| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: everything. They foresee everything." This paralysing
Germanophobia is not common among the French. The war, the
French generals said, might take--well, it certainly looked like
taking longer than the winter. Next summer perhaps. Probably,
if nothing unforeseen occurred, before a full year has passed the
job might be done. Were any surprises in store? They didn't
seem to think it was probable that the Germans had any surprises
in store.... The Germans are not an inventive people; they are
merely a thorough people. One never knew for certain.
Is any greater contrast possible than between so implacable,
patient, reasonable--and above all things /capable/--a being
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: Second edition ready next week. THE BOOK OF THE YEAR. . . ."
He looked up stupidly. His wife still sat with her head thrown
back, her pure profile detached against the cushions. She was
smiling a little over the prospect his last words had opened.
Behind her head shivers of sun and shade ran across the striped
awning. A row of maples and a privet hedge hid their neighbor's
gables, giving them undivided possession of their leafy half-acre;
and life, a moment before, had been like their plot of ground,
shut off, hedged in from importunities, impenetrably his and hers.
Now it seemed to him that every maple-leaf, every privet-bud, was
a relentless human gaze, pressing close upon their privacy. It
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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: and bubble with excitement. A warm, sultry smell was diffused
throughout the room. A thermometer on the wall farthest from the
stove stood at eighty degrees. The parlor was hung with red
curtains, and covered with a red carpet, and looked just as warm
as it felt. The difference betwixt the atmosphere here and the
cold, wintry twilight out of doors, was like stepping at once
from Nova Zembla to the hottest part of India, or from the North
Pole into an oven. Oh, this was a fine place for the little white
stranger!
The common-sensible man placed the snow-child on the hearth-rug,
right in front of the hissing and fuming stove.
The Snow Image |
