| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: shores of the Baltic to go beyond the Ural Mountains."
"I ask you nothing, sister."
"You shall know all," replied the girl, with a faint smile.
"A sister should hide nothing from her brother. But I
cannot to-day. Fatigue and sorrow have broken me."
"Will you go and rest in your cabin?" asked Michael
Strogoff.
"Yes -- yes; and to-morrow --"
"Come then --"
He hesitated to finish his sentence, as if he had wished to
end it by the name of his companion, of which he was still
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: her tail, she rolled, she groaned, and we had to hold on
while on deck and cling to our bunks when below, in a
constant effort of body and worry of mind.
"One night Mahon spoke through the small window
of my berth. It opened right into my very bed, and I
was lying there sleepless, in my boots, feeling as though
I had not slept for years, and could not if I tried. He
said excitedly--
"'You got the sounding-rod in here, Marlow? I can't
get the pumps to suck. By God! it's no child's play.'
"I gave him the sounding-rod and lay down again,
Youth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: How, and with what reproach, shall I return?
Shall ever I behold the Latian plain,
Or see Laurentum's lofty tow'rs again?
What will they say of their deserting chief
The war was mine: I fly from their relief;
I led to slaughter, and in slaughter leave;
And ev'n from hence their dying groans receive.
Here, overmatch'd in fight, in heaps they lie;
There, scatter'd o'er the fields, ignobly fly.
Gape wide, O earth, and draw me down alive!
Or, O ye pitying winds, a wretch relieve!
Aeneid |
