking for a property. Bhatia (1998) advances seven moves within a structure used by writers for product promotion in business settings. Further, he develops a specific move structure in advertisements (2007). A series of the feature structure moves can be found within this text. Although it is short, the schematic structure of this text is clear and straightforward to readers. A striking headline which specifies the name, location and price of the house to be sold in bold tells makes people notice it is relevant with estate sales; a companied photo demonstrating the appearance of the house can be seen as a move of offering product, moreover, the eye-catching photo may also stimulate readers to read more or even consider to buy; the following part seems equivalent to soliciting response which lists the marketing person and the contact details including the agent phone number in strikingly bold which is necessary for getting potential customers response as well as for the advertisement producer to achieve h is final goal to sell the house; the last part, product details as well as the positive evaluation, which contains the detailed introduction of the house is for readers consideration thus can be regarded as essential detailing and indicating values of the offer in introducing the offer phase. References ALLISON, D. 1999. Genre, ELT Journal, vol. 53 no 2, pp 144. Bhatia, V. K. 1998. Analysing Genre: language use in professional setting, London New York: Longman Bhatia, V. K. 2007. Words of Written Discourse, London: Continuum. Cornbleet, S. R. Carter. 2001. The Language of Speech and Writing. London: Routledge. Ghadessy, M. 1994. Key concepts in ELT: Register, ELT Journal, vol. 48 no 3, pp 288-289. HOPPER, P. J. Discourse and the category verb in English. Language and Communication, vol.17 no 2, pp 93-102. Jackson, H. 2002. Grammar and Vocabulary: a resource book for students. London New York: Routledge. Knowles, M. R. Moon. 2006. Introducing Metaphor. London New York: Routledge. K?vecses, Z. 2002. Metaphor: a practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. LEECH, G. 2000. Grammar of Spoken English: New outcomes of Corpus-Oriented Research. Language Learning, vol.50 no 4, pp 675-724. Lewis, M. ed. 2000. Teaching Collocation: Further Development in the lexical approach, Hove : Thomson Heinle Language Teaching Publications. Painter, C. 2001. Understanding Genre and Register: Implications for Language Teaching in A. Burns and C. Coffin (Eds), Analysing English in a Global Context: a reader (167-179). London: Routledge. Sinclair, J. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swan, M. 1995. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Act One of Romeo and Juliet Essay -- English Literature

Act One immediately engages the audience. Do you agree with this statement? How does Shakespeare achieve this? Act One of 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare does indeed immediately engage the audience. Shakespeare does this by using several language techniques to create an interesting opening scene. Shakespeare uses humour, action and romance all in Act One and it is this variation that keeps the audience's attention. The play begins with a prologue that is written in the form of a sonnet. The Prologue gives a summary of the play but does not give away too much of the plot, in order to keep the suspense. Shakespeare tells of the great tragedy that will follow. The sonnet form is used because it is more interesting when performed on stage than simple prose. Shakespeare uses clever language in the Prologue to build suspense. For example, on line four he writes, 'From ancient grudge break new mutiny.' 'Ancient grudge' suggests that the disagreement between the Montague and Capulet families has been going on for a very long time and the mutual hatred between them has grown stronger and stronger. The word 'mutiny' is used to mean a sudden outburst of violence, which suggests there will be an exciting, action-packed scene somewhere in the play. Then, on lines six and seven, Shakespeare writes about the 'misadventured piteous overthrows' of the 'pair of star-crossed lovers'. He uses this to suggest there will be several unfortunate tragic accidents involving Romeo and Juliet throughout the play. Furthermore, on line twelve of the sonnet, Shakespeare writes that the play will be 'the two hours' traffic of our stage', meaning that the play will last two hours which will not be long enough to bore the au... ...says. Then finally, they ask each other if they should kiss. They kiss twice but are then interrupted by the Nurse. It is at this point that the couple find out that they come from different sides of the rift between the two households and the audience realise the problem the two lovers face. Act One does immediately engage the audience due to the variety that it contains. Shakespeare uses humour, in particular sexual innuendo, to great effect. The act full of exciting speeches, especially Mercutio's entertaining explanation of 'Queen Mab'. Also, he uses fight scenes for moments of action. There is also lots of emotion displayed by the characters, like Romeo's depression and love-sickness while pining for Rosaline in the opening scene. Shakespeare creates an intriguing opening act that grabs the audience's attention and keeps it well into the next acts.

