| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: it would be: it was, "Whether the ladies of Buenos
Ayres were not the handsomest in the world." I replied, like
a renegade, "Charmingly so." He added, "I have one other
question: Do ladies in any other part of the world wear
such large combs?" I solemnly assured him that they did
not. They were absolutely delighted. The captain exclaimed,
"Look there! a man who has seen half the world
says it is the case; we always thought so, but now we know
it." My excellent judgment in combs and beauty procured
me a most hospitable reception; the captain forced me to
take his bed, and he would sleep on his recado.
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: certain novellists do, through many volumes and from cellar to cellar,
to show them the dry bones of a dead body, and tell them, by way of
conclusion, that THAT is what has frightened them behind doors, hidden
in the arras, or in cellars where the dead man was buried and
forgotten. In spite of his aversion for prefaces, the author feels
bound to place the following statement at the head of this narrative.
Ferragus is a first episode which clings by invisible links to the
"History of the THIRTEEN," whose power, naturally acquired, can alone
explain certain acts and agencies which would otherwise seem
supernatural. Although it is permissible in tellers of tales to have a
sort of literary coquetry in becoming historians, they ought to
Ferragus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: around its hemisphere, and yet all were pointed toward that
brilliant disc which millions of eyes were looking at at the
same moment.
"They have been gone ten days," said Lieutenant Bronsfield
at last. "What has become of them?"
"They have arrived, lieutenant," exclaimed a young midshipman,
"and they are doing what all travelers do when they arrive in a
new country, taking a walk!"
"Oh! I am sure of that, if you tell me so, my young friend,"
said Lieutenant Bronsfield, smiling.
"But," continued another officer, "their arrival cannot
From the Earth to the Moon |
