| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: be a Basque. It didn't necessarily follow that he
should understand Spanish; but I tried him with
the few words I know, and also with some French.
The whispered sounds I caught by bending my ear
to his lips puzzled me utterly. That afternoon the
young ladies from the Rectory (one of them read
Goethe with a dictionary, and the other had strug-
gled with Dante for years), coming to see Miss
Swaffer, tried their German and Italian on him
from the doorway. They retreated, just the least
bit scared by the flood of passionate speech which,
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: too violent and cold, produces a soothing effect even upon the
most highly-wrought mind. Elfride slowly sank against Knight, and
looking down, he found by her soft regular breathing that she had
fallen asleep. Not wishing to disturb her, he continued still,
and took an intense pleasure in supporting her warm young form as
it rose and fell with her every breath.
Knight fell to dreaming too, though he continued wide awake. It
was pleasant to realize the implicit trust she placed in him, and
to think of the charming innocence of one who could sink to sleep
in so simple and unceremonious a manner. More than all, the
musing unpractical student felt the immense responsibility he was
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: The countess folded her arms in her shawl, lay back pensively on her
cushions, ruffling the feathers of her pretty bonnet, and looked at
the people who passed her. That flash of a great and hitherto resigned
soul reached her sensibilities. What was Adam's merit in her eyes? It
was natural enough to have courage and generosity. But Thaddeus--
surely Thaddeus possessed, or seemed to possess, some great
superiority over Adam. They were dangerous thoughts which took
possession of the countess's mind as she again noticed the contrast of
the fine presence that distinguished Thaddeus, and the puny frame in
which Adam showed the degenerating effects of intermarriage among the
Polish aristocratic families. The devil alone knew the thoughts that
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