Infrastructural Warfare and the Conditions of Democracy :: Warfare Violence Essays

Infrastructural Warfare and the Conditions of Democracy When political leaders refer to the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington as "war", what do they mean? It used to be that our concept of war was defined by a set of boundaries. Nation-states fought wars to defend their borders. They fielded armies, and those armies fought along front lines. Soldiers were separate from civilians, and the military domain was separate from the civilian domain. Soldiers ran the war from day to day; the civilian leadership gave the big orders and sat back. Those boundaries no longer apply, as much evidence shows: (1) If you want to destroy someone nowadays, you get into their infrastructure. You don't have to be a nation state to do it, and if your enemy retains any capacity for retaliation then it's probably better if you're not. (2) Because the fighting is all on television, the fine details of the fighting become political matters. Soldiers complain bitterly about politicians' interference, not understanding that technology has eliminated their zone of professional autonomy. The politicians are *right* to be interfering. (3) The US military thought that the Republicans would save them from the Democrats' boundary-breaching conceptions of the 21st century world, but Donald Rumsfeld's abortive reform efforts -- which are really attempts to transpose the traditionally narrow view of military affairs into a science-fiction key -- have only clarified how archaic the traditional conception of warfare really is. (4) During the campaign, George W. Bush harshly criticizied the "nation-building" activities to which military personnel have been assigned in Kosovo and elsewhere. The truth was that nation-building is a geopolitical necessity in a totally wired world, and that the soldiers themselves *like* serving in Kosovo -- they know that they are doing something useful for once. The nation-building goes on. (5) In the old days, the industry that produced military equipment was almost entirely separate from the industry that produced civilian equipment. But economies of scale in the production of technology, especially information and communications technologies, have grown so great that the military must buy much of its equipment from the civilian market, even though the civilian equipment is not hardened for military purposes (or even, in the case of computer security, for civilian purposes). (6) Even airplane hijackings have lost their old boundaries. It is becoming clear that the people in the plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania had extensive communications to the ground, and knew about the first attack on the World Trade Center.

Homeostasis Essay

What is homeostasis? Homeostasis is the mechanism in our body that regulates and maintains a stable and constant environment. This enables our body to respond to changes in the environment around us as. The homeostatic mechanisms in our body, observe and monitor conditions and will then make a judgment whether to change the way the body functions is order to adapt to the outside surroundings better. The main organs involved in homeostasis are; the brain, liver, skin and kidney’s. The skin is involved as its acts as a protective layer and also regulates body temperature. The liver breaks down harmful substances and the kidneys regulate water levels and waste products. In the brain the hypothalamus controls everything and changing them to fit into the outside surroundings. Negative feedback is also linked in as it is the process of homeostasis. It is negative because it is in a negative situation and will not kick it unless there’s something wrong. Body temperature When we exercise the body has to work harder, the body temperature would increase this is due to organs having to work harder to get oxygen to muscles. The metabolic rate that produces more energy has to increase in order for more energy to be released. The heart has to pump more blood around the body in order to deliver oxygen to the working muscles so they can carry on working at that capacity. What mechanisms are there to cool the body down? Sweating-glands are stimulated to release sweat Liquid turn into gas Vasodilation-your body carries most of the heat energy around your body There are capillaries underneath your skin that can be filled with blood if you get too hot This brings the blood closer to the surface of the skin so more heat can be lost, this is why we look red when we’re hot. What