| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: name after the fashion of the country-side.
"I was," said he, a little hoarsely, "but I think I will be about the
end of my stroll now. Are you like me, Miss Christina? The house would
not hold me. I came here seeking air."
He took his seat at the other end of the tombstone and studied her,
wondering what was she. There was infinite import in the question alike
for her and him.
"Ay," she said. "I couldna bear the roof either. It's a habit of mine
to come up here about the gloaming when it's quaiet and caller."
"It was a habit of my mother's also," he said gravely. The recollection
half startled him as he expressed it. He looked around. "I have scarce
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: not in themselves opposed, contain opposites; these, I say, likewise reject
the idea which is opposed to that which is contained in them, and when it
approaches them they either perish or withdraw. For example; Will not the
number three endure annihilation or anything sooner than be converted into
an even number, while remaining three?
Very true, said Cebes.
And yet, he said, the number two is certainly not opposed to the number
three?
It is not.
Then not only do opposite ideas repel the advance of one another, but also
there are other natures which repel the approach of opposites.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: meet a more favourable reception than his letters?
LETITIA
Much the same. She spoke of him with respect
abroad, and with contempt in her closet. She watched
his conduct and conversation, and found that he had
by travelling, acquired the wickedness of Lovelace
without his wit, and the politeness of Sir Charles Gran-
dison without his generosity. The ruddy youth, who
washed his face at the cistern every morning, and
swore and looked eternal love and constancy, was now
metamorphosed into a flippant, palid, polite beau, who
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