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You are now in: High School Writings

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INDEX:
My Writing 5 -> General Structure of the Economy(Canadian Geography Essay)
My Writing 6 -> Compare Famine to CPH (Wprld Issues in-class homework)
My Writing 7 -> The Importance of Music (Music Essay)
My Writing 8 -> Italian Opera of the Nineteenth Century (Music Essay)
My Writing 9 -> Our Music Duet Performance (Music Proposal)
My Writing 10 -> The Culture of Ancient Egypt (English Essay)
My Writing 11 -> Foreign Ownership in Canada (Economics Essay)

Danny's Writing 5:

      Economics systems are examined in production and consumption. The most complex economies today are often classified into four production sectors: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary. In the late 1980s in Canada, the primary sector, secondary sector, and the tertiary and quaternary sectors employed 6.8%, 23.2% and 70% of the employed labour force.

      The factors of production, which is the range of inputs in the production function are land, which is the term for all natural resources, labour, which includes all aspects of human work, physical or mental, capital, which is the term for all the equipment needed to operate in production and enterprise, which is the drive and initiative required to organize the other three factors of production to obtain output and secure growth. Any share of product returned to an owner of a production factor is called a return. The return to land is called rent; to labour is wages, to capital is interest, and to enterprise is profit.

      Canada has developed mixed economies, which means some production and consumption decisions are made by the government, while others are left to individuals and firms operating in accordance with the free market. The importance of raw materials such as fish, furs, lumber, metal ores, wheat, and oil and gas to the economic development of Canada led to the development of the Staple Theory by Harold Innis in 1920s. The theory holds that Canada's economics growth has been based on the export of staple raw materials to countries that are more industrialized.

      Most societies save a portion of their output from production rather than consume it all immediately. Canadians generally save 10 to 15% of their annual incomes and supplement their capital formation needs by obtaining investment dunds from foreigners.

      There are many economic theories and practices that reflect differing political ideologies and beliefs. Classical Economic Theory is that in 1776, Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and his radical ideas rapidly gained widespread acceptance. The decisions of individuals would be paramount in this system, as opposed to mercantilism, where the government controlled economic decision-making. Keynesian Economic Theory is that in 1936, John Maynard Keynes wrote his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Moneys. He argued the government should play a major role in the management of business cycles.

      Due to the abundance of natural resources, Canada's economy drew much of its life from the primary sector. As time went on, other productive activities from all the economic sectors were introduced, such as primary, manufacturing, and services. Production in Canada today is strongly oriented to international markets and is extremely competitive.

      Primary production is the obtainment of resources directly from the natural environment. The primary economic activities are fishing, forestry, farming, primary energy generation, and mining. Secondary production deals with the processing of raw materials into constructed and manufactured goods. The likelihood of higher incomes in manufacturing than in farming is related to the characteristic depopulation of many farming areas in the periphery and the characteristic in-migration to core urban manufacturing areas. Tertiary production is the vast range of services needed to support the primary and secondary sectors, and quaternary production is the sphere of ideas, decisions, and information management.

      However, the declining role of human labour in the production function has been most marked in the primary and secondary sectors of the economy. The demand of labour in the tertiary and quaternary sectors, however, has actually increased and offers alternative employment opportunities. The Canadian economy has changed. Since 1980, the proportion of professional and managerial jobs across the spectrum of the tertiary and quaternary sectors has increased, while the proportion of lower-paid jobs has decreased.

There is a shift from primary industry to tertiary industry, because the people usually get higher income as the salaries of the jobs of tertiary industry and usually higher than the jobs in primary and secondary industry, and now, lesser and lesser people do primary industry jobs. The decline in the proportion of labour employed in primary and secondary industry has been collectively balanced by the growth in the proportion of labour employed in tertiary and quaternary industry.

Danny's Writing 6:

      There are two differences between famine and CPH (Chronic persistent hunger).

      Firstly, famine differs from CPH in terms of the duration of time. Famine happens sporadically while CPH happens daily.

      Secondary, famine differs from CPH in terms of place. Famine happens in local area, or in a special geographic region while CPH happens in the global condition, such as in more than 70 countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

      Thirdly, famine effects suddenly while CPH is a constant condition of life. If a famine happens in a place, the people will die suddenly, that is about 10% of the people die of hunger. If CPH happens, 90% of the people will die of hunger, owing to the lack of food, as well as to the suffering for various diseases as they do not get enough protein, vitamins and nutrients. For instance, the blindness of children are due to the lack of Vitamin A.

      Finally, the solutions of famine and CPH are different. When a famine happens, people need emergency foreign aid. For example, emergency food will be provided to them. But in CPH, people do not have enough resources to buy food that they need. Actually, they need opportunity to buy food, and to access to education, health care, family planning services as well as the improvement of farming techniques.

Danny's Writing 7:

      Music is very important to us, as it can cultivate our character, and improve our brain development which means to enrich our thought and enhance skills in other subjects such as reading and mathematics. Besides, it is a major source of joy and achievement. The process of learning music affects intellectual, affective, and physical development. Because music is so important, it must be included in a well balanced school curriculum.

