The Civic Hybrid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Civic Hybrid - Essay Example In the business industry, there are a lot of products available. In order to evaluate the best purchasing alternatives is a good practice to compare similar items from different manufacturers. The products that I’m going to compare are automobiles that are fuel efficient. These types of automobiles are categorized by the media as green vehicles. The three car models analyzed are the Honda Civic hybrid, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. The Honda Civic hybrid is a vehicle that combines gas and electric technology. The Civic hybrid has a starting price of $24,050 (Honda). The car gives an mpg rating of 44 miles per gallon. The car is power by a 1.5-liter V-tech engine that incorporates an electric motor for friction reducing and airflow improvements. The car has 110 horsepower.  In the business industry, there are a lot of products available. In order to evaluate the best purchasing alternatives is a good practice to compare similar items from different manufacturers. The pr oducts that I’m going to compare are automobiles that are fuel efficient. These types of automobiles are categorized by the media as green vehicles. The three car models analyzed are the Honda Civic hybrid, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. The Honda Civic hybrid is a vehicle that combines gas and electric technology. The Civic hybrid has a starting price of $24,050 (Honda). The car gives an mpg rating of 44 miles per gallon. The car is power by a 1.5-liter V-tech engine that incorporates an electric motor for friction reducing and airflow improvements. The car has 110 horsepower.   The second car featured is the Chevy Volt. The Volt is a hybrid vehicle that combines electric and gasoline technology. The car is very unique because it has different modes that allow for different performance and fuel efficiency. The maximum fuel efficiency of the Volt is 230 miles per gallon. The price of the Volt is $32,780 (Chevrolet). The automobile is power by an electric drive unit wit h 150 horsepower with an 80 horsepower 1.4-liter combustion engine.   The third auto featured is the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf is priced at $25,280 (Nissanusa). The car is powered by an all-electric motor 80 kW A/C synchronous motor with a 24 kWh lithium-ion battery.   The range of one full battery is 100 miles per trip.  

Controversies In Archaeology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Controversies In Archaeology - Essay Example At the end of Pleistocene period, these animals had completely disappeared or extinct. In Asia and Europe, a similar pattern of extinction of Pleistocene mammal took place where lions, bear, and woolly rhino disappeared (Fagan 47). The central question that archeologist and paleontologists ask is what caused the extinction of these large mammals in such a short time span? Some archaeologists, scientists, and paleontologists have proposed that the demise of these mammals can be attributed to the climatic changes while others such as Paul Martin have attributed it to the human cause or hunting overkill. Martin’s explanation of the disappearance of the largest mammals towards the end of Pleistocene period has not received endorsement from North American Pleistocene archaeological and paleontological records. It has been a controversial topic in archaeology since the 1860s with some archaeologists arguing that human hunters were the ones responsible for the extinction of the Pleis tocene mammals. Currently, the issue of human hunters being blamed for the disappearance of the world’s biggest creatures has been disputed with scholars from North America, Western Europe, and Australia arguing that mammal extinction during the Pleistocene period cannot be blamed on the overkill (Meltzer and Grayson 586). The theory of overkill has been disputed because of lack of sufficient evidence. Paleontologists and archaeologists argue that the overkill theory was entirely based on beliefs or faith rather than on science and concrete evidence from animal’s remains. Archaeologists such as Paul Martin has attributed the extinction of the world’s largest mammals to human causes as he asserts that their extinctions were because of impact of human hunting in North America. Further, Martin argues that the climatic changes during the interglacial periods did not lead to the demise of the large mammals such as Mammoth at the end of the Pleistocene period because these animals were well adapted to different environments and therefore, they could not succumb to the changes in climate. The appearance of the Clovis hunters in North America 11,000 years ago corresponds to the disappearance of some of the extinct species such as woolly rhinos. The fluted points have been discovered in relation with the bones of the extinct species of these animals such as the bison, horse, mammoth, and camel. These discoveries suggest that the Paleo-Indian and Clovis hunters with quick and effortless access to animals ignorant of the dangerous predators such as lions and bears rapidly eradicated the entire species of large animals they faced (Price and Feinan 152). Martin’s argues that the Clovis group of hunters hunted these Animals, which led to their extinction. Archaeological evidence from these sites and other North American plains contained the remains of mammoth, which made Martin assert that the Clovis hunters hunted these animals. This reasonable observation was then translated into generalization that the Clovis people were big game hunters even there was no (and still there is no) evidence for such specialization. Due to this rationale, some North America archaeologists have attributed the North American Pleistocene extinction in part to human causes. In order to justify his arguments, Martin used Island extinction to prove that human colonization led to the disappeara

