Why can i not output xml code as ascii??

[Guest_imported]

i am using this declartion within XSL style sheet "

http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl",

why can i not output xml code as ascii or text?? when i use xmlns:xsl="

http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">,

it displays the contents of the stylesheet rather than transforming the xml code.

any suggestions would be very helpful