      Music plays an enhanced role in the education of all students as it is an essential component of education. There is no room for doubt that many school administrators and teachers have discovered the new and significant research findings about both music and education. Music listening and music making appear to be the most extensive exercises for children's brain cells which are well equipped to understand music. Children enjoy and engage in music long before they reach kindergarten. That is why most young children can respond to music, such as swaying their bodies in different ways by following various rhythms. Moreover, "education in both music listening and music making facilitates students' intellectual development and even helps students learn other basic subjects, such as reading" (Weinberger). The relationship between reading and music is straightforward, because music training involves improving pitch discrimination. Moreover, music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition and general intellectual development which are the essential for children. As a matter of fact, music also benefits enhanced memory, which means it exercises the same parts of the brain involved in memory formation. It also improves school children's performances in other subjects such as mathematics and language skills, and increased spatial perception. In 1993, University of California psychologist Frances Rauscher showed that college students who listened to a Mozart piano sonata did better in spatial reasoning tasks than students who performed the same task in silence, and the children given musical training significantly improved their performance on the spatial reasoning parts of a pre-school intelligence test. Therefore, music, particularly classical music stimulates the frontal and prefrontal portions of the brain that perform analytical functions. The other example is that a group of children at an inner-city school is demonstrating the strong link between music and mathematics, and boosting their number skills by taking piano lessons. "The pupils who learned the piano and played the math games scored 27 percent higher on fractions than those who worked on the computer games. Students who did everything scored 100 percent higher on fractions than students who were taught only the traditional teaching methods" (Haynes).

      Since music education plays a very important role in a child's development, there, it must be included in a well balanced school curriculum. If music education has to be cut or reduced in the school curriculum, school children will not have a good well-round education, and they will not have a good development. Undoubtedly, music makes better students. Thus, I agree with the valuable opinion of Mr. John Ruskin who said that, "Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts: the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last." Mr. Ernest Boyer also echoed his opinion by saying that "aesthetic literacy is as basic as linguistic literacy." Hence, it should be affirmed that music must be included in a well balanced school curriculum. In order to truly integrate music into the curriculum, teachers must first have had some experience of music, so that their students can also be taught to produce music. The reasons that music should be a part of basic education are that music combines behaviors to promote a higher order of thinking skills, contributes to the school and community environment, develops intelligence in other areas, provides a way to imagine and create contributing to self-expression and creativity, and improves reading skills. In point of that, most of the children who received music training improved their spatial reasoning ability. That is why Mr. Armstrong said that "the group receiving more music education but less language and math was better at languages than the control group and as good at math."

      The process of learning music effects intellectual, affective, and physical development. Music has the ability to facilitate intellectual development, which can foster positive attitudes and lower truancy in middle and high school. It can also enhance creativity, and promote social development, personality, adjustment, and self-worth. Also, learning music exercises the brain by strengthening the synapses between brain cells and it increases the strengths of connections among neurons. Therefore, music appears to increase brain power that can strengthen people's memory and enhance thinking skills. Learning music affects affective development as music possesses different sources of affections. Young children clearly enjoy music, engaging in musical behavior spontaneously. However, most people who love and understand music can express their various feelings through the different rhythms of music. As a result of that, learning music effects physical development, such as soft or exciting music will affect people to sway their bodies slowly or quickly. That is why most people love to listen to music while they are doing their physical exercises.

      Music plays a significant role in our daily life. Factually, it always shows its importance to a child's development, and it has beneficial effects to intellectual, affective, and physical development. Therefore, there is no doubt that music should be included in a well balanced school curriculum.

Danny's Writing 8:

      "For well over three hundred years the opera has been one of the most alluring forms of musical entertainment." (Machlis, 359). Opera, one of the most important and best loved musical genres of the nineteenth century, is musical theater -- a theatrical presentation in which a dramatic performance is set to music, which contains instrumental overtures, interludes, and accompaniments. It may be tragic or comic or a mixture of both, or simple or complicated, short or long, and may be in any language. The Italian word opera means "work", from the Latin opus, and the term was originally an abbreviated version of opera in musica, "work of music". These are certain features that all operas share, including the staged presentation of a story; the stages presentation of a story; and an orchestra or other instrumental ensemble to accompany and complement the singers. Normally, opera is referred to as a marriage of many different arts, such as music, drama, acting, stagecraft, poetry, painting and set design, costume design, lighting design as well as choreography, where the ost essential element in opera is music. "Nobody, on the other hand, ever presents an opera without the music." (Hoffman, 15).

      Opera began in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and was invented by a group of Italian composers and poets called the Camerata, who came together in Florence in the late 1500s and whose goal was to revive the musical style used in ancient Greek drama and to develop an alternative to the highly contrapuntal music of the late Renaissance. The Camerata developed a style of vocal music called monody -- Greek for "solo song". It consists of simple melodic lines with contours and rhythms that followed the rhythms of the text and spoken inflections. In 1600, the earliest surviving opera called Euridice was performed in Florence, Italy, incorporating music by both Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri. Later, opera spread quickly throughout Italy. For opera, it is very important for us to know the following terms: opera seria, verismo, and libretto.

