DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire:

Josiah Barlett, William Whiple, Mattew Thornton

Massachusetts:

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

ECOLOGY

We live on a very beautiful planet – on the Earth. Our planet has very rich resources: the bright blue of the sky, fresh, crystal-clear mountain lake water, the rich green of the mountains slopes, wild flower, picturesque views – all these sceneries of nature fill us with admiration. That’s why those who live in cities prefer spending their days off and their holidays far from the noise of the city, to be closer to nature. Perhaps they like to breathe fresh air or to swim in clear water because the ecology is not as poor as in the cities.

Ecology is the study of the ways in which organisms (plants and animals) depend upon each other and upon their surroundings. Each organism requires conditions in order to be able to live and breed. These conditions are its environment by changing the ecological conditions. So, pollution is one of the most burning problems of nowadays. Now millions of chimneys, cars, buses, trucks all over the world exhaust fumes and harmful substances into the atmosphere. These poisoned substances pollute everything: air, land, water, birds and animals people. So, it is usually hard to breathe in the large cities where there are lots plants.

Everything there is covered with soot and dirt. All these affect harmfully.

Water pollution is very serious, too. Ugly rivers of dirty water polluted with factory waste, poisoned fish are all-round us. And polluted air and poisoned water lead to the end of the civilization. So, nowadays a lot of dead lands and lifeless areas have appeared. Because our actions and dealings can turn the land to a desert.

So, we see that our environment offers an abundance of subject matter for discussion. The problems and prospects of the blue planet interest not only scientist and futurologists, but also politicians, industry, the public – and above all, young people! There is hardly a young person who is not conserved with the preservation of our natural habitat. To recognize environmental problems and master them, to reduce and avoid environmental pollution, to discover and develop ecologically sound technologies – there are the essential building blocks for our future.

Whether scientist or politicians, bankers or student, whether Greek, Norwegian, Hungarian or Finn … all are encouraged to make a contribution towards protecting the environment. Dedication and the courage to change one’s way of thinking are called for.

Nowadays there are many different pressure and interests groups in British, which try to find solutions to the problems of pollution at the national and international level. So they are groups of people with a common interest in trying to draw the public attention to environment problems, to influence the government decisions.

Greenpeace is a very famous pressure group. It started functioning in 1971. Its headquarters are at Amsterdam, but it operates in 25 countries worldwide. The aim of Greenpeace is to protect wildlife of toxic wastes, nuclear tests.

“Friends of the Earth” (FoE) is one of the British pressure groups with an international reputation. Its general aim is to conserve the planet’s resources and reduce pollution. FoE was established in 1971 and now it operated in 44 countries worldwide. It campaigns among other things, for recycling and renewable energy, and the destruction of wildlife and habitat. The main campaigning issues of the FoE are:

The protection of all animals and plants in danger of extinction.

An end to the destruction of wildlife and habitats.

A program of energy conservation measures, etc.

So, a number of campaigns resulted in:

The ban or other hunting in England and Wales

And indefinite delay in the construction of the Commercial East Breeder

Reactor, etc.

But not only great groups can influence the problem of pollution. So, different people have their own opinions on this problem:

The continued pollution of the earth, if unchecked, well eventually destroys the fitness of this planet as a place for human life. (B. Commoner).

The Earth has enough for every man’s need, but not for man’s greed. (Ganlui).

And I agree with them because it is really so. And terrible examples prove them.

The Baltic Sea is a special case. Because it is such a small sea and it becomes dirty very easily. Its waster changes slowly through the shallow straits. As many as 250 rivers run into the Baltic. There are hundreds of factories in these rivers and millions of people live along them. Quite a lot of big cities lie on its coast. All these combined with the active navigation of the sea naturally affects the state of the sea water and the shore line flora and fauna. People suffer from the water pollution; cancer deaths increase people’s concern.

And there is no escape from this ecological crisis without organizing a single body dealing with the environmental problems, developing and carrying out a nationwide program of environmental protection and co-operating with international schemes.

Scientists now predict that by the year 2050 the population will be doubled what is today. The fact remains that the rate of food production fell behind population growth in many of developing countries. The annual fish catch already exceeds what the world ‘s oceans can successfully sustain. If we go on using our natural recourses at today’s rates, we will have used up the entire reserves of cooper, natural gas and oil by the year 2054.

But the problem ahead lie not so much in what we use but in what we waste. What faces us is not so much a recourse crisis as a pollution crisis. The only solution is to try to change the areas of consumption, technology and population. Changes in technology must be baked by slower population growth. And it can be achieved by education in health and women’s rights. And there is a little hope of reducing consumption over the next half century.

E-COMMERCE

There exists no exact definition of e-commerce. Generally it is described as any kind of business transaction where information is exchanged electronically.

To some people it means shopping at a website and buying products online, to other people it means just designing a web page in a way to increase the customers' interest. It does not necessarily describe a process of ordering and paying online. Electronic trading, in which a supplier provides goods or services to a customer in return for payment is just one special case of electronic commerce. Other equally valid examples include internal transactions within a single company or provision of information to an external organization without any charge.

E-commerce is concerned with attracting new customers and therefore it involves advertising, public relations and collecting information for and about customers.

It's not enough to get an online order for a product, it's also necessary to have this product and to deliver it to the customer. So e-commerce includes, besides of interacting with customers electronically, all the things a "normal" business would also need.

Categories of E-Commerce

There are 3 categories of e-commerce:

- business-to-business (B2B)

- business-to-consumer (B2C)

- business-to-administration

- consumer-to-administration

An example in the business-to-business category would be a company that uses an electronic way for ordering from its suppliers, receiving invoices and making payments. The business-to-consumer category means selling things to consumers via Internet. It is the most well-known form of e-commerce. The business-to-administration category covers all transactions between companies and government organizations. The same category exists for consumers and administration, though it is rather seldom.

As the B2C category is the most popular one, we will talk about it.

Advantages of E-Commerce

The following list describes of what may be the main advantages of e-

commerce:

- lower transaction costs (if an e-commerce site is organized well, you won't even need any office equipment – however, it is rather seldom)

- availability (people from everywhere and at any time of the day can visit your site, get information and put orders)

- large quantity of information (a company can build a very large catalogue with a lot of information on the web)

- providing "up-to-date" information (you can update your site quickly and make important information available in time)

- comparing prices and products - quickness (the customers' orders and enquiries can be handled immediately)

Disadvantages of E-Commerce

There are a lot of hard aspects about e-commerce as the recent failures in this branch show:

- making people to visit your site (getting traffic to come to your web site)

- how do you make yourself different from a (large) competition

- getting people to buy something at your site (people usually feel VERY uneasy about buying via Internet)

- you still need money (capital) to maintain your system and provide an effective customer support

So e-commerce does not mean that you can make profits easier than in a "normal" business. You have to manage all the activities concerned with marketing, finance, distribution, purchase and public relations.

These problems are the most relevant ones as competition grows all the time and people still try to avoid buying online. Stories about hackers using your credit card number or even large companies making losses in trying themselves in e-commerce – all this makes people even more skeptical about buying anything online.

However, this problems are also common in the old economy. So there are a few other hard aspects about e-commerce:

- legality (concerning international e-commerce companies; business contracts are defined differently by law in every country)

- ownership (the copyright problem is a very big one)

- privacy and security

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