| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: Nemo communicated to me, and which I myself confirmed yesterday, during the
exploration of Dakkar Grotto.
This cavern stretches under the island as far as the volcano, and is only
separated from its central shaft by the wall which terminates it. Now, this
wall is seamed with fissures and clefts which already allow the
sulphurous gases generated in the interior of the volcano to escape."
"Well?" said Pencroft, his brow suddenly contracting.
"Well, then, I saw that these fissures widen under the internal pressure
from within, that the wall of basalt is gradually giving way and that after
a longer or shorter period it will afford a passage to the waters of the
lake which fill the cavern."
The Mysterious Island |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: "Hence," said Blondet, "the intelligence of the lady, if she has any,
consists in casting doubts on everything. Here lies the great
difference between two women; the townswoman is certainly virtuous;
the lady does not know yet whether she is, or whether she always will
be; she hesitates and struggles where the other refuses point-blank
and falls full length. This hesitancy in everything is one of the last
graces left to her by our horrible times. She rarely goes to church,
but she will talk to you of religion; and if you have the good taste
to affect Free-thought, she will try to convert you, for you will have
opened the way for the stereotyped phrases, the head-shaking and
gestures understood by all these women: 'For shame! I thought you had
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: The Czar alone has the right of amnesty."
"But how would he know?"
"They have the right of appealing to him."
"But it is on my account they are to die," said
that stupid woman, Natalia Ivanovna. "And I
forgive them."
The constable laughed. "Well--send a pe-
tition to the Czar."
"May I do it?"
"Of course you may."
"But is it not too late?"
The Forged Coupon |