mechanisms are there to warm the body up? Vasoconstriction-this is the opposite of vasodilation The capillaries underneath your skin get constricted (shut off) so less heat is lost Piloerection- this is when the hairs on your skin stand up The hairs trap a layer of air next to the skin which is then warmed by the body heat. Heart rate The heart rate is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. This system however, is split into two, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is in charge of speeding up the heart rate when it’s needed and the parasympathetic system is there to slow the heart rate down. There are many reasons why heart rate could increase; the main and obvious reasons are fear, stress and exercise. Exercise is one of the main reasons why heart rate would increase as when we exercise we need more oxygen to travel to our working muscles. Oxygen is only carried in the blood and the main organ for the blood pumping around the body is the heart. This is when the sympathetic nervous system comes in; the receptors tell the brain that we are doing exercise and then the brains sends a message to the heart to pump faster, in order for more oxygen to be transported in the blood to the working muscles. When we are not doing exercise we have a ‘pace maker ’ of the heart. This ‘pace maker’ called the Sino atrial node keeps a regular heart beat. We have tested our Sino atrial node by first of all doing exercise to see our risen heart rate, mine was 13. After 5 minutes of rest our Sino atrial node should have kicked in and our regular heart beat will be taking place, mine was now 11. The negative feedback system Change in the body’s external environment, the brain receives a message – exercise Change in body’s internal system Receptors detect change and send messages to the brain The brain organises internal and external body changes to bring the environment back to normal Breathing rate Breathing rate is determined by the amount of breaths taken during a certain  period of time. This can increase during exercise or any physical activity or trauma. The way in which the body recognises this is by the chemo-receptors. They send a message to the brain, which then sends a message to the heart to pump more blood by beating faster, this is because they have detected a change in the amount of carbon dioxide that is circulating the body. When the chemo-receptors detect a high level of carbon dioxide, they send a message to the brain to increase or decrease breathing rate in order to get rid of carbon dioxide or to replenish the amount of oxygen in the body. What happens next is very clever in the fact that the body recognises that during exercise we need more oxygen. Therefore messages in the form of nerve impulses are sent to the diaphragm causing it to contract. When the diaphragm contracts it lowers itself in order for the ribs to expand and move upwards so there is inc reased space for the lungs to inflate. The muscle that allows the ribs to move up and out is called the inter costal muscle. This process of breathing rate is called inspiration. When we exhale the reverse happens to what has just been explained. The diaphragm relaxes and returns to its original position. The inter costal muscle that allows the ribs to move up and out also relaxes and returns the ribs to their stationary position. This process is known as expiration. Blood glucose Blood glucose is simply the control of sugar levels in the body, and determines when the body needs more glucose (sugar) or when it needs less. The part of the body that controls the glucose is the pancreas. The pancreas releases insulin which is made to lower blood sugar levels when it gets too high but can also create glucagon that brings the blood sugar levels up when they are too low. Blood sugar levels mainly are affected and altered by the food we eat. Before a meal our blood sugar levels will be running low but after we’re eaten our blood sugar levels will be a lot higher, and in many cases will need the help of insulin to bring them down to the normal level, between 4 and 8ml, if we have consumed too much. The process of how we get the sugar is from the food we eat, mainly by the carbohydrates we consume. Carbohydrates are taken into the body by the food, and are then digested and changed into glucose that the body can use for energy. During exercise blood sugar levels will fall below our normal, so our body receptors say ‘level of glucose in the body is too low’ and therefore will tell the pancreas to produce glycogen to bring our sugar levels back up.