Attack Essay Example for Free

Attack Essay Attack is a poem written in 1917 by Siegfried Sassoon while he was convalescing from his wounds in a hospital in Scotland. He was a soldier who fought in the First World War. Attack is a short, 13-line poem written in speech rhythm with some rhyme. The poem is described in a very vivid way which makes the reader think that the author himself witnessed the scene. The poem begins with the poet describing the setting of the poem. The landscape is in a battlefield where there are still remains of previous battles. The poet pictures it in a way that makes the scene very menacing and uncomfortable. The poem goes on with the soldiers fighting in the attack with their hopes struggling in the midst of war. Sassoon then ends the poem with an impassioned plea, O Jesus, make in stop! One major technique that the author uses in order to convey of the horror of the battlefield and what it seemed to be like to be in an attack is literal and figurative imageries. Examples of literal images are the ridge emerges, bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear, lines of grey, muttering faces. The poet uses very striking diction that makes the poem sounds more uncomfortable, for example, scarred slope. The colour of the atmosphere is described as dun and wild purple which accentuates on the menacing atmosphere of the setting. The verbs at the beginning of the poem are very significant as they seem to be particularly strong in this poem, like the description of the tank creep and topple over the ridge, the barrage that roars and lifts or the men who jostle and climb to, etc. On the other hand, the poet also uses a lot of figurative images. These figurative images include: time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, and hope, with furtive eyes, , flounders in mud, etc. These images help to personify and emphasize the meaning of the poem, for example, in line 11: While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists The figurative image here delivers the meaning of the soldiers while fighting in the attack, are not aware of the time and how it ticks blankly and busily on their wrists. These two adjectives creates an alliteration that further emphasizes the meaning of how the soldiers are just spending meaningless time on the battlefield, forgetting who they are and what they do. Furthermore, the same kind of hopelessness is caught by the image of the time ticks blank and busy. This idea is brought out to us more clearly by the two last lines of the poem. Hope is personified as something with furtive eyes and grappling fists that flounders in mud, as if to compare it to the soldiers. The short statement, flounders in mud is also mentioning the solders falling down and dying in the attack. The impassioned plea at the end by the author seems to have a great effect on the readers as it shows the emotions and how sincerely the poet wants everything of this to stop. The mood of this poem if mostly menacing to the readers, it somehow makes us sympathize for the soldiers. Seeing the images of the attack, it also seems to have an emotive effect on the readers. The punctuations in the poem also help the poem to create a bigger effect of this. In many lines, a caesura is used to make the previous sentence emphasized and creates suspense as well as having a greater effect on the readers. Overall, Siegfried Sassoon has showed through the poem Attack shows how the soldiers have to go to the battlefield to fight on the lands of previous battles, having time ticking through and as they fall down, their hope also flounders, leaving them with their faces muttered, their fists grappling

Why Has Reality TV Become Popular?

Why Has Reality TV Become Popular? Reality TV is a phenomenon that has now been the norm for a number of years. What is the reason reality TV has become so popular and what are the negative effects on young audiences? Discuss the differences between reality TV in America and/or other western countries and reality TV in the Middle East. The bug word of my first research question is REALITY PROGRAMS. The trend of reality TV shows in today’s surrounding is increasing and spreading like a fire in forest. Every channel wants a reality TV show once in a year to broadcast to increase and enhance their GRP’S. Why the rates of reality TV shows are touching the skies now days? Obviously, people are getting attracted towards those reality TV shows like a magnet. These reality TV shows are acting like gravity for the channels which attracts the attention of our society’s conversations today. Not only ladies and women in their kitty’s parties are discussing that reality TV programs like before they used to discuss on typical women oriented dramas, about their heavy jewelries and embroided sarees. People from all age groups are watching the every season of reality TV programs. As the demand of these reality TV shows is increasing therefore channels are producing them annually in terms of seasons. And every season smashes the GRP of that channel as compare to previous season (Ramos, R. A., Ferguson, C. J., Frailing, K., Romero-Ramirez, M. , 2013). Now the question arises that why is the reality TV shows gaining importance and popularity so extensively? At first instance people used to hate them but once the train come on to the platform, no one resist catching that train. It means once the show has been broadcasted on TV, no one resist to watch the whole season that reality TV. The answer for the popularity of reality TV shows is that people start relating their own lives to the contestants on reality TV shows. People love to hear and