| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: take things as they came. He was satisfied, without in the least
being able to say why, that this young lady might roughly have
ranked in the house as a poor relation; satisfied also that she was
not there on a brief visit, but was more or less a part of the
establishment--almost a working, a remunerated part. Didn't she
enjoy at periods a protection that she paid for by helping, among
other services, to show the place and explain it, deal with the
tiresome people, answer questions about the dates of the building,
the styles of the furniture, the authorship of the pictures, the
favourite haunts of the ghost? It wasn't that she looked as if you
could have given her shillings--it was impossible to look less so.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: tick of the big clock on the stairs behind me was the only sound.
Then I was conscious that some one was running up the drive. In
a minute a woman darted into the area of light made by the open
door, and caught me by the arm. It was Rosie--Rosie in a state
of collapse from terror, and, not the least important, clutching
one of my Coalport plates and a silver spoon.
She stood staring into the darkness behind, still holding the
plate. I got her into the house and secured the plate; then I
stood and looked down at her where she crouched tremblingly
against the doorway.
"Well," I asked, "didn't your young man enjoy his meal?"
The Circular Staircase |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: the dominant power is master of the sea. And even if it were possible
for them to assemble in some single island unobserved, they would only
do so to perish by famine. And as to the states subject to Athens
which are not islanders, but situated on the continent, the larger are
held in check by need[3] and the small ones absolutely by fear, since
there is no state in existence which does not depend upon imports and
exports, and these she will forfeit if she does not lend a willing ear
to those who are masters by sea. In the next place, a power dominant
by sea can do certain things which a land power is debarred from
doing; as for instance, ravage the territory of a superior, since it
is always possible to coast along to some point, where either there is
|
