| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: that the danger was past; "no doubt we are in for a two years'
excursion, but fifteen months more will take us back to the earth!"
"And we shall see Montmartre again!" exclaimed Ben Zoof,
in excited tones that betrayed his delight in the anticipation.
To use a nautical expression, they had safely "rounded the point,"
and they had to be congratulated on their successful navigation;
for if, under the influence of Jupiter's attraction, the comet had been
retarded for a single hour, in that hour the earth would have already
traveled 2,300,000 miles from the point where contact would ensue,
and many centuries would elapse before such a coincidence would
possibly again occur.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: bated breath to behold and admire the simplicity of the head-
quarters of the great financial force of the day. The word THRIFT
perched right up on the roof in giant gilt letters, and two enormous
shield-like brass-plates curved round the corners on each side of
the doorway were the only shining spots in de Barral's business
outfit. Nobody knew what operations were carried on inside except
this--that if you walked in and tendered your money over the counter
it would be calmly taken from you by somebody who would give you a
printed receipt. That and no more. It appears that such knowledge
is irresistible. People went in and tendered; and once it was taken
from their hands their money was more irretrievably gone from them
Chance |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Disdayning Fortune, with his brandisht Steele,
Which smoak'd with bloody execution
(Like Valours Minion) caru'd out his passage,
Till hee fac'd the Slaue:
Which neu'r shooke hands, nor bad farwell to him,
Till he vnseam'd him from the Naue toth' Chops,
And fix'd his Head vpon our Battlements
King. O valiant Cousin, worthy Gentleman
Cap. As whence the Sunne 'gins his reflection,
Shipwracking Stormes, and direfull Thunders:
So from that Spring, whence comfort seem'd to come,
Macbeth |
