| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: Of course the foregoing prediction does not imply that human nature will
ever undergo such physiological change as would be represented by
structural specializations comparable to those by which the various castes
of insect societies are differentiated. We are not bidden to imagine a
future state of humanity in which the active majority would consist of
semi-female workers and Amazons toiling for an inactive minority of
selected Mothers. Even in his chapter, "Human Population in the Future,"
Mr. Spencer has attempted no detailed statement of the physical
modifications inevitable to the production of higher moral types,-- though
his general statement in regard to a perfected nervous system, and a great
diminution of human fertility, suggests that such moral evolution would
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: you like. Ask any average American you are sitting next to in a train what
he knows about England; and if he does remember anything and can tell it
to you, it will be unfavorable nine times in ten. The mere word "England"
starts his complex off, and out comes every fact it has seized that
matches his school-implanted prejudice, just as it has rejected every fact
that does not match it. There is absolutely no other way to explain the
American habit of speaking ill of England and well of France. Several
times in the past, France has been flagrantly hostile to us. But there was
Lafayette, there was Rochambeau, and the great service France did us then
against England. Hence from our school histories we have a pro-French
complex. Under its workings we automatically remember every good turn
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: the favour to visa it. The consul took the document and carefully read it,
whilst Fix observed, or rather devoured, the stranger with his eyes
from a corner of the room.
"You are Mr. Phileas Fogg?" said the consul, after reading the passport.
"I am."
"And this man is your servant?"
"He is: a Frenchman, named Passepartout."
"You are from London?"
"Yes."
"And you are going--"
"To Bombay."
Around the World in 80 Days |
