| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: brightening again. She could slough off a sadness and replace it
by a hope as easily as a lizard renews a diseased limb.
And two such excellent distractions had presented themselves. One
was bringing out the romance and looking for notices in the
papers, which, though they had been significantly short so far,
had served to divert her thoughts. The other was migrating from
the vicarage to the more commodious old house of Mrs. Swancourt's,
overlooking the same valley. Mr. Swancourt at first disliked the
idea of being transplanted to feminine soil, but the obvious
advantages of such an accession of dignity reconciled him to the
change. So there was a radical 'move;' the two ladies staying at
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: the so long absent and dearly loved brother, was in
England again. She had a letter from him herself, a few
hurried happy lines, written as the ship came up Channel,
and sent into Portsmouth with the first boat that left
the Antwerp at anchor in Spithead; and when Crawford walked
up with the newspaper in his hand, which he had hoped
would bring the first tidings, he found her trembling
with joy over this letter, and listening with a glowing,
grateful countenance to the kind invitation which her
uncle was most collectedly dictating in reply.
It was but the day before that Crawford had made himself
Mansfield Park |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: himself to a spoke of the wheel that was to turn and raise his
fortunes; he would not examine himself too curiously as to the
methods, but he was certain of the end, and conscious of the
power to gain and keep his hold.
"If Mme. de Nucingen takes an interest in me, I will teach her
how to manage her husband. That husband of hers is a great
speculator; he might put me in the way of making a fortune by a
single stroke."
He did not say this bluntly in so many words; as yet, indeed, he
was not sufficient of a diplomatist to sum up a situation, to see
its possibilities at a glance, and calculate the chances in his
Father Goriot |
