| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: that they are never present in mind at what passeth in discourse;
for whoever labours under any of these possessions is as unfit for
conversation as madmen in Bedlam.
I think I have gone over most of the errors in conversation that
have fallen under my notice or memory, except some that are merely
personal, and others too gross to need exploding; such as lewd or
profane talk; but I pretend only to treat the errors of
conversation in general, and not the several subjects of discourse,
which would be infinite. Thus we see how human nature is most
debased, by the abuse of that faculty, which is held the great
distinction between men and brutes; and how little advantage we
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: know all. It's part of my punishment, Nancy, for my daughter to
dislike me. I should never have got into that trouble if I'd been
true to you--if I hadn't been a fool. I'd no right to expect
anything but evil could come of that marriage--and when I shirked
doing a father's part too."
Nancy was silent: her spirit of rectitude would not let her try to
soften the edge of what she felt to be a just compunction. He spoke
again after a little while, but the tone was rather changed: there
was tenderness mingled with the previous self-reproach.
"And I got _you_, Nancy, in spite of all; and yet I've been
grumbling and uneasy because I hadn't something else--as if I
Silas Marner |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: use.
In the bow there rose a third hatch-way which presumably covered the
quarters occupied by the two men when the "Terror" was at rest.
At the stern a similar hatch gave access probably to the cabin of the
captain, who remained unseen. When these different hatches were shut
down, they had a sort of rubber covering which closed them
hermetically tight, so that the water could not reach the interior
when the boat plunged beneath the ocean.
As to the motor, which imparted such prodigious speed to the machine,
I could see nothing of it, nor of the propeller. However, the fast
speeding boat left behind it only a long, smooth wake. The extreme
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