| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: without the least difficulty, accomplish an enterprise that chimed
in so exactly with his adventurous spirit.
Equally urgent were both the count and the lieutenant to be allowed
to accompany him; nay, they even offered to go instead; but Servadac,
expressing himself as most grateful for their consideration,
declined their offer, and avowed his resolution of taking no other
companion than his own orderly.
Highly delighted at his master's decision, Ben Zoof expressed
his satisfaction at the prospect of "stretching his legs a bit,"
declaring that nothing could induce him to permit the captain to go alone.
There was no delay. The departure was fixed for the following morning,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: But when he had forgotten that he had put the question,
and because he no longer wished for an answer, she went on:
"I feel that we have returned to Greek joyousness,
and have blinded ourselves to sickness and sorrow, and have
forgotten what twenty-five centuries have taught the race
since their time, as one of your Christminster luminaries
says.... There is one immediate shadow, however--only one."
And she looked at the aged child, whom, though they had taken
him to everything likely to attract a young intelligence,
they had utterly failed to interest.
He knew what they were saying and thinking. "I am very, very sorry,
Jude the Obscure |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: if in wanton defiance of the great Cape Horn seas - a work, this,
for staunch ships, and a great school of staunchness for West-
Country seamen. A whole fleet of copper-bottomed barques, as
strong in rib and planking, as well-found in gear, as ever was sent
upon the seas, manned by hardy crews and commanded by young
masters, was engaged in that now long defunct trade. "That was the
school I was trained in," he said to me almost boastfully, lying
back amongst his pillows with a rug over his legs. And it was in
that trade that he obtained his first command at a very early age.
It was then that he mentioned to me how, as a young commander, he
was always ill for a few days before making land after a long
The Mirror of the Sea |
