Composition & Essay Writing [ 41 ]

41- ] Composition & Essay Writing .

49-] Cloning .

                      The cloning of a female sheep in Scotland has stunned the world because it raised the possibility that humans may be cloned in the future . The sheep named Dolly was cloned by a scientific team from the Raslin Institute in Edinburgh who took a cell from a six-year old ewe’s udder , put it into an unfertilized egg from which the DNA had fertilized egg from which the DAA had been emptied and adding thus a full dose of genes from a single mature cell . An electricity sparks started the egg dividing , resulting in embryos which were transplanted in the womb of the surrogate mother sheep . Ian Wilmut , the embryologist who led the team , said that although cloning humans may become possible in the future “ all of us would find that offensive . “

                    The breakthrough technology is compared in the West to the discovery of nuclear energy . Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud did not object to the cloning of animals , Indeed , he said it could be beneficial by increasing the food supply and producing biopharmaceuticals .

                    Dr. Abdel-Sabour Shahin – an Islamic scholar said “ cloning humans would amount to tampering with nature that would result in tyranny . It would abolish the individuality of human beings and abort the natural integration of males and females .”

                    Yousef El-Badri , a Muslim preacher said “ Cloning humans will cause chaos and all kinds of crimes will be committed and nobody will know who is responsible . “

                    Fahmi Howeidy – an Islamic thinker said “ What is controversial here has to do with ethics not religion . There have to be guarantees and a measure of control since without them , this breakthrough could turn into a nightmare . “

                    Father Yohanna Kolta of the Coptic Catholic Church said “ the breakthrough should be respected as a scientific achievement “ and added that “ there are ethical principles that should be over-stepped . The Church rejects science that is divorced from ethics and it refuses to have human beings treated like guinea pigs . “

                     Dr. Mustafa El Awadi , a professor of molecular genetics said “ it is hard to control people . If the cloning of humans can be done , it will be done . But it should not be done , or chaos will prevail . Dr. Said Thabet , a gynecologist said that "this would be tampering with the human species ." 

                       Dr. Mohamad Abul-Ghar , a professor of gynecology at Cairo University , predicted that next step in the West will be that individuals will clone themselves to have spare parts of body organs in store . “ Humans may be able to freeze their duplicate and then take from them any part of the body which they need to replace .It could lead to a myriad of new ways to help humans . Herds of transgenic animals could be raised for proteins , blood and organs . “ he explained .

                       President Clinton told a panel of bioethics experts to report back to him in 90 days on the ethical and legal implications of the Edinburgh work . Clinton also said that no government funds would be made available for research on human cloning and urged scientists to impose a voluntary moratorium on work in the field .

                     The British government is cutting all funding on the research project that produced the first cloned mammal . The Ministry of Agriculture said the institute had been informed that its 252.000 pound grant from the ministry will be behaved in April 1997 and cut entirely by April 1998 .

                     The Washington Post reported that scientists from the state of Oregon used a similar technique to produce monkeys from cloned embryos , the first time a species so closely related to humans has been cloned . The Post cited experts as saying the Oregon success adds to a growing body of evidence that there no unsurmountable biological barriers to creating multiple copies of human beings .

 

50-] The Egyptian Pyramids .

                         The Egyptian pyramids were funerary monuments built for the pharaohs and their closest relatives . Most date from the Old Kingdom

[ 2686 – 2181 BC ] and are found on the west bank of the Nile , in a region approximately 100 km long and situated south of the delta between Hawara and AbuRuwash .

                        The first pyramid was built by Imhotep – a great architect and statesman for king Zoser about2650 BC . Zoser’s tomb rose in a series of giant steps or terraces and is called the Step Pyramid . This pyramid still stands at the site of the ancient Memphis near Saqqarah . Pyramids developed from the Mastaba , a low rectangular stone structure erected over a tomb . The oldest pyramid known , the Step Pyramid of King Zoser at Saqqara [ c, 2650 BC ] has a large mastaba as its nucleus and consists of six terraces of diminishing sizes , one built upon the other . It was surrounded by an elaborate complex of buildings , now partially restored whose function related to the cult of the dead .

