| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: of the coquetry of the Incroyable--with an indescribable finical
something in the folds of the garments, a certain air of stiffness and
correctness in the demeanor that smacked of the school of David, that
recalled Jacob's spindle-legged furniture.
At first sight, moreover, you set him down either for the gentleman by
birth fallen a victim to some degrading habit, or for the man of small
independent means whose expenses are calculated to such a nicety that
the breakage of a windowpane, a rent in a coat, or a visit from the
philanthropic pest who asks you for subscriptions to a charity,
absorbs the whole of a month's little surplus of pocket-money. If you
had seen him that afternoon, you would have wondered how that
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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: the brig possessed a very varied cargo--an assortment of all sorts of
articles, utensils, manufactured goods, and tools--such as the ships which
make the great coasting-trade of Polynesia are usually laden with. It was
probable that they would find a little of everything, and they agreed that
it was exactly what was necessary for the colony of Lincoln Island.
However-and Cyrus Harding observed it in silent astonishment-not only, as
has been said, had the hull of the brig enormously suffered from the shock,
whatever it was, that had occasioned the catastrophe, but the interior
arrangements had been destroyed, especially towards the bows. Partitions
and stanchions were smashed, as if some tremendous shell had burst in the
interior of the brig. The colonists could easily go fore and aft, after
The Mysterious Island |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: their allotted combats, and a swarm of determined warriors
sped to our support.
The great apes, towering in all their fifteen feet of height,
had gone down before my sword while the charging guards
were still some distance away. Close behind them pursued
the youth. At my back were the young girls, and as it
was in their service that I fought, I remained standing
there to meet my inevitable death, but with the determination
to give such an account of myself as would long be remembered
in the land of the First Born.
I noted the marvellous speed of the young red man as
The Gods of Mars |