watch the true stories and trues events of every single contestant. People get bored on the scripted items. They want something new, something extravagant, something very much prodigiously attractive for their leisure time. And all these ravishing spending they can earn from reality TV shows (Bhatti, M. A., Hassan, A. A. U. , 2014). Everything which reaches towards the highest sky of fame, people in its surrounding is going to perceive something from them, whether it’s in a good way or a bad way. Similarly it goes for the popularity of reality TV shows. What people do extract from them. Here we will discuss some facts about reality TV impact on our young generation (Gentile, D. A., Bushman, B. J. (2012). , 2012). Physical Attractiveness And Sex Appeal Numerous reality shows portray women idealizing beauty and slimness, giving the impression that a woman’s value is based on her physical appearance, and that popularity is resultant from beauty. Reality cum Competition shows such asAmerica’s Next Top Modeldisseminate this idyllic, as women participate and compete with every of their opponent to gain a worthwhile modeling agreement (Krahe, B., Moller, I., Kirwil, L., Huesmann, L.R., Felber, J., Berger, A., 2011). Acquisitiveness And Extreme Partying Other conjoint values propagated by reality TV include acquisitiveness, and an idealism of a hard-partying and â€Å"superstar† lifestyle without respect for values. BothRich Kids of Beverly HillsandShahs of Sunsetportary the lives of privileged fresh adults living in southern California. They take overgenerous trips, wear fashionable and expensive clothes, spend a lot of money on alcohol-fueled parties, and are seldom seen employed consistent jobs (Ramos, R. A., Ferguson, C. J., Frailing, K., Romero-Ramirez, M. , 2013). Difference between reality TV shows in Western Countries and Middle East countries is not very much unalike. Infect the reality TV show which western countries announces and if it gains popularity to its highest level then most seldom Middle East countries copied them and introduces them in their own country. And again that copied reality TV show also gains importance and popularity at its height. For Example: Western Reality TV Show: The Big Brother Eastern Reality TV show: the Bigg Boss Both of them gains extreme popularity not even in their own countries but also across the globe. REFERENCES: Gentile, D.A., Bushman, B.J. (2012). Reassessing Media Violence Effects Using a Risk and Resilience Approach to Understanding Aggression.Psychology of Popular Media Culture, Vol. 1, No. 3. Krahe, B., Moller, I., Kirwil, L., Huesmann, L.R., Felber, J., Berger, A. (2011). Desensitization to Media Violence: Links With Habitual Media Violence Exposure, Aggressive Cognitions, and Aggressive Behavior.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 100, No. 4. Ramos, R. A., Ferguson, C. J., Frailing, K., Romero-Ramirez, M. (2013). Comfortably numb or just yet another movie? Media violence exposure does not reduce viewer empathy for victims of real violence among primarily Hispanic viewers.Psychology of Popular Media Culture,2(1), 2. Bhatti, M. A., Hassan, A. A. U. (2014). Psychological effects of TV News Violence on youth: A Case Study of the Students of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS),34(1), 295-309. Scarborough, R. C., McCoy, C. A. (2014). Moral reactions to reality TV: Television viewers’ endogenous and exogenous loci of morality.Journal of Consumer Culture, 1469540514521078.

Free College Essays - The Scarlet Pimpernel :: pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel    It was an adventurous tale of love and courage. In 1792, during the French Revolution, a figure named the Scarlet Pimpernel saved many aristocrats from the French. Using daring plots and disguises he escaped from the French and his archenemy, Chauvlin. The richest man in England, Sir Percy Blakenley was married to the most beautiful woman in France, Lady Marguerite Blankenley. Sir Percy was an important character in The Scarlet Pimpernel. The story took place in both England and France. It started in Paris, France at the scene of the guillotine. Some of the story took place at The Fisherman's Rest in Dover, England. Other parts of the story took place at Sir Percy's house in Richmond, England, The Chat Gris in Calais, France, Lord Greenville's Ball and The Covent Garden Theatre in England. The theme of the story was love and courage. It showed how much Sir Percy cared about and loved Marguerite. Marguerite once loved him, but now took him for granted and thought of him as a fop. It also limned how brave Sir Percy, The Scarlet Pimpernel, was in risking his life for the lives of the aristocrats. The Scarlet Pimpernel and a small band of devoted followers had dedicated their lives and fortunes to saving the innocent aristocrats of the French Revolution and the horror of the guillotine. They risked their lives on numerous occasions and rescued many French noblesse bringing them to the safety and security of England. Sir Percy Blakenley, one of the wealthiest men in England, was married to Lady Marguerite St. Just who was thought to be the most beautiful and smartest woman in Europe. She was perceived as a traitor to the French cause for having betrayed the Marquis de St. Cyr and his whole family to the bloody guillotine. This she was duped into doing because of her brother, Armond, who was almost killed by them for having dared to love the daughter of an aristocrat. Therefore Sir Percy showed no love toward Marguerite and acted the part of a fool. She thought Sir Percy to be a vain, pompous dandy and could not conceive how she ever married him. In spite of this she still had feelings of love for him. Sir Percy loved her deeply, though he also hated and detested her for what she did.