Taylor’s Scientific Management Principles

â€Å"Maximum prosperity† means not only increase prosperity and productivity of employer or companies but the overall increase efficiency of the employees in form of higher wages, increase standard of living. Taylor’s stated that prosperity for the employer cannot exists for the long term unless it is accompanied with the prosperity of employees. This statement is very true because unless employees are not satisfied with their wages, working conditions etc. cannot give their best to the organization. There are some of employers who believe in extracting largest amount of work from their employees at low wages indicates low profits in comparison to the employers who are more liberal towards their employees obtained more fruitful results because the employees do their work with full interest. It is completely true that company achieve its highest prosperity when he is making his largest daily output. Related essay: Scientific Management Theory and Inefficiencies in Healthcare For e.g. if a successful workman and employer in combination produces 2 pair of shoes in a minute while his competitor produces only 1 pair of shoes in exact time, it is very clear that the   previous workman will receive more wages than later because large profits earned by the   organization. Until both men and machine contribute their fullest capacity it is not possible to obtain highest productivity and to exist in competition around the organization and to achieve high prosperity. Therefore, we can say that there is direct relationship between high prosperity and high productivity. There has been great impact of philosophy of maximum productivity results in maximum productivity on American society. The concept develops the attitude towards work in the employees and the worker. They were became more determined towards their work as they clearly known that their result bring them handsome wages. Therefore, in early sixties America was on the peak with the wealth and money, the policy of productivity was the main factor. This concept helps to create a sense of responsibility attitude in the mind of employees because there work was directly related to work. This also result in removing dull times, unemployment or underemployment, poverty. This would insure higher wages and make shorter working hours and better working and home conditions possible. A scientific management deals with the development and coordination of the welfare of each and every individual in the organization. It has great impact even on development of management and workman by way of its principles. Taylor’s scientific ideas provided a catalyst for increasing the output of American factories beyond the promise and provided technological advancement. His principles also help in modifying the American education system by making better use of buildings and classrooms and by standardizing the work. It emphasis on evaluating teaching skills of teacher to determine whether the material used for teaching is appropriate or not and to standardize the system. The Taylor’s principle helps to generate the law of efficiency in the organization which results in higher wages for higher work than other fellow workers and directly lead to increase in productivity. It provides more flexibility in developing method of production and to apply more dynamic operations. Earlier workers in the organization were not treated as human being but with the emergence of Taylor’s principles the importance of workmen in the industry increases manifold. They are provided with high wages, regular bonus, promotions, and other non-monetary benefits. He stressed upon the careful selection of employees which match the needs and requirements of the task and also on their training. New departments appeared like personnel and quality control in the organization which results in increasing the efficiency of an organization. However instead of so much acceptability it faces certain criticism such as individual differences ignores the economic interests of workers and management and many more. REFERENCE Referred to sites:- 1.http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1911taylor.html Modern History Sourcebook: Frederick W. Taylor: The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911 People organizations theory models [email  protected] 3. http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOCONNOR/417/417lect03.htm THE SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ERA Dated 6th 2007      

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 10