      Opera Seria is the Italian for "serious opera", also called tragic opera, specifically a standardized type of Italian opera that held a dominant position throughout Europe in the eighteenth century and was influential into the nineteenth century. The most important figure of opera seria was not a composer, but rather the poet and librettiest, Pietro Metastasio who set the standards for the genre's formal structure and aesthetic ideals.

      Verismo is the Italian word for "verism", which is a kind of realism. It is the name of a late nineteenth-century artistic movement that promoted the importance of portraying the events of everyday life, and of portraying them in an absolutely realistic and truthful way. However, verismo often refers to the highly melodramatic and colourful operative style which based on the principles of the artistic movement. Puccini, who composed the opera La Boheme, was strongly influenced by this movement.

      Libretto is the Italian word for "little book", which is the text that is set to music to make an opera. The author of libretto is called a librettist, and the librettist's job is usually to adapt an existing story or play for operatic purposes. However, some opera composers, like Giuseppe Verdi, write their own librettos.

      However, for the Romantic opera, in the early nineteenth century, Italy still recognized the opposing styles of opera seria and opera buffa -- the Italian version of comic opera, that were legacies of an earlier period. For instance, some of the operas of Gioacchino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and Vincezo Bellini were in the most serious style of the time. These operas were written in the bel canto style -- literally, beautiful singing style, which is an elegant Italian vocal style characterized by florid melodic lines delivered by voices of great agility, purity and smoothness of tone. However, Giuseppe Verdi, who ever since the mid-nineteenth century has been considered the most important composer on the Italian operatic scene. Moreover, the works of Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenze Bellini continued to feature melody and voice, and the lyric-dramatic Italian style was exemplified by Giuseppe Verdi and later, Giacomo Puccini.

      As a matter of fact, during the nineteenth century, there are many differences between the Italian opera composers, its specific operas and vocal virtuosos, in terms of their unique backgrounds and styles.

      "In the case of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), the most widely loved of operatic composers, time, place, and personality were happily met." (Machlis, 361). Opera as a national style of genre, was loved by the people. Verdi was the dominant Italian composer of the second half of the nineteenth century, and his works stand among the greatest in the history of Italian opera. He believed that the composer should cultivate the "national" style, and infused his works with unprecedented rhythmic vitality and dramatic vigor. He has composed 28 operas in total, such as La Traviata, Aida and Otello. Almost all of them are serious. Verdi's operas remained Italian to the core, with the human voice as their basic expressive means and human passions as their basic subject. For his librettos, he usually based these on adaptations of Romantic authors, and his libretto styles are that he preferred strong emotional situations, strong contrasts and fast section, and thought that plausibility was less important. However, his music struck his contemporaries as the epitome of dramatic energy as well as passion. "Endowed with an imagination that saw all emotion in terms of action and conflict, he was able to imbue a dramatic situation with shattering expressiveness." (Machlis, 364). His three works, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and La Traviata, bought him international fame and remain among the most popular of all operas.

      His works are doubtlessly great and immortal. Rigoletto (1851), and La Traviata (1853) represent his early works, and Aida (1871) and Otello (1887) represent his middle and final periods. His early work, La Traviata introduces a new kind of expressive declamatory arioso and that is a masterpiece of characterization, dramatic unity and melodic invention. Also, it is a work suffused with intimate emotion and lyricism. La Traviata's representation of a contemporary courtesan in the nineteenth century drawing rooms of his bourgeois audience. However, La Traviata also remains one of Verdi's most well loved and emotional affecting operas, a drama of great psychological penetration and heartrending tragedy. His middle period work, Aida, is his most popular opera, which was commissioned by the khedive of Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, and it was first performed in Cairo, Egypt. He was also commissioned by Ismail pasha, khedive of Egypt and a great patron of the arts. His late work, Otello, is composed to a libretto skillfully adapted by the Italian librettist and composer Arrigo Boito from the Shakespearean tragedy Othello, which utilizes more continuous music within each act. In this opera, traditional solo, duet and ensemble structure is still in place. Also, transitions between pieces are more subtle. Generally speaking, Verdi's works are most notes for their dramatic characterizations, emotional intensity and tuneful melodies. However, he transformed the Italian opera, with its old-fashioned librettos, traditional set pieces and emphasis on vocal displays, into a unified dramatic and musical entity.

      Other famous Italian opera composers are Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincezo Bellini. "The Italian operatic tradition was carried on, in the post-Romantic era, by a group of composers led by Giacomo Puccini." (Machlis, 383). Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was an Italian composer, whose operas blend intense emotion and theatricality with tender colourful, lyricism, orchestration and very rich vocal line. He was strongly influenced by the trend towards the operatic system. After he studied music at the Milan Conservatory in 1880-1883, he wrote his first opera, Le Villi. In fact, he has composed 10 operas in total. An example of his principal work is La Boheme. "La Boheme, although containing some of the most popular arias in the repertoire today, displeased the audience at its Turin premiere, even with Arturo Toscanini conducting." (Hoffman, 83). La Boheme (1898), a major opera with four acts is Puccini's best beloved work which is based on Henri Murger's Scenes de la vie de Boheme, which are scenes from Behemian Life, with an excellent libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. "It contains the essence of Puccini's operatic style -- a sentimental and touching story, impassioned melodies, and a keen sense of dramatic irony." (Kupferberg, 114). Besides that, it is an opera which made Puccini world famous.

