Re: data translation => descendants appear side by sid

  <xsl:variable name="desc1" select="/root/base[1]//description"/>
  <xsl:variable name="desc2" select="/root/base[2]//description"/>

          <xsl:call-template name="description-row">
            <xsl:with-param name="count" select="$count"/>
          </xsl:call-template>

        </table>
      </body>
    </html>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template name="description-row">
    <xsl:param name="index" select="1"/>
    <xsl:param name="count" />
    <tr>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="$desc1[$index]"/></td>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="$desc2[$index]"/></td>
    </tr>

    <xsl:if test="$index &lt; $count">
      <xsl:call-template name="description-row">
        <xsl:with-param name="index" select="$index + 1"/>
        <xsl:with-param name="count" select="$count"/>
      </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:if>
  </xsl:template>

----- Answer -----
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt">

  <!--
    Variables containing description elements in each base element.
    Use top-level variables for efficiency, so they don't have to be
passed into templates
  -->
  <xsl:variable name="desc1">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="/root/base[1]"/>
  </xsl:variable>
  <xsl:variable name="desc2">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="/root/base[2]"/>
  </xsl:variable>

  <!-- make copy of all description elements within base -->
  <xsl:template match="base">
    <xsl:copy-of select=".//description"/>
  </xsl:template>