                       The next phase of development is represented by the 3 meter-high pyramid at Maydum , built at the order of Snefru , founder of the 4^th dynasty [ 2613 – 2498 BC ] . This first smooth-sided pyramid was built about 2600 BC . It is still stands at Maydum . It began as a stepped pyramid and then the steps were filled in with casing stones to give the building smooth , sloping sides . Other pyramids built during a period of Egyptian history called the Old Kingdom [ 2686 – 2181 BC ] , can be seen at Abusir and Dahshur . The pyramid at Dahsgur was also built by Snefru . During the Middle Kingdom [ 1991 – 1786 BC ] , pyramids were built at Huwara , Illahun , Lisht and Dahshur near what is now Cairo . The remains of these pyramids are still impressive .

                        The ruins of 35 major pyramids still stand near the River Nile in Egypt . Each was built to protect the body of an Egyptian king . The Egyptians thought that a person’s body had to be preserved and protected so the soul could live forever . The Egyptians mummified [ embalmed ] their dead and hid the mummies in large tombs . From about 2700 t0 1700 BC , the bodies of Egyptian kings were buried inside or beneath a pyramid in a secret chamber that was filled with treasures of gold and precious objects .

                      Many scholars believe that the pyramid shape has a religious meaning to the Egyptians . The sloping sides may have reminded the Egyptians of the slanting rays of the sun , by which the soul of the king could climb to the sky and join the gods .

                     Funeral ceremonies were performed in temples that were attached to the pyramids . Most pyramids had two temples that were connected by a long stone passage way . Sometimes a smaller pyramid for the body of the queen stood next to the king’s pyramid . Egypt has at least 40 smaller pyramids that were used for queens or as memorial monuments for kings . The king’s relatives and officials were buried in smaller rectangular tombs called mastabas . These buildings had sloping sides and flat roofs .

                    The Pyramids of Giza stand on the west bank of the River Nile outside Cairo . There are ten pyramids at Giza including three of the largest and best , preserved of all Egyptian pyramids . They were built for kings about 2600 to 250 BC . The largest was built for King Khufu [ called Cheops by the Geeks ] . The second was built for King Khafre [ Chephren ] and the third for King Menkaure [ Mycerinus ] . A huge statue of a sphinx called the Great Sphinx was probably built for Khafre . It stands near his pyramid .

                    The pyramid of Khufu , called the Great Pyramid contains more than 2 million stone blocks that average 2½ short tons [ 2.3 metric tons ] each . It was originally 481 feet [ 147 meters ] tall , but some of its upper stones are gone now and it stands about 450 feet [ 140 meters ] high . Its base covers about 13 acres [ 5 hecters ] .

                   A study of the great Pyramid shows how these gigantic structures were built . The ancient Egyptians had no machinery or iron tools . They cut big limestone blocks with copper chisels and saws . Most of the stones came from quarries nearby . But some came from across the River Nile and others came by boat from distant quarries . Gangs of men dragged the blocks to the pyramid site and pushed the first layer of stones into place . Then they built long ramps of earth and brick and dragged the stones up the ramps to form the next layer . As they finished each layer they raised and lengthened the ramps . Finally , they covered the pyramids with an outer coating of white casing stones . They laid these outer stones so exactly that from a distance the pyramid appeared to have been cut out of a single white stone . Most of the casing stones are gone now , but a few are still in place at the bottom of the Great Pyramid . No one knows how long it took  to build the Great Pyramid . The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said that the work went on in four-month shifts with 100.000 workers in each shift . Scholars now doubt that account and believe that 100.000 men worked on the pyramids for three or four months , each year . Farm laborers built the pyramids . They worked on the tombs during periods when flood waters of the Nile covered the fields and made farming impossible .

                       Thieves broke into most of the pyramids , stole the gold and sometimes destroyed the bodies . Later Egyptian kings stopped using pyramids and built secret tombs in cliffs . But some kings of the Kushite Kingdom in Nubia , south of Egypt , built pyramids long after they were no longer used in Egypt .