Information systems technology Essay

Abstract This paper discusses the scope of Information systems technology. Information Systems Technology can be defined as the use of electronic programs and machines and for storage, processing, presentation and transfer of information. Information Systems Technology also includes technologies of speech processing, speech recognition, speaker recognition (identification, verification, and authentication), word spotting, language and dialect identification, speech coding, and speech and audio signal enhancement. It is also inclusive of Machine learning, Information Assurance, detecting and interpreting attacks against large-scale network infrastructures, securing cyberspace, and evaluating the usage of various tools various environments. For Information Systems Technology to be adequate, static and dynamic analysis of software should be performed regularly, to uncover any vulnerabilities, correlate and prioritize alerts from network security devices, analyze attacks and potential propagation vectors against computer networks, and develop practical solutions of cryptographic protocols and approaches. Introduction It has been said that Survival is a matter of instinct which requires insight to succeed. Information technology is an absolute necessity for any individual or organization that wants to survive in this ever changing world. Information systems technology can be defined as the use of electronic machines and programs for the processing, storage, transfer and presentation of information. When the emphasis was on processing the terms electronic data processing EDP was common in earlier days. All aspect of human life is permeated by information technology; it is no longer confined to high number- crunching machines housed in air- conditioned computer halls. As evident to all, communication technology is today an important part of it. Devices such as the photocopying machine, telephone and the telefax and not only computers and their software should be included in our definition of information technology. Nowadays the use of information technology is no longer confined to huge number-crunching machines housed in air-conditioned computer halls but permeates all aspects of everyday life. Communications technology is today an important part of IT. Not only computers and their software, but also devices such as the telephone, the photocopying machine and the telefax should thus be included in our definition of information technology. Many of the functions of these devices are in fact increasingly integrated. With the latest generation of laptops computers, and is already possible to send and receive faxes and emails. Recently, many mobile phones which incorporate small microcomputers have started to appear on the market much more. (Bo-Christer Bjork 1999) Overview. Information technology and the systems that process it are among the most valuable assets of any organization. Fundamental management responsibility is adequate security of these assets. Each agency must implement and maintain a program to adequately secure its information and system assets, something that is consistent with office of Management and Budget (OMB). There is also increased integration in many functions of these devices Consistent with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy, each agency must implement and maintain a program to adequately secure its information. Agency programs must: 1) assure that systems and applications operate effectively and provide appropriate confidentiality, integrity, and availability; and 2) protect information commensurate with the level of risk and magnitude of harm resulting from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, or modification. Description of Framework The Framework approach begins with the premise that all agency assets must meet the minimum security requirements of the Office of Management and Budget Circular. The criteria that are outlined in the Framework and provided in detail in the questionnaire are abstracted directly from long-standing requirements found in statute, policy, and guidance on security and privacy. It should be noted that an agency might have additional laws, regulations, or policies that establish specific requirements for confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Each agency should decide if additional security controls should be added to the questionnaire and, if so, customize the questionnaire appropriately. (Federal Information Technology Security Assessment Framework 2000). References Bo-Christer Bjork (1999) Information technology in construction: domain definition and research issues. International Journal of Computer Integrated Design and Construction, SETO, London. Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 1-16 Federal Information Technology Security Assessment Framework (2000) Prepared for Security, Privacy, and Critical Infrastructure Committee by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Division November 28, 2000 The NIST Self-assessment Questionnaire will be issued in 2001 as a NIST Special Publication. Swanson, M (2001) Security Self-Assessment Guide for Information Technology Systems.