      Puccini's operatic style shows his habit of playing back the music of Act I during Act IV with tremendous effectiveness. However, Puccini came from a long line of musicians, but he himself did not resolve on a career as an operatic composer, until he heard a performance of Aida at the age of eighteen. Puccini said, "what I can compose is that of little things." Indeed. Indeed, his work lacks the grandeur of Giuseppe Verdi's and many people consider him second only to Verdi among Italian opera composers, who lived after Gioacchino Rossini.

      Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1782-1868), was a principal Italian composer of the early nineteenth century. He was especially outstanding in his comic opera, and was "one of three great nineteenth century exponents of the bel canto style, which emphasizes beauty of melodic line, rather than excessive drama and emotion." (Hoffman, 42). He has composed 37 operas, including opera seria comic opera and French opera, such as Tancredi, L'italiana in Algeri, Le Comte Ory, Lucrezia Borgia and L'elisir d'amore. After 1831, Rossini composed no further operas. During the rest of his life, he produced only one important work, the Stabat Mater of 1842. However, Rossini's operas were the last and best in the Italian opera buffa, or comic opera style. Typically light and lively, his music is notable for its high degree of comic characterization. Moreover, Rossini used the highly artistic bel canto style to fashion bright melodies, which the singers could deliver with stirring expression as well as brilliant effects. Also, the thoroughly theatrical quality of Rossini's music is not least among the characteristics that guarantee its permanence.

      In 1823, Rossini's departure left the development of Italian opera largely in the hands of two young men, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), and Vincenze Bellini (1801-1835). Donizetti was a prolific composer of opera in the second quarter of the nineteenth century; He was a student of Mayr, and a master of tragedy as well as comedy. He has composed 65 operas, such as Enrico di Borgogna (1818), Anna Bolena (1830) and Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). His fourth opera, Enrico di Borgogna (1818), was his first work to be staged. His musical style, influenced by Rossini, is characterized by brilliant and graceful melodies, designed chiefly for virtuoso singers. Bellini was also an Italian opera composer in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. He has composed 10 operas, such as La Straniera and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. In 1831, the premieres of two of Bellini's most famous operas, La Sonnambula and his masterpiece, Norma, brought him international fame. However, he was highly sensitive to the relation between music and text. He composed for singers who were masters of bel canto which is a singing style stressing vocal precision and agility. His operas gain their greatest dramatic impact through his melodies which are often admired for a characteristic concentrated beauty. Both Donizetti and Bellini helped evolve bel canto -- literally beautiful song, but "more comprehensively an operatic style characterized by smooth and expressive vocalism, often with minimum of dramatic impact or logic." (Kupferberg, 65).

      There are many great and famous vocal virtuosos who sing Italian operas. The most famous ones are Luciano Pavarotti who sang La Boheme, and Leontyne Price who sang Aida.

      Luciano Pavarotti (1935-) is an Italian tenor whose dramatic roles and powerful voice have gained him international fame and a critical reception akin to that of Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. However, Pavarotti was raised in poverty. After many years of vocal training, he participated in amateur performance. In 1961, Pavarotti appeared in his first opera as Rodolfo in La Boheme, in Reggio Nell' Emilia, Italy. In 1990, he became one of the so-called Three Tenors who sang in an enormously popular televised concert in Rome, alongside Spanish opera stars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Moreover, his impact on the world of music has been enormous, broadening the horizons of classical music and bringing untold members.

      Leontyne Price (1927-) is an American operatic soprano who has become a legend in her own time for performing for kings, queens, popes and presidents. Price's voice, different from Pavarotti's, with its astounding range and secure high notes, still inspires reviews that call it one of American's great national wonders. Throughout the 1950s, Price broadened her career as an opera singer by starring in a number of works in recital halls, opera stages and on television. In addition, Price has been described as a lirico-spinto soprano, and her rock-solid vocal technique and purity and her dramatic flair have been combined to create a mix suitable both for the opera and concert stage.

      Generally speaking, the development of the Italian opera in the Nineteenth Century has become to a fruitful era, because many operatic masterpieces were composed by various famous composers, such as Antonio Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. Although these composers differ in styles, yet their works are full of musical arts, including music, drama, acting, stagecraft, poetry, painting and set design, costume design, lighting design and choreography. All these criteria make the Italian operas of the Nineteenth Century world famous. That's why so many notable and great vocal virtuosos, such as Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price, are still willing to perform them.

Danny's Writing 9:

      "The songs that we are going to perform are Deo gratias which was composed by William Byrd (1543-1623), Since First I saw your Face which was composed by Thomas Ford (1580-1648) and Wilt thou, Unkind which was composed by John Dowland (1563-1626). Deo gratias is a motet, while Since First I saw your Face and Wilt thou, unkind are English lute songs. However, all of the songs are sung in SATB -- Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. The characteristics of them are that they are short, and with very beautiful melodies.

