| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: of my apartment), and kept an eye on the maiden in the house.
It was not for me of course to make the domestics tattle,
and I never said a word to Miss Bordereau's cook.
It seemed to me a proof of the old lady's determination
to have nothing to do with me that she should never have
sent me a receipt for my three months' rent. For some days
I looked out for it and then, when I had given it up,
I wasted a good deal of time in wondering what her reason
had been for neglecting so indispensable and familiar a form.
At first I was tempted to send her a reminder, after which I
relinquished the idea (against my judgment as to what was right
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: "Give me my glass, Nanon," said the master
Eugenie brought the glass. Grandet drew a horn-handled knife with a
big blade from his breeches' pocket, cut a slice of bread, took a
small bit of butter, spread it carefully on the bread, and ate it
standing. At this moment Charlie was sweetening his coffee. Pere
Grandet saw the bits of sugar, looked at his wife, who turned pale,
and made three steps forward; he leaned down to the poor woman's ear
and said,--
"Where did you get all that sugar?"
"Nanon fetched it from Fessard's; there was none."
It is impossible to picture the profound interest the three women took
Eugenie Grandet |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: The curly grass about us was on fire now. The bark of the oaks turned
red as copper. There was a shimmer of gold on the brown river.
Out in the stream the sandbars glittered like glass, and the light
trembled in the willow thickets as if little flames were leaping
among them. The breeze sank to stillness. In the ravine a ringdove
mourned plaintively, and somewhere off in the bushes an owl hooted.
The girls sat listless, leaning against each other. The long
fingers of the sun touched their foreheads.
Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no clouds, the sun
was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower
edge of the red disk rested on the high fields against the horizon,
My Antonia |
