After importing a photo (jpg) I want to select a shape and then I want to cut only that shape out of the picture and paste it elsewhere. Is this simple action possible with inkscape? If so, write down simply the steps. thanks

see this recent topic: Cutting images
Short answer: no. You can't cut or slice a linked (aka inserted) raster image within Inkscape. You can achieve a similar effect using clipping paths. Or you could trace the bitmap and delete unwanted parts (paths) from the resulting vectorized image.

sorry but that doesn't work!

Can you describe in detail what you have tried so far and where you got stuck?