| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: some time, on the coast. These crabs inhabit deep burrows,
which they hollow out beneath the roots of trees; and where
they accumulate surprising quantities of the picked fibres
of the cocoa-nut husk, on which they rest as on a bed. The
Malays sometimes take advantage of this, and collect the
fibrous mass to use as junk. These crabs are very good to
eat; moreover, under the tail of the larger ones there is a
mass of fat, which, when melted, sometimes yields as much
as a quart bottle full of limpid oil. It has been stated by
some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa-nut trees
for the purpose of stealing the nuts: I very much doubt the
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: After this he promised himself to go for a while to the opera alone.
When the curtain had fallen upon the first act of "Don Giovanni"
he turned round in his place to observe the house. Presently, in one
of the boxes, he perceived Urbain de Bellegarde and his wife.
The little marquise was sweeping the house very busily with a glass,
and Newman, supposing that she saw him, determined to go and bid
her good evening. M. de Bellegarde was leaning against a column,
motionless, looking straight in front of him, with one hand in the breast
of his white waistcoat and the other resting his hat on his thigh.
Newman was about to leave his place when he noticed in that obscure region
devoted to the small boxes which in France are called, not inaptly,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: completed by a wallet, not so abundantly stocked as to incommode
the vigorous shoulders on which it hung. Brown, curly hair,
well-shaped features, and bright, cheerful eyes were nature's
gifts, and worth all that art could have done for his adornment.
The youth, one of whose names was Robin, finally drew from his
pocket the half of a little province bill of five shillings,
which, in the depreciation in that sort of currency, did but
satisfy the ferryman's demand, with the surplus of a sexangular
piece of parchment, valued at three pence. He then walked forward
into the town, with as light a step as if his day's journey had
not already exceeded thirty miles, and with as eager an eye as if
The Snow Image |
