| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: "Yes, yes. . . . Excuse an old man. . . . It's all nonsense . . .
yes."
As he slowly descended the staircase, spreading out his hands to
balance himself and showing me his huge, bulky back and red neck,
he gave me the unpleasant impression of a sort of crab.
"You ought to go away, your Excellency," he muttered. "To
Petersburg or abroad. . . . Why should you live here and waste
your golden days? You are young, wealthy, and healthy. . . . Yes.
. . . Ah, if I were younger I would whisk away like a hare, and
snap my fingers at everything."
III
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: him, since they were his own handiwork. Such is the habit of tailors;
it is the first thing they do on meeting one.
"But I, here, this--Petrovitch--a cloak, cloth--here you see,
everywhere, in different places, it is quite strong--it is a little
dusty, and looks old, but it is new, only here in one place it is a
little--on the back, and here on one of the shoulders, it is a little
worn, yes, here on this shoulder it is a little--do you see? that is
all. And a little work--"
Petrovitch took the cloak, spread it out, to begin with, on the table,
looked hard at it, shook his head, reached out his hand to the
window-sill for his snuff-box, adorned with the portrait of some
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: day."
"A miracle!" cried he. "Balaam's ass has spoken. Nothing will astonish
me after this. And where are the hundred thousand crowns which (so M.
Camusot tells me) are here in my house?"
"Here they are," said she, pulling out a bundle of banknotes from
beneath the cushions of her settee. "I have not committed mortal sin
by declaring that M. Chesnel gave them into my keeping."
"While I was away?"
"You were not here."
"Will you swear that to me on your salvation?"
"I swear it," she said composedly.
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