| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: _savants_ to any great degree as to the mysteries that are associated
with this, which must ever rank as one of the most magnificent amongst
the heavenly orbs.
As the comet approached the critical point of its career it cannot
be denied that there was an unacknowledged consciousness of alarm.
Mutually reserved, though ever courteous, the count and the captain
were secretly drawn together by the prospect of a common danger;
and as their return to the earth appeared to them to become more
and more dubious, they abandoned their views of narrow isolation,
and tried to embrace the wider philosophy that acknowledges
the credibility of a habitable universe.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: their vast estate in Uziri--the land of the savage Waziri warriors
whose broad African domains the ape-man had once ruled.
He had run across the Channel for a brief visit with his old friend,
but the news of the Russian's escape had already cast a shadow
upon his outing, so that though he had but just arrived he was
already contemplating an immediate return to London.
"It is not that I fear for myself, Paul," he said at last.
"Many times in the past have I thwarted Rokoff's designs
upon my life; but now there are others to consider.
Unless I misjudge the man, he would more quickly strike
at me through my wife or son than directly at me, for he
The Beasts of Tarzan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: bankrupt.[30] In old days I would be asked to dinner to amuse the
company with jests.[31] Now all is changed, and who will be at pains
to ask me out to dinner any more? I might as well pretend to be
immortal as to be serious. Nor will any one invite me in hopes of
reclining at my board in his turn. Everyone knows so serious a thing
as dinner in my house was never heard of; it's against the rules--the
more's the pity.
[30] Cf. "Cyrop." VI. i. 3; Plat. "Laws," 677 C.
[31] Lit. "by the laughter which I stirred in them."
And as he spoke he blew his nose and snuffled, uttering the while so
truly dolorous a moan[32] that everybody fell to soothing him. "They
The Symposium |
