| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: She seemed to loose and seize again her touch with life, now sitting
inert in a sort of durable bewilderment, anon waking to feverish and
weak activity. She dawdled about the lasses at their work, looking
stupidly on; she fell to rummaging in old cabinets and presses, and
desisted when half through; she would begin remarks with an air of
animation and drop them without a struggle. Her common appearance was
of one who has forgotten something and is trying to remember; and when
she overhauled, one after another, the worthless and touching mementoes
of her youth, she might have been seeking the clue to that lost thought.
During this period, she gave many gifts to the neighbours and house
lasses, giving them with a manner of regret that embarrassed the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: very nearly three-quarters of an hour. The good lady had not given me
the possibility of escape before."
"And how did you think Miss Fairfax looking?"
"Ill, very ill--that is, if a young lady can ever be allowed to look ill.
But the expression is hardly admissible, Mrs. Weston, is it?
Ladies can never look ill. And, seriously, Miss Fairfax is naturally
so pale, as almost always to give the appearance of ill health.--
A most deplorable want of complexion."
Emma would not agree to this, and began a warm defence of Miss
Fairfax's complexion. "It was certainly never brilliant, but she
would not allow it to have a sickly hue in general; and there was
Emma |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: that the moments spent with him had been the sweetest of her life. She thought
of him as she used to see him stand before her; so good to look at; so strong
and masterful, and yet so gentle.
"Oh, I cannot bear it," whispered Betty with a half sob, giving up to a rush
of tender feeling. "I love him. I love him, and I cannot forget him. Oh, I am
so ashamed."
Betty bowed her head on her knees. Her slight form quivered a while and then
grew still. When a half hour later she raised her head her face was pale and
cold. It bore the look of a girl who had suddenly become a woman; a woman who
saw the battle of life before her and who was ready to fight. Stern resolve
gleamed from her flashing eyes; there was no faltering in those set lips.
Betty Zane |
