| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: Very fine, very roomy for her size, and very inviting.
I descended the poop and paced the waist, my mind picturing
to myself the coming passage through the Malay Archipelago,
down the Indian Ocean, and up the Atlantic. All its phases
were familiar enough to me, every characteristic, all the
alternatives which were likely to face me on the high seas--
everything! . . . except the novel responsibility of command.
But I took heart from the reasonable thought that the ship
was like other ships, the men like other men, and that the sea
was not likely to keep any special surprises expressly
for my discomfiture.
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: out to-day."
"Why so, my dear?" said Mr. Casaubon, throwing himself backward again.
"Because Mr. Ladislaw has been here; and he has mentioned a proposal
of my uncle's which I should like to know your opinion of."
Her husband she felt was really concerned in this question.
Even with her ignorance of the world she had a vague impression
that the position offered to Will was out of keeping with his family
connections, and certainly Mr. Casaubon had a claim to be consulted.
He did not speak, but merely bowed.
"Dear uncle, you know, has many projects. It appears that he
has bought one of the Middlemarch newspapers, and he has asked
Middlemarch |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: -or ANYBODY--BILLSON! Tell it to the marines!" And now at this
point the house caught its breath all of a sudden in a new access of
astonishment, for it discovered that whereas in one part of the hall
Deacon Billson was standing up with his head weekly bowed, in
another part of it Lawyer Wilson was doing the same. There was a
wondering silence now for a while. Everybody was puzzled, and
nineteen couples were surprised and indignant.
Billson and Wilson turned and stared at each other. Billson asked,
bitingly:
"Why do YOU rise, Mr. Wilson?"
"Because I have a right to. Perhaps you will be good enough to
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
