| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: higher and to comparative safety; but with that final effort
he knew that it was futile. Hope that had survived persistently
until now began to wane. He felt his tired, numbed fingers
slipping from their hold--he was dropping back into the river--
into the jaws of the frightful death that awaited him there.
And then he heard the leaves above him rustle to the movement of
a creature among them. The branch to which he clung bent beneath
an added weight--and no light weight, from the way it sagged; but
still Baynes clung desperately--he would not give up voluntarily
either to the death above or the death below.
He felt a soft, warm pad upon the fingers of one of his hands
The Son of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: the influence of people like Byelikov we have got into the way of
being afraid of everything in our town for the last ten or
fifteen years. They are afraid to speak aloud, afraid to send
letters, afraid to make acquaintances, afraid to read books,
afraid to help the poor, to teach people to read and write. . .
."
Ivan Ivanovitch cleared his throat, meaning to say something, but
first lighted his pipe, g azed at the moon, and then said, with
pauses:
"Yes, intellectual, right minded people read Shtchedrin and
Turgenev, Buckle, and all the rest of them, yet they knocked
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: sensible answer, unaccompanied by wriggle, titter, or other
flourish of folly.
"Ou donc est Mdlle. Henri?" I said one day as I returned an
exercise-book I had been examining.
"Elle est partie, monsieur."
"Partie? et pour combien de temps? Quand reviendra-t-elle?"
"Elle est partie pour toujours, monsieur; elle ne reviendra
plus."
"Ah!" was my involuntary exclamation; then after a pause:--
"En etes-vous bien sure, Sylvie?"
"Oui, oui, monsieur, mademoiselle la directrice nous l'a dit
The Professor |