Analysis of Bao-yu’s dream in Cao Xueqin’s ‘Story of the Stone’ Essay

The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin is an animated, lively account of life in a large Chinese household in the mid-18th century Qing dynasty. It remains a fascinating novel for modern readers with its vivid and detailed descriptions of the minutiae of daily life – from clothing, food and interior design to education, marriage and death. For all its realism however, The Story of the Stone is not set entirely in reality. The very premise of the whole tale, that of a single rock left out of the goddess Nu-wa’s repairing of the sky, is one based on a magico-religious dream world. The rock is found by a Buddhist and a Taoist who take it down to the mortal world where it lives out a human life, that of Jia Bao-yu, before attaining Nirvana. Once a rock again, a Taoist copies the inscription on its surface †from beginning to end and took it back with him to look for a publisher†. Cao Xueqin’s emphasis on dreams can be seen in the alternative titles for his m asterpiece. A Dream of Red Mansions is the title by which the book is perhaps most commonly known. Twelve Young Ladies of Jinling is also a title suggested in chapter one. Both of these titles refer to the same dream. As David Hawkes explains, ‘hong lou’, red mansion, has the more specialised meaning of the residences of the daughters of rich men and thus, the young ladies themselves. The dream alluded to in these appellations occurs in the fifth chapter of volume one, The Golden Days. Cousin Zhen’s wife, You-shi, has invited the women of the Rong-guo house, accompanied by Bao-yu, round for a flower viewing party. Needless to say, Bao-yu soon tires and asks to take a nap. Rather than going back to the Rong mansion, the wife of his nephew, Jia Rong, leads him to her chamber to sleep. Bao-yu immediately drops off into a vivid dream world. He meets the fairy of Disenchantment who shows him to the Land of Illusion and into the Department of the Ill-Fated Fair. Within this department is housed the ‘Jinling, Twelve Beauties of, Main Register’, a record of the twelve most notable females in Bau-yu’s own province of Jinling. The fairy of Disenchantment allows Bao-yu to read the fates of the twelve girls as recorded in the form of four-line verses. Bao-yu can make little sense of what he reads. Later, the quatrains are expanded into a series of twelve songs entitled A Dream of Golden Days. While the words are sung by a troupe of entertainers, Bao- yu reads along with the manuscript. He still does not understand. Indeed, both the verses in the register and in the song-cycle contain allusions and metaphors not immediately obvious and not easily deciphered. Yet at a most basic level, they provide an outline of the fate of twelve principle female characters in The Story of the Stone. Their fate unfolds throughout the course of the five volume novel. The Golden Days therefore, is only the beginning. But, by the end of the first volume, to what extent have the women already prepared the way for their future course? The first verse in the Main Register is a joint record of Lin Dai-yu and Xue Bao-chai. These two young girls share the affection of Bao-yu and Grandmother Jia. In their own individual ways, they are both paragons. It seems odd therefore that they share only one verse between them. Hawkes puts forward the argument that Dai-yu and Bao-chai †represent two complementary aspects of a single ideal woman†. Evidence for this interpretation lies in the first two lines of their quatrain: One was a pattern of female virtue, One a wit who made other wits seem slow. The combination of wit, or intelligence, and virtue were ideal traits in a Qing woman of the upper class. Arguably it was Dai-yu who held the upper hand in wit while Bao-chai, with her †generous and accommodating disposition†, was the more virtuous. Although in the song-cycle there are two songs for Dai-yu and Bao-chai, it is not the case that one is dedicated to Dai-yu and one to Bao-chai. Albeit the second so ng is solely about Dai-yu, but there are references to both characters in the first song. The character ‘lin’ in Lin Dai-yu is made up of two tree radicals and has the meaning ‘forest’. ‘Xue’ in Xue Bao-chai sounds the same as the Chinese word for ‘snow’ while ‘bao chai’ can be translated as ‘precious’ or ‘gold hairpin’. Thus, the references come in the form of gold, flowers, snow and trees. Bao-yu is alluded to using jade or stone as he was born with a jade stone in his mouth. The first song, The Mistaken Marriage, refers to †the marriage rites of gold and jade†. This foreshadows the marriage of Bao-chai (gold) and Bao-yu (jade). The speaker however, still remembers the relationship between ‘stone and flower’. There is indeed, a special bond between Bao-yu and Dai-yu. Although Bao-yu, †a child†¦whom nature had endowed with the eccentric obtuseness of a simpleton†, fails to recognise it, Dai-yu is an intensely jealous character and resents any time he spends with Bao-chai and not her. Bao-yu struggles to understand the cause of Dai-yu’s mainly irrational sulks, yet always attempts to comfort her: Take kinship first: you are my cousin on Father’s side; cousin Bao is only a mother-cousin. That makes you much the closer kin. And as for length of acquaintance: it was you who came here first. You and I have practicaly grown up together†¦Why should I ever be any less close to you because of her? There is a profound love between Bao-yu and Dai-yu that seems to grow with the progression of the first volume. They share an understanding †so intense that it was almost as if they had grown into a single person.