| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: placed his hands upon the floor, dropped his feet and stood erect.
For a moment he stretched his great wings slowly, solemnly
blinking his large round eyes. Then his gaze fell upon Bradley.
The thin lips drew back tightly against yellow teeth in a grimace
that was nothing but hideous. It could not have been termed a
smile, and what emotion it registered the Englishman was at a
loss to guess. No expression whatever altered the steady gaze
of those large, round eyes; there was no color upon the pasty,
sunken cheeks. A death's head grimaced as though a man long
dead raised his parchment-covered skull from an old grave.
The creature stood about the height of an average man but
 Out of Time's Abyss |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: Remonencq. "In the first moment of bereavement, the heir-at-law finds
it very difficult to attend to such matters, and we are accustomed to
perform these little services for our clients. Our charges, sir, are
on a fixed scale, so much per foot, freestone or marble. Family vaults
a specialty.--We undertake everything at the most moderate prices. Our
firm executed the magnificent monument erected to the fair Esther
Gobseck and Lucien de Rubempre, one of the finest ornaments of Pere-
Lachaise. We only employ the best workmen, and I must warn you, sir,
against small contractors--who turn out nothing but trash," he added,
seeing that another person in a black suit was coming up to say a word
for another firm of marble-workers.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Her heart was almost broke by such a picture of what
she appeared to him; by such accusations, so heavy,
so multiplied, so rising in dreadful gradation!
Self-willed, obstinate, selfish, and ungrateful.
He thought her all this. She had deceived his expectations;
she had lost his good opinion. What was to become
of her?
"I am very sorry," said she inarticulately, through her tears,
"I am very sorry indeed."
"Sorry! yes, I hope you are sorry; and you will probably
have reason to be long sorry for this day's transactions."
 Mansfield Park |