| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: and I knew she had then passed out and come round to me
and that I should presently meet her. I remained where I was,
and while I waited I thought of more things than one.
But there's only one I take space to mention. I wondered why
SHE should be scared.
V
Oh, she let me know as soon as, round the corner of the house, she loomed
again into view. "What in the name of goodness is the matter--?"
She was now flushed and out of breath.
I said nothing till she came quite near. "With me?"
I must have made a wonderful face. "Do I show it?"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: were torn out, the ventilators smashed, the cabin-door
burst in. There was not a dry spot in the ship. She was
being gutted bit by bit. The long-boat changed, as if
by magic, into matchwood where she stood in her gripes.
I had lashed her myself, and was rather proud of my
handiwork, which had withstood so long the malice of
the sea. And we pumped. And there was no break in
the weather. The sea was white like a sheet of foam,
like a caldron of boiling milk; there was not a break in
the clouds, no--not the size of a man's hand--no, not
for so much as ten seconds. There was for us no sky,
Youth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: round and round as fast as he could, in the middle of the room,
thinking there was somebody behind him, when the same voice struck
again on his ear. It was singing now, very merrily, "Lala-lira-
la"--no words, only a soft, running, effervescent melody, something
like that of a kettle on the boil. Gluck looked out of the window;
no, it was certainly in the house. Upstairs and downstairs; no, it
was certainly in that very room, coming in quicker time and clearer
notes every moment: "Lala-lira-la." All at once it struck Gluck
that it sounded louder near the furnace. He ran to the opening and
looked in. Yes, he saw right; it seemed to be coming not only out
of the furnace but out of the pot. He uncovered it, and ran back in
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