| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: He thought he could pin it together until he got it to a tailor.
Lena took him by the elbow and turned him round.
She laughed when she saw the long gap in the satin.
`You could never pin that, Mr. Ordinsky. You've kept it
folded too long, and the goods is all gone along the crease.
Take it off. I can put a new piece of lining-silk in there
for you in ten minutes.' She disappeared into her work-room
with the vest, leaving me to confront the Pole, who stood
against the door like a wooden figure. He folded his arms
and glared at me with his excitable, slanting brown eyes.
His head was the shape of a chocolate drop, and was covered with dry,
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: because the difficulty of walking absorbed our attention. Like
children, we held each other's hands; in fact, we could hardly have
made a dozen steps had we walked arm in arm. The path which led to
Batz was not so much as traced. A gust of wind was enough to efface
all tracks left by the hoofs of horses or the wheels of carts; but the
practised eye of our guide could recognize by scraps of mud or the
dung of cattle the road that crossed that desert, now descending
towards the sea, then rising landward according to either the fall of
the ground or the necessity of rounding some breastwork of rock. By
mid-day, we were only half way.
"We will stop to rest over there," I said, pointing to a promontory of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: had started forth on their untimely voyage. Gideon pled in vain
to be allowed to join the party. 'No, Gid,' said his uncle. 'You
will be watched; you must keep away from us.' Nor had the
barrister ventured to contest this strange illusion; for he
feared if he rubbed off any of the romance, that Mr Bloomfield
might weary of the whole affair. And his discretion was rewarded;
for the Squirradical, laying a heavy hand upon his nephew's
shoulder, had added these notable expressions: 'I see what you
are after, Gid. But if you're going to get the girl, you have to
work, sir.'
These pleasing sounds had cheered the barrister all day, as he
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