| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: good man, bad man. I look eye, look mouth. Then I tavvy. Look
EYE, look mouth,' he repeated. And indeed in our case the mouth
had the most to do with it, and it was by our talk that we gained
admission to the island; the king promising himself (and I believe
really amassing) a vast amount of useful knowledge ere we left.
The terms of our admission were as follows: We were to choose a
site, and the king should there build us a town. His people should
work for us, but the king only was to give them orders. One of his
cooks should come daily to help mine, and to learn of him. In case
our stores ran out, he would supply us, and be repaid on the return
of the EQUATOR. On the other hand, he was to come to meals with us
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: received by the king, but nothing was said about eating that day.
When the night arrived, to quote their own words -- "He laid us on
the bed with himself and his wife, they at the one end and we at the
other, it being only planks laid a foot from the ground and a thin
mat upon them. Two more of his chief men, for want of room, pressed
by and upon us; so that we were worse weary of our lodging than of
our journey." At one o'clock the next day Massasoit "brought two
fishes that he had shot," about thrice as big as a bream. "These
being boiled, there were at least forty looked for a share in them;
the most eat of them. This meal only we had in two nights and a
day; and had not one of us bought a partridge, we had taken our
Walden |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: She turned to Winterbourne, blushing a little--a very little.
"You won't back out?" she said.
"I shall not be happy till we go!" he protested.
"And you are staying in this hotel?" she went on.
"And you are really an American?"
The courier stood looking at Winterbourne offensively. The young man,
at least, thought his manner of looking an offense to Miss Miller;
it conveyed an imputation that she "picked up" acquaintances. "I shall
have the honor of presenting to you a person who will tell you all about me,"
he said, smiling and referring to his aunt.
"Oh, well, we'll go some day," said Miss Miller.
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