| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: great may be the difficulties in the way, our mechanical genius
will readily surmount them. Be good enough, then, to give me
your attention, and do not hesitate to make objections at the close.
I have no fear of them. The problem before us is how to communicate
an initial force of 12,000 yards per second to a shell of 108
inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 pounds. Now when a projectile
is launched into space, what happens to it? It is acted upon by
three independent forces: the resistance of the air, the attraction
of the earth, and the force of impulsion with which it is endowed.
Let us examine these three forces. The resistance of the air is of
little importance. The atmosphere of the earth does not exceed
From the Earth to the Moon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: well as understanding about the true nature of this and of all other
things.
PROTARCHUS: We will suppose such a man.
SOCRATES: Will he have enough of knowledge if he is acquainted only with
the divine circle and sphere, and knows nothing of our human spheres and
circles, but uses only divine circles and measures in the building of a
house?
PROTARCHUS: The knowledge which is only superhuman, Socrates, is
ridiculous in man.
SOCRATES: What do you mean? Do you mean that you are to throw into the
cup and mingle the impure and uncertain art which uses the false measure
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: "That he has never spoken of him?"
"Never by the least allusion. And you tell me they were `great friends'?"
"Oh, it wasn't HIM!" Mrs. Grose with emphasis declared.
"It was Quint's own fancy. To play with him, I mean--
to spoil him." She paused a moment; then she added:
"Quint was much too free."
This gave me, straight from my vision of his face--SUCH a face!--
a sudden sickness of disgust. "Too free with MY boy?"
"Too free with everyone!"
I forbore, for the moment, to analyze this description further than
by the reflection that a part of it applied to several of the members
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