| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: from thence to his knees, and his mind seemed to wander; he became
like a little child. His wife thought he was dying. She knelt down to
raise him, but joined her voice to his when she saw him clasp his
hands and lift his eyes, and recite, with resigned contrition, in the
hearing of his uncle, his daughter, and Popinot, the sublime catholic
prayer:--
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; GIVE US THIS DAY OUR
DAILY BREAD; and forgive us our offences, as we forgive those who have
offended against us. So be it!"
Tears came into the eyes of the stoic Pillerault; Cesarine, overcome
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: had not seemed to waft the sighs of the murdered to her;
it had wafted nothing worse than a thick mizzling rain;
and having given a good shake to her habit, she was ready
to be shown into the common drawing-room, and capable
of considering where she was.
An abbey! Yes, it was delightful to be really
in an abbey! But she doubted, as she looked round
the room, whether anything within her observation would
have given her the consciousness. The furniture was
in all the profusion and elegance of modern taste.
The fireplace, where she had expected the ample width
Northanger Abbey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: when the works of sculptors in general were produced, was at a loss and
went to sleep and had nothing to say?
ION: No indeed; no more than the other.
SOCRATES: And if I am not mistaken, you never met with any one among
flute-players or harp-players or singers to the harp or rhapsodes who was
able to discourse of Olympus or Thamyras or Orpheus, or Phemius the
rhapsode of Ithaca, but was at a loss when he came to speak of Ion of
Ephesus, and had no notion of his merits or defects?
ION: I cannot deny what you say, Socrates. Nevertheless I am conscious in
my own self, and the world agrees with me in thinking that I do speak
better and have more to say about Homer than any other man. But I do not
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