But at the instant which would have made it akiss, Delos pulled away. Maggie felt the brush of his warm lips and then cold air as he jerked back. â€Å"No,†he said.†No.† She could see the clash of fear and anger in his eyes, and she could see itsuddenly resolve itselfas the pain grew unbearable.He shuddered once, and then all the turmoil vanished, asif it were being swept aside by a giant hand. It left only icy determination in its wake. â€Å"That's not going to help,† Maggie said. â€Å"I don'teven understand why you want to be this way, butyou can't just squash everything down-â€Å" â€Å"Listen,† he said in a clipped, taut voice. â€Å"Yousaid that in your dream I told you to go away. Well,I'm telling you the same thing now. Go away anddon't ever come back. I never want to see yourface again.† â€Å"Oh, fine.† Maggie was trembling herself withfrustration. She'd had it; she'd finally reached thelimit of her patience with him. There was so muchbitterness in his face, so much pain, but it was clear he wasn't going to let anyone help. â€Å"I mean it. And you don't know how much of aconcession it is. I'm letting you go. You're not justan escaped slave, you're an escaped slave whoknows about the pass in the mountains. The pen-.alty for that is death.† â€Å"So kill me,† Maggie said. It was a stupid thingto say and she knew it. He was dangerous – andthe master of that blue fire. He could do it at theturn of an eyelash. But she was feeling stupid andreckless. Her fists were clenched. â€Å"I'm telling you to leave,† he said. â€Å"And I'll tellyou something else. You wanted to know what happened to your brother.† Maggie went still. There was something differentabout him suddenly. He looked like somebodyabout to strike a blow. His body was tense and hiseyes were burning gold like twin flames. â€Å"Well, here it is,† he said. â€Å"Your brother is dead. I killed him.† It was a blow. Maggie felt as if she'd been hit. Shock spread through her body and left her tingling with adrenaline. At the same time she felt strangely weak, as if her legs didn't want to hold her up any longer. But she didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it, not just like that. She opened her mouth and dragged in a breathto speakand froze. Somewhere outside the cave a voice was calling. Maggie couldn't make out the words, but it was agirl's voice. And it was close †¦and coming closer. Delos's head whipped around to look at the entrance of the cave. Then, before Maggie could say anything, he was moving. He took one step to the wall and blew out theflame of the little stone lamp. Instantly, the cavewas plunged into darkness. Maggie hadn't realizedhow little light came from the entrance crack-almost none at all. No, she thought. Less light is coming throughthan before. It's getting dark. Oh, God, she thought. Cady. I just walked off and left her there. What's wrongwith me? I forgot all about her-1 didn't eventhink†¦. â€Å"Where are you going?† Delos whispered harshly. Maggie paused in mid rush and looked at himwildly. Or looked towardhim, actually, becausenow she couldn't see anything but darkness against paler darkness. â€Å"To Cady,† she said, distracted and frantic, clutching the water bag she'd grabbed. â€Å"I left herdown there. Anything could have happened bynow. o. â€Å"You can't go outside,† he said. â€Å"That's the hunting party I came with. If they catch you I won't beable to help-2†² I don't care!† Maggie's words tumbled over his.†A minute ago you never wanted to see me again.Oh, God, I left her. How could I do that?† ‘It hasn't been that long,† he hissed impatiently. â€Å"An hour or so.† Vaguely, Maggie realized that hemust be right. It seemed like a hundred years sinceshe had climbed up to his ledge, but actually every thing had happened quickly after that. â€Å"I still have to go,† she said, a little more calmly.†She's sick. And maybe Gavin came back.† A waveof fear surged through her at the thought. â€Å"If they catch you, you'll wish you were dead,† he said distinctly. Before Maggie could answer, hewas going on, his voice as brusque as ever. â€Å"Stayhere. Don't come out until everybody's gone.† She felt the movement of air and the brush ofcloth as he passed in front of her. The light fromthe entrance crack was cut off briefly, and then shesaw him silhouetted for an instant against gray sky. Then she was alone. Maggie stood tensely for a moment, listening.The sound of her own breathing was too loud. She crept quietly to the entrance and crouched And felt a jolt. She could hear footsteps crunching on the broken slate outside. Rightoutside. Thena shadow seemed to fall across the crack and sheheard a voice. â€Å"Delos! What are you doing up here?