† The speaker suggests however, that later on Dai-yu (†that fairy wood†) dies. Thus, even a wife †so courteous and so kind† as Bao-chai is no substitute for the wife that Dai-yu could have been. Their marriage, even though †others all commend it†, is a mistake. This is succeeded by Hope Betrayed which deals specifically with the close relationship between Dai-yu (†a flower from paradise†) and Bao-yu (†a pure jade without spot or stain†). They are clearly meant for each other but the poem augurs future disaster. The pain heartache that stems from such an ardent love will all be in vain. In one sense these two poems pose an insurrmountable contradiction. Fate, the belief in which provides the premise for this entire dream scene, will have them be together but they are not. They are meant to be but cannot and this inability is portrayed as some kind of mistake, a going against the natural order. Is there then, even such a thing as fate? This question aside, it can be seen that, in the case of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, their journey has barely begun by the end of The Golden Days. Their relationship with Bao-yu is entirely platonic (physically at least) and, although it is perhaps assumed that one of them, most likely Dai-yu, will be be Bao-yu’s future bride, this is only hinted at in jest among the maids and is a source of great embarassement to Dai-yu. The second quatrain and the third poem can be interpretted as Yuan-chun’s fate. Yuan-chun, daughter of Lady Wang and Jia Zheng, is Bao-yu’s elder sister. The first two lines describe her, age twenty, leaving her family to live in the emperor’s palace as a royal concubine. As can be seen by the subsequent effort put into a lavish garden compund in honour fo her visit, this was a posi tion held in great esteem. Although out of modesty, Yuan-chun later changes the name, the setting for her reunion with her family within Prospect Garden initially bears the inscription ‘Precinct of the Celsetial Visitant’. Hence perhaps, the use of the phrase †pomegranate-time†. Hawkes stresses the †redness’ of the original Chinese text, the colour red being a symbol of good-fortune and prosperity. Although much of this sense has inevitably been lost in translation, the red skin of the pomegranate could perhaps be taken as emphasising the great advantages such a position could bestow on both concubine and family. The second half of the quatrain however, does not bode so well for the future. Although Yuan-chun is superior if not in beauty and intelligence then in success to her half-sister Tan-chun and her cousins, Ying-chun and Xi-chun (the †three springs†), her charmed life will come to an end †when hare meets tiger†. Hare and tiger refer to Chinese years. Thus, this prophecy specifies that the date of Yuan-chun’s death will fall at the end of a tiger year and at the beginning of a rabbit year. The third song, Mutability, again prophesises Yuan-chun’s departure from the Rong-guo household to the emperor’s palace. It goes on to describe her appearing before her parents in a dream to pay her †final duty†, forewarning again of her death. By the end of The Golden Days Yuan-chun has indeed left home to become a royal concubine. Although the location of the Jia clan in The Story of the Stone is questionable, it is clear that Yuan-chun and he r family feel cut off from each other in spirit if not by physical distance. Their reunion in chapter eighteen is an emotional one and although the emperor allows visits in the palace once a month, special permission must be granted for a once-yearly return to the family home. It is for this reason, †so far the road back home did seem†, that Yuan-chun will be forced to pay her final filial duties in a dream. (Hawkes points out that this dream sequence never in fact took place. He suggests that Xueqin used the material for this episode in chapter thirteen instead, when Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng in a dream.) Tan-chun, half-sister to Yuan-chun, one of the †three springs† referred to above and daughter of Jia Zheng and a concubine, is the subject of the fourth quatraine in the Main Register. She is †by far the most gifted of the three springs† as well as possessing a kind, generous nature. The first line, †Blessed with a shrewd mind and a noble heart†, is countered however, by the second, †Yet born in time of twilight and decay†. Although The golden Days is essentially a story set in the happy, carefree years of childhood, the bigger picture reveals a time of political and social upheaval, a sense of which permeates many aspects of the novel. Tan-chun’s prophesised marriage in the final two lines will thus perhaps be related to economic considerations. The marriage will clearly not be a happy one. The very title of the fourth song, From Dear Ones Parted, suggests the insuperable distance between Tan-chun and her home and her intense homsickness. The song has Tan-chun referring to †our rising, falling†, meaning the rise and fall of the Jia family. As a result of this, †each in another land must be, each for himself must fend as best he may†, again suggesting that the marriage will be one of economic convenience. Apa rt from allusions to her wit and good character, we learn little about Tan-chun in the