| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: destroyed. I dissipated, foolishly, perhaps, a few of his millions
without a quiver ever coming to his eyelids. Since his death, I have
grown economical and orderly in comparison with the life he encouraged
me to lead--Come, let us break this thing off! Monsieur de Manerville
is so disappointed that I--"
No descriptive language can express the confusion and shock which the
words, "break off," introduced into the conversation. It is enough to
say that these four apparently well-bred persons all talked at once.
"In Spain people marry in the Spanish fashion, or as they please; but
in France they marry according to French law, sensibly, and as best
they can," said Mathias.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: right, Mr. Pocket. It's plain to me I got to come right up an' snatch you out
bald-headed. An' I'll do it! I'll do it!" he would threaten still later.
Each pan he carried down to the water to wash, and as he went higher up the
hill the pans grew richer, until he began to save the gold in an empty
baking-powder can which he carried carelessly in his hip-pocket. So engrossed
was he in his toil that he did not notice the long twilight of oncoming night.
It was not until he tried vainly to see the gold colors in the bottom of the
pan that he realized the passage of time. He straightened up abruptly. An
expression of whimsical wonderment and awe overspread his face as he drawled:
"Gosh darn my buttons! if I didn't plumb forget dinner!"
He stumbled across the stream in the darkness and lighted his long-delayed
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: of human tongue are inadequate to describe the discoveries of him who
ventures into the deep abysses of earth.
Besides I could not tell upon what geological theory to account for
the existence of such an excavation. Had the cooling of the globe
produced it? I knew of celebrated caverns from the descriptions of
travellers, but had never heard of any of such dimensions as this.
If the grotto of Guachara, in Colombia, visited by Humboldt, had not
given up the whole of the secret of its depth to the philosopher, who
investigated it to the depth of 2,500 feet, it probably did not
extend much farther. The immense mammoth cave in Kentucky is of
gigantic proportions, since its vaulted roof rises five hundred feet
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
