| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: drew up the first after me with a hooked stick. By this
contrivance I got into the inmost court; and, lying down upon my
side, I applied my face to the windows of the middle stories,
which were left open on purpose, and discovered the most splendid
apartments that can be imagined. There I saw the empress and the
young princes, in their several lodgings, with their chief
attendants about them. Her imperial majesty was pleased to smile
very graciously upon me, and gave me out of the window her hand
to kiss.
But I shall not anticipate the reader with further descriptions
of this kind, because I reserve them for a greater work, which is
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: had taken place. They hastened into the forest, followed by the soldiers,
who fired a volley after the fugitives; but the latter rapidly increased
the distance between them, and ere long found themselves beyond the reach
of the bullets and arrows.
Chapter XIV
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE BEAUTIFUL
VALLEY OF THE GANGES WITHOUT EVER THINKING OF SEEING IT
The rash exploit had been accomplished; and for an hour
Passepartout laughed gaily at his success. Sir Francis pressed
the worthy fellow's hand, and his master said, "Well done!" which,
from him, was high commendation; to which Passepartout replied
Around the World in 80 Days |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: across the chest -- a formal and unnatural position,
enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear
to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at
the center of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends
of the foot planking that traversed it.
Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad
ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then,
curving, was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost
farther along. The other bank of the stream was open ground
-- a gentle slope topped with a stockade of vertical tree
trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