      William Byrd was the talented, foremost and greatest English composer of the Elizabethan age and the early part of the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750). He was regarded by some as a master of keyboard music and the madrigal as well as Latin and English church music. He was born in Lincolnshire in 1543. He was an organist at the Lincoln Cathedral from 1563 to 1572, when he became an organist for the Chapel Royal. As a student of his former teacher, Thomas Tallis, he was exposed to music of the Chapel Royal and the best of the English tradition. Also, he performed and published music with Tallis. He wrote Masses, anthems, and other music for both English and Roman services. Having composed 6 Anglican services and about 60 anthems, he also wrote Latin church music which is considered his most glorious work, for its breadth and intensity are unmatched in English music. Having composed for every branch of music, such as consort, sacred and keyboard music, he left no instrument without a piece of his music. His secular vocal music includes songs for solo voice and viol consort. However, the spirit of his work survived undimmed through the neglect of the baroque and classical periods, and that his music would go on to affect and shape much of later English music.

      Among his masterpieces, Deo gratias, composed in 1605, is a short motet (polyphonic vocal genre, secular in the Middle Ages, but sacred or devotional thereafter) in Italian style to a Latin text. The obvious similarities with the madrigal are apparent. This motet is in A Major. In terms of the characteristics of melody, the type of movement is quite conjunct, with few leaps and mostly stepwise. It is in quadruple meter, and the principal dynamic indications are mf (mezzo forte) -- moderately loud at the beginning of the music, and mp (mezzo piano) -- moderately soft at the beginning. The author also uses crescendo and decrescendo.

      Thomas Ford was regarded as a lutenist and the composer and poet of "Musick of Sundrie Kindes". He was born in Bridport, Dorset, England in 1580, and died in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1679. He was a composer of the early part of the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750). Since first I saw your Face, being composed in 1607, is one of his masterpieces.

      Since first I saw your Face is a song of the early seventeenth century. It is written in four-part harmony with very little trace of polyphony. This is an early Baroque love song, as well as an English lute song, which is a selection of twelve of the best-known songs of John Dowland for voice with lute or guitar accompaniment. A lute is a stringed instrument widely played in the 14th to 18th centuries and revived in the 20th century. However, this English lute song is in D Major. In terms of the characteristics of melody, the type of movement is conjunct, with very few leaps and mostly stepwise. Like the previous motet, it is also in quadruple meter, and the principal dynamic indications are my (mezzo forte) -- moderately load at the beginning of the music, and f (forte) -- loud at the end. The author also uses crescendo and decrescendo.

      John Dowland was born near Dublin in Ireland. He was an English lutenist, singer and composer. He is regarded as the greatest musician of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and also in the Renaissance era (c. 1450-1600) which "is one of the most beautiful if misleading names in the history of culture." (Machlis, Joseph). He is also known as one of the greatest song writers of all time. He held musical posts in Paris and Germany. His lute songs display sensitive text declamation; and the accompaniments are subordinate, yet posses some melodic independence. His songs were published both as solos songs with lute accompaniment, and arranged for four voices.

      Wilt thou, unkind is a song arranged for four voices. Although stylistically similar to a madrigal -- Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in English. It might be argued that this song, in three verses, is not a true madrigal. However, this is also an English lute song. In terms of the characteristics of melody, the type of movement is conjunct, with very few leaps and mostly stepwise. It is also in quadruple meter, and the principal dynamic indications are f (forte) -- loud, mf (mezzo forte) -- moderately loud, and p (piano) -- soft.

      Generally speaking, William Byrd, Thomas Ford and John Dowland are three of the great composers during the Renaissance and Baroque periods and their songs that we are going to perform are their masterpieces, full of musical and melodious atmosphere.

Danny's Writing 10:

      Ancient Egypt was a land of mysteries. The culture of ancient Egypt, having both mysterious and tantalizing attraction to the human mind, conjure up a beautiful picture of the exotic and mysterious African land, the Nile River, Tutankhamun, the Sphinx, pyramids and mummies. Mystery surrounds its origins, its religion and its commemorative architecture: tombs, temples, monuments, pyramids and palaces, which are still the most famous ancient buildings nowadays. One thing all mysteries have in common is that there is no ready answer. Although truth is often impossible to discover, the search is fascinating. In fact, many people have erroneously assumed that the Egyptians influenced the rise of civilization in the New World.

      As time passed, Egypt has gradually changed, and her remarkable achievements in civilization have become her lingering epitaph. Cyril Aldred, a renowned archeologist once stated, "Describing the development of Egyptian civilization, like attempts to identify its intellectual foundations, is largely a process of conjecture, based on archaeological discoveries of tombs, enduring ruins and monuments, many of which contain invaluable specimens of ancient Egyptian culture." However, pyramids and mummies are two of the important remains of the ancient Egyptian culture.