† It was a light, pleasant voice, the voice of a girl only a little older than Maggie. Not a woman yet.And it was both concerned and casual, addressingDelos with a familiarity that was startling. But that wasn't what gave her the bigjolt. It wasthat she recognized the voice. She knew it and shehated it. It was Sylvia. She's here, Maggie thought. And from the wayshe'stalkingshe's been here before – enough to getto know Delos. Or maybe she was born here, and she's just started coming Outside. Whatever the truth, it somehow made Maggiecertain that Miles had been brought here, too. But then-what? What had happened to him after that?Had he done something that meant he had to disappear? Or had it been Sylvia's plan from thebeginning? Could Delos have really†¦ ? I don't believe it, Maggie thought fiercely, butthere was a pit of sick fear in her stomach. Outside, Sylvia was chatting on in a musical voice. â€Å"We didn't even know you'd left the groupbut then we saw the blue fire. We thought youmight be in trouble-â€Å" â€Å"Me?†Delos laughed briefly. â€Å"Well-we thought there might betrouble,† Sylvia amended. Her own laugh was like wind chimes. â€Å"I'm fine. I used the fire for practice.† â€Å"Delos.† Sylvia's voice was gently reproving now,in a way that was almost flirtatious. â€Å"You knowyou shouldn't do that. You'll only do more damageto your armit's never going to get better if youkeep using it.† â€Å"I know.† Delos's brusque tone was a sharp con trast to Sylvia's teasing. â€Å"But that's my business.†Ã¢â‚¬ I only want what's best for you-â€Å" â€Å"Let's go. I'm sure the rest of the party is waiting for us.† He doesn't like her, Maggie thought. All herwhinnying and prancing doesn't fool him. But Iwonder what she is to him? What she really wanted at that moment was to dash out and confront Sylvia. Grab her and shake her until she coughed up some answers. But she'd already tried that once-and it had gotten her thrown into slavery. She gritted her teethand edged closer to the entrance crack. It was dangerous and she knew it, but she wanted to seeSylvia. When she did, it was another shock. Sylvia always wore slinky tops and fashionable jeans, butthe outfit she had on now was completely medieval.More, she looked comfortable in it, as if thesestrange clothes were natural to her-and flattering. She was wearing a sea-green tunic that had longsleeves and fell to the ground. Over that was another tunic, a shade paler, this one sleeveless andtied with a belt embroidered in green and silver. Her hair was loose in a fine shimmering mass, andshe had a falcon on her wrist. A real falcon. With a little leather hood on itshead and leather ties with bells on its feet. Maggie stared at it, fascinated despite herself. That whole fragile act Sylvia puts on, shethought. But you have to be strong to hold up a big bird like that. â€Å"Oh, we don't have to rush back just yet,† Sylvia was saying, moving closer to Delos. â€Å"Now that I'm here, we could go a little farther. This looks like anice path; we could explore it.† Cady, Maggie thought. If they go to the end ofthe path, they'll see her. Sylvia will see her. She had just decided to jump out of the cavewhen Delos spoke. â€Å"I'm tired,† he said in his flat, cold way. â€Å"We'regoing back now.† â€Å"Oh, you're tired,† Sylvia said, and her smile wasalmost sly. â€Å"You see. I told you not to use yourpowers so much. â€Å"Yes,†Delossaid,evenmoreshortly. â€Å"Iremember.† Before he could say anything else, Sylvia went on. â€Å"I forgot to mention, a funny thing happened.A guy named Gavin dropped in on the huntingparty a little while ago.† Gavin. Maggie's stomach plummeted. He got away. And he saw everything. And he must have moved fast,she thought absently. To hook around and get to a hunting partyon the other side of this ledge-in time for Sylviato come find Delos. â€Å"You probably donI know him,† Sylvia was saying. â€Å"But I do. He's the slave trader I use to getgirls from Outside. He's normally pretty good, but today he was all upset. He said a group of slavesgot loose on the mountain, and somehow his part ner Bern got killed.† You†¦ witch,Maggie thought. She couldn'tthink of a swear word strong enough. Sylvia knew. There was no doubt about it. IfGavin was her flunky, and if he'd told her that Bernwas dead, he must have told her the rest. That Bernhad been killed by Prince Delos himself, fried withblue fire, and that there were two slave girls infront of Delos at the time. She knew all along, Maggie thought, and she wasjust trying to trap Delos. But why isn't she afraidof him? He's the prince, after all. His father's dead; he's in charge. So how come she daresto set upher little traps? â€Å"We were all concerned,† Sylvia was going on,tilting her silvery head to one side. â€Å"All the nobles,and especially your greatgrandfather. Loose slavescan mean trouble† â€Å"How sweet of you to worry,† Delos said. Fromwhat Maggie could see of his face, it was expressionless and his voice was dry and level. â€Å"But youshouldn't have. I used the fire for practice-on the other slave trader. Also on two slaves. They interrupted me when I wanted quiet.