| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: narrative) what a vast amount of wooden spars and cables[17] a ship
depends on in order to get to moorings; or again, in putting out to
sea;[18] you know the host of sails and cordage, rigging[19] as they
call it, she requires for sailing; the quantity of engines and
machinery of all sorts she is armed with in case she should encounter
any hostile craft; the infinitude of arms she carries, with her crew
of fighting men aboard. Then all the vessels and utensils, such as
people use at home on land, required for the different messes, form a
portion of the freight; and besides all this, the hold is heavy laden
with a mass of merchandise, the cargo proper, which the master carries
with him for the sake of traffic.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: as in a symphony, answering each other from a distance, vibrating
with delicious melody in unison? Man alone of all creation is in
himself the harp, the musician, and the listener. Do you think to
find me uneasy and jealous like ordinary women? I know that you go
into the world and meet the handsomest and the wittiest women in
Paris. May I not suppose that some one of those mermaids has
deigned to clasp you in her cold and scaly arms, and that she has
inspired the answer whose prosaic opinions sadden me? There is
something in life more beautiful than the garlands of Parisian
coquetry; there grows a flower far up those Alpine peaks called
men of genius, the glory of humanity, which they fertilize with
Modeste Mignon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my
security.'
"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some
perplexity from it to my illustrious client.
"'You doubt its value?' he asked.
"'Not at all. I only doubt --'
"'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest
about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely
certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a
pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'
"'Ample.'
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
