| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: tie this handkerchief tightly round the fellow's mouth."
Chauvelin handed a scarf to Desgas, who solemnly began winding
it round the Jew's mouth. Meekly Benjamin Rosenbaum allowed himself
to be gagged; he, evidently, preferred this uncomfortable state to
that of being left alone, on the dark St. Martin Road. Then the three
men fell in line.
"Quick!" said Chauvelin, impatiently, "we have already wasted
much valuable time."
And the firm footsteps of Chauvelin and Desgas, the shuffling
gait of the old Jew, soon died away along the footpath.
Marguerite had not lost a single one of Chauvelin's words of
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: "Will it come soon?" she said.
"Soon," said Popinot. The word was uttered in a tone so full of
meaning, that the chaste and pure young girl inclined her head to her
dear Anselme, who laid an eager and respectful kiss upon her brow,--so
noble was her gesture and action.
"Papa, all is well," she said to Cesar with a little air of
confidence. "Be good and sweet; talk to us, put away that sad look."
When this family, so tenderly bound together, re-entered the house,
even Cesar, little observing as he was, saw a change in the manner of
the Ragons which seemed to denote some remarkable event. The greeting
of Madame Ragon was particularly impressive; her look and accent
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: would permit no man to search me. I got down into the canoe,
while the Dutchman, standing upon the deck, loaded me with all
the curses and injurious terms his language could afford.
About an hour before we saw the pirates I had taken an
observation, and found we were in the latitude of 46 N. and
longitude of 183. When I was at some distance from the pirates, I
discovered, by my pocket-glass, several islands to the
south-east. I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a design
to reach the nearest of those islands, which I made a shift to
do, in about three hours. It was all rocky: however I got many
birds' eggs; and, striking fire, I kindled some heath and dry
Gulliver's Travels |