first volume of The Story of the Stone. There are however, hints to be found as to her fate. In chapter 22, she attends Grandmother Jia’s riddle party. Asked to compose a riddle, the answer to Tan-chun’s is ‘a kite’. This image of a kite as associated with Tan-chun symbolizes her departure †a thousand miles† away, her flight from the nest. Her riddle also foreshadows her unhappiness once in the marriage: My strength all goes when once the bond is parted, And on the wind I drift off broken hearted. This description of drifting off in the wind ties in with the suggestion in the song that she will be taken to her new husband by boat †through rain and wind†. Like Tan-chun, relatively little reference is made to Shi Xiang-yun, the subject of the fourth quatrain and fifth song. She is the daughter of Grandmother Jia’s brother’s son. Orphaned as a young girl, she first lived with Grandmother Jia before moving in with her uncle, Shi Ding, and his wife. It seems from both the register and the song, that Xiang-yun is destined to find the man of her dreams, †a perfect, gentle husband†. But happiness will be fleeting: Soon you must mourn your bright sunâ€⠄¢s early setting. The Xiang flows and the Chu clouds sail away. The Xiang was a river flowing through the ancient kingdom of Chu. This was believed to be home to a goddess of lovers. But soon †the clouds of Gao-tang faded, the waters of the Xiang ran dry.† This suggests another calamity, perhaps the sudden death of her husband. There is no intimation of Xiang-yun’s fate in The Golden Days. The main scene involving her is one of comic relief as Dai-yu teases her about her lisp and Xiang-yun responds good-humouredly. The impression created is of a happy-go-lucky, lively young girl, quite a contrast from the rather intense and moody Dai-yu. This is best illustrated in Xueqin’s description of them asleep: Dai-yu was tightly cocooned in a quilt of apricot-coloured damask, the picture of tranquil repose. Xiang-yun, by contrast, lay with her hank of jet black hair tumbled untidily beside the pillow, a white arm with its two gold bracelets thown carelessly outside the bedding and two white shoulders exposed above the peach-pink coverlet, which barely reached her armpits. ‘A tomboy, even in her sleep!’ Bao-yu muttered†¦ The sixth woman included in the register is the only one of the twelve who is not a member of the Jia family. Adamantina nevertheless lives among them in Prospect Garden after Yuan-chun issues an edict stating that the garden is not to be closed up. She is a nun and this is reflected in the descriptions of her †otherworldliness† and her †grace and wit to match the gods† that set her †with the rest at odds. Nauseous to [her] the world’s rank diet.â⠂¬  Her final destination however, is clearly one of disrepute. In both the quatrain and the song, she ends up in the mud, impure and shameful. The fact that down here, †only wealthy rakes might bless their luck† suggests that Adamantina will end her days as perhaps a prostitute. By the end of The Golden Days however, she is still a nun who †looks down on common flesh and blood† The seventh of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling is Ying-chun, the eldest of the three springs. She is Jia She’s daughter by a concubine. With the arrival of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, the three springs are relugated to a secondary position in Grandmother Jia’s affections. Ying-chun is thus a rather underdeveloped character in The Golden Days. The sixth entry in the register and the seventh poem both suggest that she will be married off to a violent, unfaithful and cruel bully. There is no hint of this fate in the first volume of the novel. The Golden Days gives away equally little about the subject of the next quatrain and song, Xi-chun. Sister of Cousin Zhen and the youngest of the three springs, seems destined to seek release †from youth’s extravagance† and †to win chaste quietness and heavenly peace† by becoming a Buddhist nun. Wang Xi-feng on the other hand, wife of Jia Lian and cousin to Bao-yu, plays a far more prominent role in The Golden Days. She is a very strong character, a feminist role-model. She has all the qualities of the ideal wife with her managerial prowess and defere nce to her elders, and yet she always manages to be on top. This combination of cunning and virtue can best be seen in the chapters dealing with Qin-shi’s funeral. Having been relegated posthumously to the status of a Noble Dame, the funeral is a grand affair. The sheer cost and man-power involved is staggering and Xi-feng is put in charge of it all. Nevertheless, she manages it with †the decisiveness of a little general†. On the night of the wake, her maturity and superior social skills are further demonstrated when it is left entirely to her to do the honours. Xi-feng’s vivacious charm and social assurance stood out in striking contrast†¦She was in her element, and if she took any notice of her humbler sisters it was only to throw out an occassional order or to bend them in some other way to her imperious will. This can be juxtaposed with the episode in the next chapter when, after the funeral, Xi-feng, Bao-yu and Qin-zhong spend the night in the Water-moon Priory. The prioress Euergesia, catching Xi-feng alone, tells her the story of a benefactor of the priory called Zhang. He is desperate to call off his daughter’s engagement to the son of a captain in the Chang-an garrison. The captain however, is being thoroughly unreasonable and refusing to take back the betrothal-gifts. Euergesia beseeches Xi-feng to use her unfluence to get Jia Zheng to write a letter to General Yun asking h im to †have a word with† the captain because †It is hardly likely that he would refuse to obey his commading officer.