      The pyramids, permanent structures of some ancient civilizations, were built from about 2700 BC to about 1000 BC, to protect the dead bodies of the pharaohs -- kings of ancient Egypt -- from robbers. They succeeded in making their creators immortal, and they continue to serve as a tribute to those who so skillfully organized the efforts of thousands of people in an attempt to deny the finality of death and the limitations of time by leaving behind something that would last forever. Undoubtedly, these ambitious remains are still to date some of the largest structures built. The ancient Egyptians, especially the educated ones, believed in a future life, and they also believed that mummification was essential for passage to the afterlife, so that the dead bodies were mummified and buried. Thus, mummification which was the art of preserving dead bodies became an important part of the ancient Egyptian mortuary custom. In the present days, many pyramids were explored and mummies were unearthed, but a train of mysterious quizzes still exist in my heart? How did Imhotep buried the Step Pyramid to house the dead body of King Zoser? The pyramid is nearly 200 feet high in six giant steps! Why didn't the Bent Pyramid collapse as it angles into a gentle slope about halfway up? How can the Red Pyramid still be seen standing on the edge of the desert as pink limestone was used in construction, what power and wisdom did the ancient Egyptians have in order to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau? It stood 481 feet high and the base covered 13 acres! No wonder it becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. How and why did the ancient Egyptians build the narrows and low passages as well as the chambers which were used to house the mummies inside the pyramids? How were dead bodies mummified? Why didn't they decay and vanish?

      Nowadays, some scholars who study the history of Egypt, are still interested to enjoy the enchanting Egyptian remains of about 5000 years ago. Other than these scholars, many people, such as tourists, mathematicians, archaeologists coming from foreign countries, like Britain, Canada and Australia, come to Egypt to fulfil their wishes of viewing these wonderful remains, particularly the pyramids and the mummies, which reveal some of the ancient Egyptian culture. Through this culture, we can analyze some of the thoughts of the ancient Egyptians that most of us we can relate to. These thoughts include the fear of death, that the body would disappear after death, the wish to be remembered by the descendants and other people in the future, and the pursuit of the everlasting afterlife. These may be the reasons why the pyramids were built and the dead bodies were mummified.

      Accordingly, every religion has its own beliefs in terms of the attitude towards death. Being afraid of the disappearance of the body after death, the ancient Egyptians made their compensation by seeking for the afterlife. In ancient Egypt, religion was one of the most important aspects which created common understandings and shared values that were essential to the growth of a civilization. One of the central themes of this ancient religion was the belief in the afterlife. That's why the ancient Egyptians spent incredible expenses to provide tombs to protect their bodies after death. The funerary customs and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians called for the preservation of the dead bodies and ample provisions for the afterlife, which was envisaged as a continuation of the existence before death. Therefore, their funerary practices, such as the burial in tombs or pyramids and mummification, were designed to assist the deceased in finding their way in the afterworld. They thought that their contributions would improve their own prospects as the final judgement in the afterworld. Unlike the religion of the Ancient Egyptians, other religions, like Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, even in the present days, have different attitude towards death. For examples: the dead bodies of the Buddhists are burned; the dead bodies of the Christians are buried in the tombs; and the dead bodies of the Persian are buried at sea, such as sending the corpses to sea in a boat after they died. However, no matter what the people's beliefs are, they are all fear of death. Therefore, different religions have their unique ways to deal with the funeral customs, which observances connected with death and burial, they all find ways in people's afterlife.

      Viewing the gigantic pyramids, we think of the amazing architecture in ancient Egypt which formed a part of the ancient Egyptian culture. In ancient Egypt, people built the beautiful and huge buildings with stones and rocks, like tombs at the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, temples, monuments, pyramids and palaces. Although these buildings marked the Ancient Egyptian civilization, they will not be vanished in the hearts of the Egyptian descendants. They were built, most likely, by the poor labourers and slaves who were forced to work under the pressure of the powerful and tyrannical pharaohs. They were the products of blood and sweat! Nowadays, some people such as some tourists from other nations of the world may applaud these buildings with signs of admiration, but some may recognize them, especially the pyramids and the palaces, they signs of dictatorship and tyranny. Like the ancient Egyptians, people in every civilized land nowadays are still building tall and huge buildings, such as concrete blocks, glass skyscrapers, statues, monuments, towers, bridges and stadiums in the modernized cities around the world, like the World Trade Center in New York City and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney. Unlike the ancient Egyptians, the people nowadays who built these buildings were employed to carry out their work, and were not forced to work by tyranny. Moreover, the aims of ancient Egyptians and the modern people to build these tall and huge buildings may be very different, but the existence of these buildings can recall the people in the future to remember the civilization in the past, and marks the development of civilization of the human race.

      The pyramids and pictures on the tombs and temples may arouse our association with the art of ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, art was based on tradition and was to a certain extent unvarying. Manners of representation and artistic forms were worked out early in Egyptian history and were used for more than 3000 years. Egypt has a long artistic tradition, and the decorative arts are important parts of Egyptian culture. For example, Egyptian tombs and graves, like the pyramids are the representation and symbol of beautiful art. We can find many beautiful drawings of animals, like deer, bulls, horses, cows and birds on the walls of the tombs and graves. These drawings inspire the modern designers, so that we have the type of art just like those of the ancient Egyptians, such as the picturesque patterns and drawings imitating the painted relief in a tomb in Sakkara, showing subjects bringing gifts. The ancient Egyptian buildings as well as the various kinds of modern buildings that people of different nations built are recognized as masterpieces of art. Considering from these aspects, we can round-up to say that these artistic buildings identify the development of civilization of mankind that will be remembered forever.

