| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Reef by Edith Wharton: a grass avenue at the end of which he had caught a glimpse
of the roof of the chapel. A grey haze had blotted out the
sun and the still air clung about him tepidly. At length
the house-front raised before him its expanse of damp-
silvered brick, and he was struck afresh by the high decorum
of its calm lines and soberly massed surfaces. It made him
feel, in the turbid coil of his fears and passions, like a
muddy tramp forcing his way into some pure sequestered
shrine...
By and bye, he knew, he should have to think the complex
horror out, slowly, systematically, bit by bit; but for the
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: fail to see the power of mere words; such words as Glory, for
instance, or Pity. I won't mention any more. They are not far
to seek. Shouted with perseverance, with ardour, with
conviction, these two by their sound alone have set whole nations
in motion and upheaved the dry, hard ground on which rests our
whole social fabric. There's "virtue" for you if you like!. . .
Of course the accent must be attended to. The right accent.
That's very important. The capacious lung, the thundering or the
tender vocal chords. Don't talk to me of your Archimedes' lever.
He was an absent-minded person with a mathematical imagination.
Mathematics command all my respect, but I have no use for
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: quite reasonably chose to change the tire. However, the young man,
fool that he was, was never seen escorting this capable and logical
young lady again.
The second young lady, very sensibly concerned about preserving an
expensive dress and realizing that she would be of little or no help
to her young man, showed a similar wisdom in avoiding what she knew
would be the consequences of leaving the car. But, even though her
judgment was vindicated when she observed, in the form of the
drenched, muddy, and bleeding young man, exactly those consequences
she had predicted, the young man himself, blind and irrational as he
was, was also never again seen escorting this thoughtful and
|
