| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: government examinations. They are at the head of the social
order. Every civil officer in the empire must be chosen from
their number. They constitute the basis of an elaborate system of
civil service, well equipped with checks and balances which, if
corrected and brought into touch with modern life and thought,
would easily command the admiration of the world.
--Chester Holcomb in "The Real Chinese Question."
XIX
CHINESE PRINCES AND OFFICIALS
One day while the head eunuch from the palace of one of the
leading princes in Peking was sitting in my study he said:
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: about it. The abbe clasped his hands and rose, troubled, from his
seat. The girl, astonished at her triumph, wept. The old man stood up
as if a voice had called him, looking into space as though his eyes
beheld the dawn; then he bent his knee upon his chair, clasped his
hands, and lowered his eyes to the ground as one humiliated.
"My God," he said in a trembling voice, raising his head, "if any one
can obtain my pardon and lead me to thee, surely it is this spotless
creature. Have mercy on the repentant old age that this pure child
presents to thee!"
He lifted his soul to God; mentally praying for the light of divine
knowledge after the gift of divine grace; then he turned to the abbe
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from King Lear by William Shakespeare: 'em
out. Go to, they are not men o' their words! They told me I
was
everything. 'Tis a lie- I am not ague-proof.
Glou. The trick of that voice I do well remember.
Is't not the King?
Lear. Ay, every inch a king!
When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.
I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause?
Adultery?
Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? No.
King Lear |
