| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: sous for a citadine to approach it; politically, you have to spend
rather more. The swallows thought, so a poet says, that the Arc de
Triomphe was erected for them; we artists think that this public
building was built for us,--to compensate for the stupidities of the
Theatre-Francais and make us laugh; but the comedians on this stage
are much more expensive; and they don't give us every day the value of
our money."
"So this is the Chamber!" cried Gazonal, as he paced the great hall in
which there were then about a dozen persons, and looked around him
with an air which Bixiou noted down in his memory and reproduced in
one of the famous caricatures with which he rivalled Gavarni.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: For the hedgerows in those days shut out one's view, even on the
better-managed farms; and this afternoon, the dog-roses were
tossing out their pink wreaths, the nightshade was in its yellow
and purple glory, the pale honeysuckle grew out of reach, peeping
high up out of a holly bush, and over all an ash or a sycamore
every now and then threw its shadow across the path.
There were acquaintances at other gates who had to move aside and
let them pass: at the gate of the Home Close there was half the
dairy of cows standing one behind the other, extremely slow to
understand that their large bodies might be in the way; at the far
gate there was the mare holding her head over the bars, and beside
Adam Bede |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: at least they never know each other after they are sold.
John seemed very proud of me; he used to make my mane and tail
almost as smooth as a lady's hair, and he would talk to me a great deal;
of course I did not understand all he said, but I learned more and more
to know what he meant, and what he wanted me to do. I grew very fond of him,
he was so gentle and kind; he seemed to know just how a horse feels,
and when he cleaned me he knew the tender places and the ticklish places;
when he brushed my head he went as carefully over my eyes
as if they were his own, and never stirred up any ill-temper.
James Howard, the stable boy, was just as gentle and pleasant in his way,
so I thought myself well off. There was another man who helped in the yard,
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