| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: ideal world of combinations; he was far away from earth, and really
far away from earthly wants.
About noon hunger began to stimulate me severely. Martha had, without
thinking any harm, cleared out the larder the night before, so that
now there was nothing left in the house. Still I held out; I made it
a point of honour.
Two o'clock struck. This was becoming ridiculous; worse than that,
unbearable. I began to say to myself that I was exaggerating the
importance of the document; that my uncle would surely not believe in
it, that he would set it down as a mere puzzle; that if it came to
the worst, we should lay violent hands on him and keep him at home if
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: bought of a good maker, and his feet were small and well shod in boots
of Irish kid. He had none of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the
dandies of the National Guard or the Lovelaces of the counting-house.
A black ribbon, to which an eye-glass was attached, hung over a
waistcoat of the most fashionable cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie
seen a man's eyes shaded by such long, curled lashes. Melancholy and
passion were expressed in this face, and the complexion was of a manly
olive hue. His mouth seemed ready to smile, unbending the corners of
eloquent lips; but this, far from hinting at gaiety, revealed on the
contrary a sort of pathetic grace. There was too much promise in that
head, too much distinction in his whole person, to allow of one's
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: pardon of her husband.
"Ho, ho, Monsieur de Saint-Vallier! So you dare to shed the royal
blood!" cried the king, his eyes lighting with anger.
At this moment the bell of Plessis sounded the hour of the king's
dinner. Leaning on the arm of his daughter, Louis XI. appeared with
contracted brows on the threshold of his chamber, and found all his
servitors in waiting. He cast an ambiguous look on the Comte de Saint-
Vallier, thinking of the sentence he meant to pronounce upon him. The
deep silence which reigned was presently broken by the steps of
Tristan l'Hermite as he mounted the grand staircase. The grand provost
entered the hall, and, advancing toward the king, said:--
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