| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: put me to rights about this whole business. Why was I brought
aboard, why are there only Chinese along, where are we going, what
are we going to do, and how long are we going to be gone?"
Kitchell spat over the side, and then sucked the nicotine from his
mustache.
"Well," he said, resuming his pipe, "it's like this, son. This
ship belongs to one of the Six Chinese Companies of Chinatown in
Frisco. Charlie, here, is one of the shareholders in the
business. We go down here twice a year off Cape Sain' Lucas,
Lower California, an' fish for blue sharks, or white, if we kin
ketch 'em. We get the livers of these an' try out the oil, an' we
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: Those we found inconvenient in these respects: they admitted
no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not readily go out above,
but circulated in the globe, lodg'd on its inside, and soon
obstructed the light they were intended to afford; giving, besides,
the daily trouble of wiping them clean; and an accidental stroke
on one of them would demolish it, and render it totally useless.
I therefore suggested the composing them of four flat panes,
with a long funnel above to draw up the smoke, and crevices
admitting air below, to facilitate the ascent of the smoke; by this
means they were kept clean, and did not grow dark in a few hours,
as the London lamps do, but continu'd bright till morning,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can
neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither
build houses, (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they
can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive
at six years old; except where they are of towardly parts,
although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier; during
which time they can however be properly looked upon only as
probationers: As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in
the county of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew
above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part
of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that
A Modest Proposal |
