| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: as he had calculated, he lunged swirling his point into carte, and
got home full upon his opponent's breast. The ease of it surprised
him.
They began again. This time he resolved to go in on the fifth
disengage, and in on that he went with the same ease. Then,
complicating the matter further, he decided to try the sixth, and
worked out in his mind the combination of the five preliminary
engages. Yet again he succeeded as easily as before.
The young gentleman opposed to him laughed with just a tinge of
mortification in his voice.
"I am all to pieces this morning," he said.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: to him. His rapid, skimming walk; his swarthy
complexion; his hat cocked on the left ear; his hab-
it, on warm evenings, of wearing his coat over one
shoulder, like a hussar's dolman; his manner of
leaping over the stiles, not as a feat of agility, but
in the ordinary course of progression--all these
peculiarities were, as one may say, so many causes
of scorn and offence to the inhabitants of the vil-
lage. They wouldn't in their dinner hour lie flat
on their backs on the grass to stare at the sky.
Neither did they go about the fields screaming dis-
Amy Foster |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: miserable little lace-edged rag!" And so young had I grown
within the last few minutes that I did not even feel silly.
As a Backfisch I had never used handkerchiefs--
the child of nature scorns to blow its nose--though for
decency's sake my governess insisted on giving me a clean
one of vast size and stubborn texture on Sundays.
It was stowed away unfolded in the remotest corner of my pocket,
where it was gradually pressed into a beautiful compactness
by the other contents, which were knives. After a while,
I remember, the handkerchief being brought to light on
Sundays to make room for a successor, and being manifestly
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