      In ancient Egypt, important buildings, such as pyramids, tombs, and temples and palaces, were preserved. As a result, these remains still stand on the Egyptian land and reveal Egyptian culture in the past. Modern people do the same thing as the Egyptians did many, many years ago. They also want to safeguard their important buildings and relics. For example, the Italians has tried very hard to preserve the Leaning Tower in Pisa since 1990, because of its structural instability. Take China for another example, the Chinese government worked earnestly to repair the broken part of the Great Wall near Beijing. These old buildings reflect to the world the characteristics of civilization of Italy and China respectively.

      Today, the ancient Egyptians are remembered for their building achievements, and their magnificent pyramids and temples still survive. Egyptian archeologists are still trying to make more discoveries to reveal the mystery and the eternal secrets of the mummies and the pyramids. I hope that they will reach their goal, so that we will know more about the culture of ancient Egypt.

Danny's Writing 11:

      Foreign ownership in Canada defines that the companies or business in Canada are owned and controlled by the people of foreign countries, and foreign investment means the purchase of assets in a foreign country, whether by governments, companies or individuals. There are three main advantages of having foreign ownership in Canada -- these are capital, technology and entrepreneurship. With these advantages, foreign ownership together with the resources it brings, can generally benefit the Canadian economy. It is definitely good to Canada, because it creates jobs for the unemployed, and it brings certain skills to the workers. Moreover, Canada can gain access to new technology, without spending enormous sums of money on research and development through foreign investment.

      Canada has depended on foreign investment since its earliest days. "After the World War I, direct investment in Canada steadily increased through the 1920's, 30's, and 40's until the boom which occurred in the 1950's and onward." (Pattison, 16). Since 1980, direct foreign investment in Canada has increased by almost 50 per cent, and Canada's investment abroad has tripled. Today, the degree of foreign ownership and control of the Canadian economy is basically higher in Canada than in any other industrialized countries, which means that more foreign companies own and control Canadian economy. Most of the investment in Canada is from the United States. As a matter of fact, in 1999. 60 per cent of manufacturing sector in Canada is owned and controlled by foreigners; 65 per cent of mining and smelting is controlled from abroad with about 65 per cent of this by the United States. In Chart 1 and Table 1, we find that the U.S. accounts for 62.3 per cent of Canada's foreign investment, and in Chart 3 and Table 3, we find that almost two-third's of international investments are made. Also, more than 56 per cent of Canada's electronic and electrical products sector is also foreign-controlled. However, there is a trend that foreign ownership is on the rise in Canada. For example, in 1996, excluding the financial sector, foreign-owned companies accounted for 31.5 per cent of the nearly $1.3 trillion in corporate revenue generated in Canada. Although later, that share has been slowly rising from a low of 26.9 per cent in 1998, before the signing of the bilateral Canada-U.S. Free-Trade-Agreement, it is still clear for us to see the trend that, foreign ownership in Canada is rising. However, this is the result of "increasing concern over what degree of foreign investment is healthy for the Canadian economy and of what implications are brought forth." (Safarian, 35). Foreign direct investment defines that it is a type of investment which is the purchase of enormous amounts of capital stock which provide the purchaser with ownership and control. One of the advantages for the consistent growth of foreign direct investment in Canada is the huge amount of minerals and other natural resources that are plentiful in Canada, but scarce in many other industrialized countries, like Japan. Other reasons are the encouraging and friendly policies of Canadian Government concerning foreign investment which attract foreign countries to invest in Canada. "Recognizing that increased capital and technology would benefit Canada, the purpose of this act (the Investment Canada Act) is to encourage investment in Canada by Canadians and non-Canadians that contributes to economic growth and employment opportunities and to provide for the review of significant investments in Canada by non-Canadians in order to ensure such benefit to Canada." (McConnell, 73).

      One of the advantages of having foreign ownership in Canada is the factor of capital. The capital or flow of investment funds from abroad is a very important aspect of direct foreign investment. Fundamentally, this is leakage of the savings from one economy which is invested into another country -- Canada. However, this flow of capital from other countries also contribute to the growth of the Canadian economy. As a result, the resources, goods as well as services in Canada are benefited, because money continues to flow through the economy. Besides of that, it is also paid out to the Canadian employees, who in turn consume it. However, Canada's economic performance is increasingly linked to international investment and trade. For example, "over the past 25 years, the opening of global markets to Canadian goods and services have helped make export performance a key engine for the Canadian economy". (Pattison, 68). Along with these developments, foreign direct investment in Canada has become one of the principal sources of economic growth and job creation. "Foreign direct investment is not just a source of capital, it creates jobs and helps us acquire leading-edge technology." (Warda: B3). It expresses to us that this capital investment in Canada creates many well-paid jobs for the unemployed workers. However, foreign investment benefits all regions of Canada. For instance, in Table 5, you can see that the Japanese car company -- Toyota, is the third largest Japanese company in Canada. In 1995, it led to 2,400 new jobs in Ontario. In addition, the U.S. pharmaceutical giant, Merck-Frosst, established an Research and Development centre that created 200 jobs in British Columbia; Sweden's Ericsson communications helped create 700 jobs in Quebec; and another U.S. company, Greenbrier Rail Cars, also helped create 900 jobs in Nova Scotia. Even in 1998, Stora, a Swedish pulp and paprt company, made the biggest single investment in Nova Scotia's history, which is a $750-million investment in Port Hawksbury, creating more than 1,000 new construction jobs and will provide several hundreds full-time jobs after completion of the plant and installation of machinery. Therefore, the contribution of foreign investors is very significance to the Canada's economy, in terms of both economic activity and job creation. Because of that, more Canadians have jobs. In additional, "a certain amount of the retained earnings are usually sent back to the parent company, which is a type of leakage from Canada's economy. Yet when this is analyzed further, we find injections by the corporation out weigh the leakages." (Pattison, 79). This is basically referred to as the balance of payment principle, which can be illustrated through a P-P Curve (Production Possibilities Curve), in Graph 1. When inflated through foreign investment, we reach an overstated amount of growth as the parent companies or foreigners want a return on their investment, which is a leakage. However, this is an advantage of foreign investment, because this growth contributes and inflates our circular flow diagram, which causes an increase in Canada's real GNP.

