| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: we did, between the mountains and the sea, we could not well lose our
way, especially as my Zulus had passed through that country; and when
their knowledge failed us, we generally managed to secure the services
of local guides. The roads, however, or rather the game tracks and
Kaffir paths which we followed, were terrible, for with the single
exception of that of Pereira for part of the distance, no wagon had ever
gone over them before. Indeed, a little later in the year they could
not have been travelled at all. Sometimes we stuck in bogs out of which
we had to dig the wheels, and sometimes in the rocky bottoms of streams,
while once we were obliged literally to cut our way through a belt of
dense bush from which it took us eight days to escape.
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: wants to say or to have said.
But I have nothing more to say, replied Simmias; nor can I see any reason
for doubt after what has been said. But I still feel and cannot help
feeling uncertain in my own mind, when I think of the greatness of the
subject and the feebleness of man.
Yes, Simmias, replied Socrates, that is well said: and I may add that
first principles, even if they appear certain, should be carefully
considered; and when they are satisfactorily ascertained, then, with a sort
of hesitating confidence in human reason, you may, I think, follow the
course of the argument; and if that be plain and clear, there will be no
need for any further enquiry.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: all his weight upon the bit, struggling under those frantic
forefeet that now beat at his breast, and now kicked at the wild
mustangs that surged and tossed about him. He succeeded in
wrenching the pony's head toward him and crowding her withers
against the clay bank, so that she could not roll.
"Hold tight, tight!" he shouted again, launching a kick at a
snorting animal that reared back against Margaret's saddle. If she
should lose her courage and fall now, under those hoofs-- He
struck out again and again, kicking right and left with all his
might. Already the negligent drivers had galloped into the cut,
and their long quirts were whistling over the heads of the herd.
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
