| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: I have been a Bohemian--yes; but in Bohemia I always passed
for a gentleman. I wish you could see some of my old camarades--
they would tell you! It was the liberty I liked,
but not the opportunities! My sins were all peccadilloes;
I always respected my neighbor's property--my neighbor's wife.
Do you see, dear uncle?" Mr. Wentworth ought to have seen;
his cold blue eyes were intently fixed. "And then, c'est fini!
It 's all over. Je me range. I have settled down to a
jog-trot. I find I can earn my living--a very fair one--
by going about the world and painting bad portraits. It 's not
a glorious profession, but it is a perfectly respectable one.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: minutes; then I had myself in hand again.
"We ascended the spiral of a vertical way for some time, and then passed
through a series of huge halls dome-roofed and elaborately decorated. The
approach to the Grand Lunar was certainly contrived to give one a vivid
impression of his greatness. Each cavern one entered seemed greater and
more boldly arched than its predecessor. This effect of progressive size
was enhanced by a thin haze of faintly phosphorescent blue incense that
thickened as one advanced, and robbed even the nearer figures of
clearness. I seemed to advance continually to something larger, dimmer,
and less material.
"I must confess that all this multitude made me feel extremely shabby and
The First Men In The Moon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: entered the first chamber, a large one, serving either as a
reception-room, or simply as an ante-room; it was filled with
soldiers, servants, secretaries, huntsmen, cup-bearers, and the other
servitors indispensable to the support of a Polish magnate's estate,
all seated along the walls. The reek of extinguished candles was
perceptible; and two were still burning in two huge candlesticks,
nearly as tall as a man, standing in the middle of the room, although
morning had long since peeped through the wide grated window. Andrii
wanted to go straight on to the large oaken door adorned with a
coat-of-arms and a profusion of carved ornaments, but the Tatar pulled
his sleeve and pointed to a small door in the side wall. Through this
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
