| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: aware of the clasp of her firm little paw. He delighted in the pinkness and
glossiness of her nails. Her hands seemed to him more adorable than Mrs.
Judique's thin fingers, and more elegant. He had a certain ecstasy in the
pain when she gnawed at the cuticle of his nails with a sharp knife. He
struggled not to look at the outline of her young bosom and her shoulders, the
more apparent under a film of pink chiffon. He was conscious of her as an
exquisite thing, and when he tried to impress his personality on her he spoke
as awkwardly as a country boy at his first party:
"Well, kinda hot to be working to-day."
"Oh, yes, it is hot. You cut your own nails, last time, didn't you!"
"Ye-es, guess I must 've."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: his two brothers and the termination of old arrangements, come
wholly into his hands. He was the owner of another, not quite so
"good" - the jolly corner having been, from far back, superlatively
extended and consecrated; and the value of the pair represented his
main capital, with an income consisting, in these later years, of
their respective rents which (thanks precisely to their original
excellent type) had never been depressingly low. He could live in
"Europe," as he had been in the habit of living, on the product of
these flourishing New York leases, and all the better since, that
of the second structure, the mere number in its long row, having
within a twelvemonth fallen in, renovation at a high advance had
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: time after.
Whoever shall read these memorandums must be desired to consider
that visits at sea are not like a journey into the country, where
sometimes people stay a week or a fortnight at a place. Our
business was to relieve this distressed ship's crew, but not lie by
for them; and though they were willing to steer the same course
with us for some days, yet we could carry no sail to keep pace with
a ship that had no masts. However, as their captain begged of us
to help him to set up a main-topmast, and a kind of a topmast to
his jury fore-mast, we did, as it were, lie by him for three or
four days; and then, having given him five barrels of beef, a
Robinson Crusoe |
