| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will
have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set
it right.'
"I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of
exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and
pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by
the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed
a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An
examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was
round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: "Mademoiselle Mirouet," continued Goupil, made respectful by
Savinien's tone; "and I would undo with my blood the wrong that has
been done; I repent of it. If you were to kill me, in a duel or
otherwise, what good would my blood do you? can you drink it? At this
moment it would poison you."
The cold reasoning of the man, together with a feeling of eager
curiosity, calmed Savinien's anger. He fixed his eyes on Goupil with a
look which made that moral deformity writhe.
"Who set you at this work?" said the young man.
"Will you swear?"
"What,--to do you no harm?"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: come and gone on the very threshold of their lives. This was the
end, they both understood. They were glad that it was to be so.
They did not even speak again of writing to each other.
They found once more the little semicircle of blackberry bushes
and the fallen log, half-way up the hill above the shore, and sat
there a while, looking down upon the long green rollers, marching
incessantly toward the beach, and there breaking in a prolonged
explosion of solid green water and flying spume. And their glance
followed their succeeding ranks further and further out to sea,
till the multitude blended into the mass--the vast, green,
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