| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: that part of the moon."
"Perhaps so," replied Barbicane, "but not necessarily.
The volcano, by the decomposition of certain substances, can
provide its own oxygen, and thus throw flames into space. It seems
to me that the deflagration, by the intense brilliancy of the
substances in combustion, is produced in pure oxygen. We must
not be in a hurry to proclaim the existence of a lunar atmosphere."
The fiery mountain must have been situated about the 45@ south
latitude on the invisible part of the disc; but, to Barbicane's
great displeasure, the curve which the projectile was describing
was taking it far from the point indicated by the eruption.
From the Earth to the Moon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: that he didn't appear to thank her enough and that she might think
him ungracious. He was afraid she would ask him to explain
something he had written, and he always winced at that - perhaps
too timidly - for to his own ear the explanation of a work of art
sounded fatuous. But he liked her so much as to feel a confidence
that in the long run he should be able to show her he wasn't rudely
evasive. Moreover she surely wasn't quick to take offence, wasn't
irritable; she could be trusted to wait. So when he said to her,
"Ah don't talk of anything I've done, don't talk of it HERE;
there's another man in the house who's the actuality!" - when he
uttered this short sincere protest it was with the sense that she
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: the hues of fantasy, the same dream; drew the same quick breath
when he stepped upon the stage, and, at his exit, felt the same
dull pain of shouldering the pack again.
There were the maimed, even; those who came on crutches, who
were pitted by smallpox or grotesquely painted by cruel birth
stains. These, too, entered with him into enchantment. Stout
matrons became slender girls again; worn spinsters felt their
cheeks flush with the tenderness of their lost youth. Young and
old, however hideous, however fair, they yielded up their heat--
whether quick or latent--sat hungering for the mystic bread
wherewith he fed them at this eucharist of sentiment.
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
