| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: prefer to bring forward indisputable facts."
"Bring them forward then, sir, as many as you please."
"You know," said the stranger, "that when any luminous rays
cross a medium such as the air, they are deflected out of the
straight line; in other words, they undergo refraction. Well!
When stars are occulted by the moon, their rays, on grazing the
edge of her disc, exhibit not the least deviation, nor offer the
slightest indication of refraction. It follows, therefore, that
the moon cannot be surrounded by an atmosphere.
"In point of fact," replied Ardan, "this is your chief, if not
your _only_ argument; and a really scientific man might be
From the Earth to the Moon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: elbow their way through the crowd with great black skins on their
shoulders. Most of them sell the wine of Schiraz, which is as
sweet as honey. They serve it in little metal cups and strew rose
leaves upon it. In the market-place stand the fruitsellers, who
sell all kinds of fruit: ripe figs, with their bruised purple
flesh, melons, smelling of musk and yellow as topazes, citrons and
rose-apples and clusters of white grapes, round red-gold oranges,
and oval lemons of green gold. Once I saw an elephant go by. Its
trunk was painted with vermilion and turmeric, and over its ears it
had a net of crimson silk cord. It stopped opposite one of the
booths and began eating the oranges, and the man only laughed.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: he said suavely. "May I be permitted to compli-
ment you, senorita, upon your marvellous grace in
the contra-danza? It quite turned my head, and I
am delighted to hear that you will dance alone after
supper."
Her face had flushed hotly. She dropped her
eyes and her voice trembled as she replied: "You
humiliate me, senor, and I deserve it. I--my poor
Rosa told me something of her great tragedy while
dressing me, and for the moment other things
seemed unimportant. What is hunger and court
Rezanov |