† Maggie sat in helpless admiration. He did it. He outsmarted her. Now there's nothing she can say. And there's no way to prove thathe didn't kill us. Gavin ran; he couldn't have seenanything after that. He saved us. Delos saved Cady and me bothagain. â€Å"I see.† Sylvia bowed her head, looking sweet andplacating, if not quite convinced. â€Å"Well, of courseyou had every right to do that. So the slaves aredead.† â€Å"Yes. And since they were only slaves, why arewe standing heretalking about them? Is there something about them I don't know?† â€Å"No, no. Of course not,† Sylvia said quickly. â€Å"You're right; we've wasted enough time. Let's go back.† In her mind, Maggie heard Gavin's voice. â€Å"It's not like they were ordinary slaves. If we don't deliver that maiden we're dead.† So she's lying again, Maggie thought. What a surprise. But who's the maiden? And why's she so important? For that matter, she thought, who's this greatgrandfather of Delos's? When Sylvia mentionedhim it sounded almost like a threat. But if he's agreat-grandfather he's got to be ancient. How areSylvia and some old geezer teamed up? It was an interesting question, but there was no time to think about it now. Sylvia and Delos wereturning away from the cave, Sylvia murmuringabout having to take a look at Delos's arm when they got back. In another moment they'd passed out of Maggie's line of sight and she heard thecrunching noise of feet on slate. Maggie waited until the last footstep faded, then she held her breath and waited for a count ofthirty. It was all she could stand. She ducked through the entrance crack and stood in the openair. It was fully dark now. She was very nearly blind.But shecould sense the vast emptiness of the valley in front of her, and the solidity of the mountain at her back. And she should have felt relieved, to be outsideand not caught-but instead she felt strangely stifled. It took her a moment to realize why. There was no sound at all. No footsteps, novoices, and no animals, either. And that was whatfelt eerie. It might be too cold at night for mosquitoes and gnats and flies, but there should have been someanimal life to be heard. Birds heading intothe trees to rest, batsheadingout. Deer feeding.Bucks charging around-it was autumn, after all. There was nothing. Maggie had the unnervingfeeling that she was alone in a strange lifelessworld swathed in cotton, cut off from everythingreal. Don't stick around and think about it, she toldherself sternly. Find Cady. Now! Gritting her teeth, she thrust the water bag intoher jacket and started back. By keeping close to the mountains bulk on her left and feeling ahead with her foot before each step, she could find her way in the dark. When she reached the ledge, her stomach tightened in dismay. Terrific. Going down in pitch darkness-there's going to be no way to see the footholds. Oh, well, I'll feel for them. The worst that can happen is I fall a hundred feet straight down. â€Å"Cady,† she whispered. She was afraid to talk tooloudly; the hunting party might be anywhere andsound could carry surprisingly well on a mountain slope. â€Å"Cady? Are you okay?† Her heart thumped slowly five times before she heard something below. Not a voice, just a stirring,like cloth on rock, and then a sigh. Relief flooded through Maggie in a wave that wasalmost painful. Cady hadn't died or been abducted. because Maggie had left her. â€Å"Stay there,† she whispered as loudly as she dared. â€Å"I'm coming down.I've brought water.† It wasn't ashard going downas she'd expected. Maybe because she was still high on adrenaline,running in survival mode. Her feet seemed to findthe toeholds of their own accord and in a few minutes she was on the boulders. â€Å"Cady.† Her fingers found warmth and cloth. Itmoved and she heard another little sigh. â€Å"Cady, areyou okay? I can't see you.† And then the darkness seemed to lighten, andMaggie realized that she couldsee the shape shewas touching, dimly but distinctly. She glanced up and went still. The moon was out. In a sky that was otherwisecovered with clouds, there was a small opening, a clear spot. The moon shone down through it like asupernatural white face, nearly full. â€Å"Maggie.† The voice was a soft breath, almost awhisper, but it seemed to blow peace and calm into Maggie's heart. â€Å"Thanks for letting me rest. I feel stronger now.