| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Empress Dowager bestowed upon her posthumous honours, in
recognition of her conduct in thus taking her life and protecting
her virtue.
Some conception of the haste and disorder with which the court
left the capital on that memorable August morning may be gleaned
from the fact that her sister was also overlooked and with a
eunuch fled on foot in the wake of the departing court. She was
overtaken by Prince Chuang who was returning in his chair from
the palace, where, with Prince Ching, he had been to inform their
Majesties that the allies were in possession of the city. The
eunuch, recognizing him, called his attention to the fleeing
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: family. He found his old comrades gradually growing cold and
civil to him; no longer laughing at his jokes; and now and then
throwing out a fling at "some people," and a hint about "quality
binding." This both nettled and perplexed the honest butcher;
and his wife and daughters, with the consummate policy of the
shrewder sex, taking advantage of the circumstance, at length
prevailed upon him to give up his afternoon's pipe and tankard
at Wagstaff's; to sit after dinner by himself, and take his pint
of
port--a liquor he detested--and to nod in his chair in solitary
and dismal gentility.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: bent over to listen.
The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
"Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the
tinkling of cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!"
The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
"Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the
drunkards of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger
with the fumes of wine!
"May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into
the sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
Herodias |
