| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: shared his home. Perhaps, after all, Newson was gone for
ever.
In due time the bereaved Farfrae had learnt the, at least,
proximate cause of Lucetta's illness and death, and his
first impulse was naturally enough to wreak vengeance in the
name of the law upon the perpetrators of the mischief. He
resolved to wait till the funeral was over ere he moved in
the matter. The time having come he reflected. Disastrous
as the result had been, it was obviously in no way foreseen
or intended by the thoughtless crew who arranged the motley
procession. The tempting prospect of putting to the blush
 The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: natives had been crushed to death by collapsing woodpiles; many more
had died from fighting over decidedly unimpressive old branches.
One day a doctor came from the East to the village, and he immediately
recognized the symptoms of the disease (a common one) for which he
carried the cure. He went gladly and confidently to the chief of the
tribe and announced his ability to remedy the ills of the people,
expecting to be praised and welcomed for his offer of help. To his
surprise, however, the chief rebuffed him with contempt and asserted
boldly that there was nothing at all wrong with his people, that they
had always acted that way since he could remember, that it was the
human condition, and that they were all perfectly happy. Then,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: this generous troop proved useless. The stragglers who flocked in
masses to the banks of the Beresina found there, unhappily, an immense
number of carriages, caissons, and articles of all kinds which the
army had been forced to abandon when effecting its passage of the
river on the 27th and 28th of November. Heirs to such unlooked-for
riches, the unfortunate men, stupid with cold, took up their abode in
the deserted bivouacs, broke up the material which they found there to
build themselves cabins, made fuel of everything that came to hand,
cut up the frozen carcasses of the horses for food, tore the cloth and
the curtains from the carriages for coverlets, and went to sleep,
instead of continuing their way and crossing quietly during the night
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