| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: instance, a single species of Trigonia, a great genus of shells in the
secondary formations, survives in the Australian seas; and a few members of
the great and almost extinct group of Ganoid fishes still inhabit our fresh
waters. Therefore the utter extinction of a group is generally, as we have
seen, a slower process than its production.
With respect to the apparently sudden extermination of whole families or
orders, as of Trilobites at the close of the palaeozoic period and of
Ammonites at the close of the secondary period, we must remember what has
been already said on the probable wide intervals of time between our
consecutive formations; and in these intervals there may have been much
slow extermination. Moreover, when by sudden immigration or by unusually
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: visitor whispered to me that he judged something was going on he
oughtn't to interrupt.
"Miss Collop arrived last night," I smiled, "and the Princess has a
thirst for the inedit."
Dora Forbes lifted his bushy brows. "Miss Collop?"
"Guy Walsingham, your distinguished confrere - or shall I say your
formidable rival?"
"Oh!" growled Dora Forbes. Then he added: "Shall I spoil it if I
go in?"
"I should think nothing could spoil it!" I ambiguously laughed.
Dora Forbes evidently felt the dilemma; he gave an irritated crook
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: light. The steady tramp of the horses went on, and the creak of
wheels and crunching of gravel. Madeline grew so sleepy that she
could not keep her weary eyelids from falling. There were
drowsier spells in which she lost a feeling of where she was, and
these were disturbed by the jolt of wheels over a rough place.
Then came a blank interval, short or long, which ended in a more
violent lurch of the buckboard. Madeline awoke to find her head
on Florence's shoulder. She sat up laughing and apologizing for
her laziness. Florence assured her they would soon reach the
ranch.
Madeline observed then that the horses were once more trotting.
The Light of Western Stars |
