| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: "Charming - charming!" Paul stammered for retreat. He shook hands
with the General and got off. His face was red and he had the
sense of its growing more and more crimson. All the evening at
home - he went straight to his rooms and remained there dinnerless
- his cheek burned at intervals as if it had been smitten. He
didn't understand what had happened to him, what trick had been
played him, what treachery practised. "None, none," he said to
himself. "I've nothing to do with it. I'm out of it - it s none
of my business." But that bewildered murmur was followed again and
again by the incongruous ejaculation: "Was it a plan - was it a
plan?" Sometimes he cried to himself, breathless, "Have I been
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: early Tartar minds. I, you, and he, not being differences due to
nature, demanded, to their thinking, no recognition of man.
There is about this vagueness of expression a freedom not without its
charm. It is certainly delightful to be able to speak of yourself
as if you were somebody else, choosing mentally for the occasion any
one you may happen to fancy, or, it you prefer, the possibility of
soaring boldly forth into the realms of the unconditioned.
To us, at first sight, however, such a lack of specification appears
wofully incompatible with any intelligible transmission of ideas.
So communistic a want of discrimination between the meum and the
tuum--to say nothing of the claims of a possible third party--would
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: "What, is it really a castle, an old castle?"
"The oldest in the kingdom."
"But is it like what one reads of?"
"Exactly--the very same."
"But now really--are there towers and long galleries?"
"By dozens."
"Then I should like to see it; but I cannot--I
cannot go.
"Not go! My beloved creature, what do you mean'?"
"I cannot go, because"--looking down as she spoke,
fearful of Isabella's smile--"I expect Miss Tilney
Northanger Abbey |
