| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and
a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low,
walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and
no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I
was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little exploring.
Springing to my feet I received my first Martian surprise,
for the effort, which on Earth would have brought me standing
upright, carried me into the Martian air to the height of about
three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without
appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series of
evolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in the extreme.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: he thought; "it is only a thousand francs for a whole year. And in six
months' time I shall have plenty of money."
Then, under seal and promise of secrecy, Eve and her mother heard
Lucien's confidences. Both the women began to cry as they heard of the
ambitious plans; and when he asked the reason of their trouble, they
told him that every penny they possessed had been spent on table-
linen, house-linen, Eve's wedding clothes, and on a host of things
that David had overlooked. They had been so glad to do this, for David
had made a marriage-settlement of ten thousand francs on Eve. Lucien
then spoke of his idea of a loan, and Mme. Chardon undertook to ask M.
Postel to lend them a thousand francs for a twelve-month.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: unbounded happiness as she saw the fullest realization of the
ideal of which, at her age, it is so natural to dream.
The old gentleman now came more rarely; Hippolyte, who had been
jealous, had taken his place at the green table, and shared his
constant ill-luck at cards. And sometimes, in the midst of his
happiness, as he considered Madame de Rouville's disastrous
position--for he had had more than one proof of her extreme
poverty--an importunate thought would haunt him. Several times he
had said to himself as he went home, "Strange! twenty francs
every evening?" and he dared not confess to himself his odious
suspicions.
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