| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: Richmond Park. On Monday we breakfast with Macaulay. We met him at
dinner this week at Lady Waldegrave's, and he said: "Would you be
willing to breakfast with me some morning, if I asked one or two
other ladies?" "Willing!" I said, "I should be delighted beyond
measure." So he sent us a note for Monday next. I depend upon
seeing his bachelor establishment, his library, and mode of life.
On Wednesday we go to a ball at the Palace. But it is useless to go
on, for every day is filled in this way, and gives you an idea of
London in the season.
LETTER: To I.P.D.
LONDON, June 22, 1849
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: was designed for the purpose of rendering visible on the surface
of the moon any object exceeding nine feet in diameter.
At the period when the Gun Club essayed their great experiment,
such instruments had reached a high degree of perfection,
and produced some magnificent results. Two telescopes in
particular, at this time, were possessed of remarkable power
and of gigantic dimensions. The first, constructed by Herschel,
was thirty-six feet in length, and had an object-glass of four
feet six inches; it possessed a magnifying power of 6,000.
The second was raised in Ireland, in Parsonstown Park, and belongs
to Lord Rosse. The length of this tube is forty-eight feet, and
From the Earth to the Moon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: did not yet know the immense ability of the world to be
casually cruel and proudly dull, but if she should ever learn
those dismaying powers, her eyes would never become sullen
or heavy or rheumily amorous.
For all her enthusiasms, for all the fondness and the
"crushes" which she inspired, Carol's acquaintances were shy
of her. When she was most ardently singing hymns or planning
deviltry she yet seemed gently aloof and critical. She was
credulous, perhaps; a born hero-worshipper; yet she did
question and examine unceasingly. Whatever she might become
she would never be static.
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