| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: graced by elegant language. We read /feuilletons/ written in a dialect
which changes every three years, society papers about as mirthful as
an undertaker's mute, and as light as the lead of their type. French
conversation is carried on from one end of the country to the other in
a revolutionary jargon, through long columns of type printed in old
mansions where a press groans in the place where formerly elegant
company used to meet."
"The knell of the highest society is tolling," said a Russian Prince.
"Do you hear it? And the first stroke is your modern word /lady/."
"You are right, Prince," said de Marsay. "The 'perfect lady,' issuing
from the ranks of the nobility, or sprouting from the citizen class,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: shall not suffer in any way, for your orders are to
obey mine while you remain in these waters."
He paused a moment, and then suddenly smiled
into the unresponsive faces before him. He held
out his hand and shook their limp ones warmly.
"Let me thank you here for all your inestimable
services in the past, and particularly during our late
hazardous voyages. Be sure that whether you suc-
ceed in this enterprise or not, your rewards shall be
no less for what you have already done. I shall
make it a personal matter with the Tsar. You shall
Rezanov |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: from that quarter, we saw the reed suddenly appear with another
cloth tied in a larger knot attached to it, and this at a time when,
as on the former occasion, the bano was deserted and unoccupied.
We made trial as before, each of the same three going forward before
I did; but the reed was delivered to none but me, and on my approach
it was let drop. I untied the knot and I found forty Spanish gold
crowns with a paper written in Arabic, and at the end of the writing
there was a large cross drawn. I kissed the cross, took the crowns and
returned to the terrace, and we all made our salaams; again the hand
appeared, I made signs that I would read the paper, and then the
window was closed. We were all puzzled, though filled with joy at what
Don Quixote |