† Maggie looked down. Silver light touched thecurves of Cady's cheek and lips. The blind girllooked like some ancient Egyptian princess, herdark hair loose in crimped waves around her shoulders, her wide, heavy-lashed eyes reflecting themoon. Her face wasas sereneasever. â€Å"I'm sorry it took so long. I got some water,†Maggie said. She helped Cady sit up and put thewater bag to her lips. She doesn't look as feverish, she thought asCadywas drinking. Maybe she can walk. But where?Where can we go? They would never make it to the pass. And even if they did, what then? They'd be high on a moun tain-some mountain-in the dark and cold of aNovember night. â€Å"We need to get you to a doctor,† she said. Cady stopped drinking and gave the bag back. â€Å"Idon't think there's anything like that here. There might be some healing woman down there in thecastle – but. .She stopped and shook her head. â€Å"It's not worth it.† â€Å"What do you mean, it's not worth it? And, hey, you rereally feeling better, aren't you?† Maggieadded, pleased. It was the first time Cady had gottenout more than a few words. She sounded very weak,but rational, and surprisingly knowledgeable. â€Å"It's not worth it because it's too much of a risk. I'm too much of a risk. You have to leave me here, Maggie. Go down and get to shelter yourself.† â€Å"Not this again!† Maggie waved a hand She really couldn't deal with this argument anymore. â€Å"IfI left you up here, you'd die. It's going to get freezing cold. So I'm not going to leave you. And ifthere's a healing woman down at the castle, thenwe're going to the castle. Wherever the castle is.† â€Å"It's the place all the Night People are,† Arcadiasaid, unexpectedly grim. â€Å"The slaves, too. Everybody who lives here is inside the castle gates; it'sreally like a little town. And it's exactly the placeyou shouldn't go.† Maggie blinked. â€Å"How come you know so much?Are you an escaped slave like Jeanne?† â€Å"No. I heard about it a year or so ago from someone who had been here. I was coming here for a reason-it was just bad luck that I got caught bythe slave traders on my way in.† Maggie wanted to ask her more about it, but anagging voice inside her said that this wasn't thetime. It was already getting very cold. They couldn't be caught on the mountainside overnight â€Å"That road the cart was on-does it go all theway to the castle? Do you know?† Cady hesitated. She turned her face toward the valley, and Maggie had the strange sense that shewas looking out. â€Å"I think so,† she said, at last. â€Å"It would makesense that it does, anyway-there's only one placeto go in the valley.† â€Å"Then we've got to find it again.† Maggie knewthat wouldn't be easy. They'd run a long way fromBern and Gavin. But she knew the general direction. â€Å"Look, even if we don't get to the castle, weshould find the road so we know where we are. And if we have to spend the night on the mountain,it's much better to be in the forest. It'll be warmer.† â€Å"That's true. But-â€Å" Maggie didn't give her a chance to go on. â€Å"Canyou stand up? I'll help-put your arm around myneck†¦ .† It was tricky, getting Cady out of the nest of boulders. She and Maggie both had to crawl most of the way. And although Cady never complained, Maggiecould see how tired it made her. â€Å"Come on,† Maggie said. â€Å"You're doing great.†And she thought, with narrowed eyes and set teeth,If it comes to that, I'll carryher. Too many people had told her to leave this girl.Maggie had never felt quite this stubborn before. But it wasn't easy. Once into the woods, the canopy of branches cut off the moonlight. In only minutes, Cady wasleaning heavilyon Maggie,stumbling and trembling. Maggie herself was stumbling, tripping over roots, slipping on club mossand liverwort. Strangely, Cady seemed to have a better sense ofdirection than she did, and in the beginning shekept murmuring, â€Å"This way, I think.† But after awhile she stopped talking, and some time afterthat, she stopped even responding to Maggie'squestions. At last, she stopped dead and swayed on her feet. It was no good. The taller girl shivered once, thenwent limp. It was all Maggie could do to breakher fall. And then she was sitting alone in a small clearing, with the spicy aroma of red cedar around her, and an unconscious girl in her lap. Maggie held still and listened to the silence. Which was broken suddenly by the crunch offootsteps. Footsteps coming toward her. It might be a deer. But there was something hesitant and stealthy about it. Crunch, pause; crunchpause. The back of Maggie's neck prickled. She held her breath and reached out, feeling fora rock or a stick-some weapon. Cady was heavyin her lap. Something stirred in the salal bushes betweentwo trees. Maggie strained her eyes, every muscle tense. â€Å"Who's there?†