| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: blue night sky of Italy; how he caught and kept them in cages,
dissected them, first studying the general anatomy of insects
very elaborately, and how he began to experiment with the effect
of various gases and varying temperature upon their light. Then
the chance present of a little scientific toy invented by Sir
William Crookes, a toy called the spinthariscope, on which radium
particles impinge upon sulphide of zinc and make it luminous,
induced him to associate the two sets of phenomena. It was a
happy association for his inquiries. It was a rare and fortunate
thing, too, that any one with the mathematical gift should have
been taken by these curiosities.
The Last War: A World Set Free |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: and when he compared it with the scene in which himself was
acting, and considered the doom that seemed to brood upon the
schooner, a horror that was almost superstitious fell upon him.
And yet the strange thing was, he did not falter. He who had
proved his incapacity in so many fields, being now falsely placed
amid duties which he did not understand, without help, and it
might be said without countenance, had hitherto surpassed
expectation; and even the shameful misconduct and shocking
disclosures of that night seemed but to nerve and strengthen
him. He had sold his honour; he vowed it should not be in vain;
'it shall be no fault of mine if this miscarry,' he repeated. And
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [3] The {anakrisis}, or "previous inquiry" (before one of the archons)
of parties concerned in a suit, to see whether the action lay. Cf.
Plat. "Charm." 176 C. See Gow, "Companion," xiv. 74.
Crit. Do you be good enough yourself to put your questions.
Soc. Do you consider that the quality of beauty is confined to man, or
is it to be found in other objects also? What is your belief on this
point?
Crit. For my part, I consider it belongs alike to animals--the horse,
the ox--and to many things inanimate: that is to say, a shield, a
sword, a spear are often beautiful.
Soc. How is it possible that things, in no respect resembling one
The Symposium |
