| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: the cause of his evident penury.
"With great hardships, and always poorly," he replied. "Fishing on the
coast, when one hasn't a boat or deep-sea nets, nothing but pole and
line, is a very uncertain business. You see we have to wait for the
fish, or the shell-fish; whereas a real fisherman puts out to sea for
them. It is so hard to earn a living this way that I'm the only man in
these parts who fishes along-shore. I spend whole days without getting
anything. To catch a crab, it must go to sleep, as this one did, and a
lobster must be silly enough to stay among the rocks. Sometimes after
a high tide the mussels come in and I grab them."
"Well, taking one day with another, how much do you earn?"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: "Monsieur David," she said, "if you are not going to pass the evening
at Mme. de Bargeton's, we can spend the time together. It is fine;
shall we take a walk along the Charente? We will have a talk about
Lucien."
David longed to fling himself at the feet of this delicious girl. Eve
had rewarded him beyond his hopes by that tone in her voice; the
kindness of her accent had solved the difficulties of the position,
her suggestion was something better than praise; it was the first
grace given by love.
"But give me time to dress!" she said, as David made as if to go at
once.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: of radiation, sweet lips that softened into smiles, and grave grey
eyes. And she moved gracefully, she seemed to have part with all
pleasant and gracious things--"
He stopped, and his face was downcast and hidden. Then he looked up
at me and went on, making no further attempt to disguise his absolute
belief in the reality of his story.
"You see, I had thrown up my plans and ambitions, thrown up all
I had ever worked for or desired for her sake. I had been a master
man away there in the north, with influence and property and a great
reputation, but none of it had seemed worth having beside her.
I had come to the place, this city of sunny pleasures, with her,
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