| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: edifices are chiefly the castle, ancient and decayed, and now for
many years past made use of for a gaol. The Duke of Norfolk's
house was formerly kept well, and the gardens preserved for the
pleasure and diversion of the citizens, but since feeling too
sensibly the sinking circumstances of that once glorious family,
who were the first peers and hereditary earl-marshals of England.
The walls of this city are reckoned three miles in circumference,
taking in more ground than the City of London, but much of that
ground lying open in pasture-fields and gardens; nor does it seem
to be, like some ancient places, a decayed, declining town, and
that the walls mark out its ancient dimensions; for we do not see
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: inanimate body, in which he vainly sought for the least sign of life. Now
that he had found him dead he longed for him to be alive. All his efforts
were useless! Nothing remained to be done but to render the last duties to
the one whom he had loved so much! Neb then thought of his companions.
They, no doubt, would wish to see the unfortunate man again. Top was there.
Could he not rely on the sagacity of the faithful animal? Neb several times
pronounced the name of the reporter, the one among his companions whom Top
knew best.
Then he pointed to the south, and the dog bounded off in the direction
indicated to him.
We have heard how, guided by an instinct which might be looked upon
The Mysterious Island |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: actor, whose regular advent would thenceforth lend variety to the
scene. He was tall and thin, and wore black, a man of about forty,
with a certain solemnity of demeanor; as his piercing hazel eye met
the old woman's dull gaze, he made her quake, for she felt as though
he had the gift of reading hearts, or much practice in it, and his
presence must surely be as icy as the air of this dank street. Was the
dull, sallow complexion of that ominous face due to excess of work, or
the result of delicate health?
The old woman supplied twenty different answers to this question; but
Caroline, next day, discerned the lines of long mental suffering on
that brow that was so prompt to frown. The rather hollow cheeks of the
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