      The second advantage of having foreign ownership in Canada is the application of foreign technology which can make contribution to the growth of the economy. First of all, having foreign ownership brings a certain amount of technological improvement. To get satisfactory rates of economy growth and standard of living, we should raise productivity through the efficient use of resources, such as land, labour, capital, technology and entrepreneurship. In the 21st Century the majority of jobs in Canada will depend on Canadian companies investing abroad and foreign companies investing in Canada. Every Canadian has a vested interest in the MAI -- The multilateral agreement on investment. If you work for a multinational company, you want its overseas investment protected. "We live and die by competing in international markets. Out standard of living depends on our ability to be competitive." (Percy, N.P.). For understanding the benefits of foreign ownership in Canada, we have to know the term, the MAI. It is the multilateral agreement on investment, which is a draft agreement being negotiated by the Liberal government with 28 other industrialized countries. The aim is to remove some of the obstacles that companies face when establishing a physical presence, such as like a manufacturing facility or sales office in another country. However, artists and cultural entrepreneurs are creating the most innovative work in new technologies. A secure and positive environment for investment, both foreign and domestic, is important to continued economic growth. Also, investment in plant equipment as well as processes is fundamental to Canada's long term competitiveness. However, foreign direct investment brings not only immediate benefits, but also access to global technology and management expertise. By the way, in Canada, investment in research and development creates many new products and processes that will increase our productivity and make Canada more competitive internationally. Therefore, it is through foreign investment that we can gain money on research and development. However, in Graph 2, you can see the growth that new technology creates on the P-P Curve.

      The third advantage of having foreign ownership in Canada is entrepreneurship which can also make contribution to the growth of the economy. "This is creative risk taking that is exercised in the pursuit of profits." (Pattison, 50). Foreign investment brings this resource from the parent company. However, the result being the additional risk taken which should in most cases cause additional profits to be made inflates the economy, because the foreign investment sets up an enterprise that would not otherwise exist, therefore, not injecting money and profits into the economy. In case a similar industry existed, it would stimulate competition, which causes a more efficient use of resources, which inflates the economy. Now, comparing the cost of doing business in 42 cities in North America and Europe, Canada is the most cost-competitive country in which to invest. Also, the company invests in Canada in the expectation of profitable return down the road. Its investment in turn generates benefits to the community through the purchase of goods and services from local business and taxes, which is foreign direct investment in action. Besides of that, "the introduction of entrepreneurship also brings skills into the country that can be duplicated or learned which in turn utilizes Canadian industries to make their own companies productive." (Pattison, 53). Both stimulate growth in the economy that results in a P-P growth, inflation of the circular flow diagram and in a GNP increase. We know that Canada has much to offer foreign investors, that our labour force is one of the most highly skilled and best educated in the world. For example, Canadian infrastructure, such as airports, roads, ports, equipment and plants, is among the most sophisticated in the world. Also, the Canadian private sector is competitive and knowledge-intensive, especially in computer software, medical devices, ocean technologies, telecommunications, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. With excellent health care and education systems, our quality of life is among the best in the world.

      Foreign ownership is good for Canada, as for example, it is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs in Canada, that the MAI will make Canada more attractive for foreign investment. To Canadian investors abroad, the MAI will provide greater access and protection making Canada's businesses more competitive. Also, these contributors felt that foreign distributors can provide valuable support and would play an effective role in the distribution of Canadian titles if given the opportunity. Therefore, foreign ownership should be continued to rise in Canada, so that it will bring more benefits to Canada. However, with the three main advantages of having foreign ownership in Canada -- capital, technology and entrepreneurship, foreign ownership and the resources it brings with, can generally benefit the Canadian economy. Having foreign ownership is definitely good to Canada, as foreign ownership creates jobs for the unemployed in Canada. Also, we can gain access to new technology, without spending enormous sums of money on research and development through foreign investment, and finally, it also brings certain skills to the workers in Canada, therefore, foreign ownership is very essential to Canada.

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