| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: combatants were about to step from the train, the conductor hurried up,
and shouted, "You can't get off, gentlemen!"
"Why not?" asked the colonel.
"We are twenty minutes late, and we shall not stop."
"But I am going to fight a duel with this gentleman."
"I am sorry," said the conductor; "but we shall be off at once.
There's the bell ringing now."
The train started.
"I'm really very sorry, gentlemen," said the conductor.
"Under any other circumstances I should have been happy to oblige you.
But, after all, as you have not had time to fight here,
Around the World in 80 Days |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: wood-nymphs dress in that color and know no other so desirable. Her
dainty feet were sandal-clad, while her head remained bare of covering
other than her silken tresses.
Necile's duties were few and simple. She kept hurtful weeds from
growing beneath her trees and sapping the earth-food required by her
charges. She frightened away the Gadgols, who took evil delight in
flying against the tree-trunks and wounding them so that they drooped
and died from the poisonous contact. In dry seasons she carried
water from the brooks and pools and moistened the roots of her
thirsty dependents.
That was in the beginning. The weeds had now learned to avoid the
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: dine on board my ship. He went over her conscientiously, praised
her heartily, congratulated me on my command with absolute
sincerity. At dinner, as I offered him wine and beer he shook his
head, and as I sat looking at him interrogatively, muttered in an
undertone:
"I've given up all that."
After dinner we came again on deck. It seemed as though he could
not tear himself away from the ship. We were fitting some new
lower rigging, and he hung about, approving, suggesting, giving me
advice in his old manner. Twice he addressed me as "My boy," and
corrected himself quickly to "Captain." My mate was about to leave
The Mirror of the Sea |
