| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: roof. The type is that of Burgundian homesteads; the traveller will
see thousands like it when visiting this part of France.
A double door opened upon a passage, half-way down which was the well
of the staircase. By the entrance was the door of a large room with
three windows looking out upon the square. The kitchen, built behind
and beneath the staircase, was lighted from the courtyard, which was
neatly paved with cobble-stones and entered by a porte-cochere. Such
was the ground-floor. The first floor contained three bedrooms, above
them a small attic chamber.
A wood-shed, a coach-house, and a stable adjoined the kitchen, and
formed two sides of a square around the courtyard. Above these rather
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who
towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that
flew about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of
swallows. Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him.
Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr' Havas, to his
right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake;
and the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so
as all to attack the walls simultaneously.
But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish
them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one
another on a hillock in front of the town.
Salammbo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: You are the worst villain in the world. You have
offended against all that is sacred . . ."
A month after Missael sent a report, asking
that Isidor should be released as he had repented,
and he also asked for the release of the rest of
the prisoners. After which he resigned his post.
XVIII
TEN years passed. Mitia Smokovnikov had fin-
ished his studies in the Technical College; he was
now an engineer in the gold mines in Siberia, and
was very highly paid. One day he was about to
The Forged Coupon |