† Xi-feng coyly turns her down until Euergesia questions Xi-feng’s ability. Xi-feng ‘relents’ and agrees to take part for the the not so small sum of three thousand taels of silver. Xi-feng is clearly fiscally-minded and savvy, never one to let an opportunity for profit slip by. The hush-hush manner in which this matter of the captain is broached also suggests that it is rather shady business. Yet, any qualms Xi-feng feigns to have about getting involved seem to be easily forgotten. Xi-feng is indeed, as the ninth song states, †too shrewd by half†. She is too focused on self-advancement but with the fall of the Jia family later in The Story of the Stone, Xi-feng’s plotting and manouevering will all come to nothing: Like a great building’s tottering crash, Like flickering lampwick burned to ash†¦ Although the exact nature of Xi-feng’s future is not specified, it is clear that it is not a bright one. She will, as the title of the ninth song says, be †caught by her own cunning†. Although we see none of her decline in The Golden Days, there are hints of a fall to come. When Qin-shi appears to her in a dream, she warn s Xi-feng of the future fall of the Jai family as a whole. She quotes a proverb: †The higher the climb, the harder the fall.† Could this be referring equally to Xi-feng as to the family? Is there a reason why Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng specifically? The tenth Beautiy of Jinling, interestingly enough, does not even appear in the first volume. Qiao-jie, daughter of Xi-feng, nevertheless has some sort of trouble ahead of her. It seems that no one will be spared pain and grief as the Jia family declines. The penultimate Beauty included on the Main Register is Li Wan, mother of Jia Lan. Li Wan was married to Jia Zhu, brother of Bao-yu. Jia Zhu died before the start of the novel as implied by the third line in the eleventh song, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the pleasures of the bridal bed† soon fled. The quatrain suggests that their son, Jia Lan, †her Orchid†, will be successful. The song goes further to describe the †awesome sight† of †the head with cap and bands of office on, and gleaming bright upon his breast the gold insignia†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Jia Lan will later pass the civil service exam and become a high official. It is perhaps slightly far-fetched but one of the few mentions of Jia Lan comes in chapter nine, set in the Jia clan school house. As for Li Wan, there is no hint that †the black night of death’s dark frontier lay close at hand.† It would seem that she tragically dies after her son’s appointment. Finally, there is Qin-shi, the twelfth Beauty of Jinling. She is the young wife of Jia Rong but dies of a mysterious unidentified disease half way through The Gol den Days. Of all the women, Qin-shi is the only one whose whole fate is played out in the course of the first volume. It does not, however, run according to plan. Both the quatrain and the song, The Good Things Have an End, explicitly express that she will hang herself. The most likely reason for her suicide is the family’s discovery of her incestuous affair with her father-in-law, cousin Zhen: Say not our troubles all from Rong’s side came; For their beginning Ning must take the blame. Indeed, there are indications of such intrigue. A drunken servant lets slip, in a fit of rage, †Father-in-law pokes in the ashes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The reader is clearly meant to take note of this comment, as Bao-yu subsequently questions Xi-feng as to it’s meaning. Xi-feng is quick in quashing any ideas Bao-yu may have on the subject and †terrified by her vehemence, Bao-yu implored her forgiveness.† There is obviously something to hide. Cousin Zhen’s hysterical reaction after her death is also a sign that their relationship was not as it seemed. He is inconsolable, proclaiming: †Now that she has been taken from us it’s plain to see that this senior branch of the family is doomed to extinction!† The poem accordingly, states that her death, †the ruin of a mighty house protended.† Qin-shi’s suicide does not however, take place and she instead dies of natural causes. A reason for this discrepancy is put foward by Hawkes. While Xueqin did originally have Qin-shi hanging herself †from painted beams†, a notation by one of the commentators on the original manuscript states that her †ordered† Xueqin to remove the scene. Xueqin reluctantly did so but, unenthusiastic about the change, failed to make the necessary alterations to the rest of the text. Having examined the fates of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling as expressed in the Main Register of the Department of the Ill Fated Fair and in the fairy of Disenchantment’s song cycle, it becomes immediately obvious that tradgedy lies ahead. With the decline of the Jia family will come a decline in the fortunes of each of the women. It is also clear that by the end of the first volume of The Story of the Stone the story has, in fact, barely begun. The Jia household is still powerful and rich, the child heros are still young and and insouciant, these are still the golden days.