| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: interposed between the sky and the island, the irradiation which
would have illumined all terrestrial objects would have been vivid
beyond all precedent.
But neither sun, moon, nor star ever appeared; and Servadac's
irritation and annoyance at being unable to identify any one point
of the firmament may be more readily imagined than described.
On one occasion Ben Zoof endeavored to mitigate his master's
impatience by exhorting him to assume the resignation, even if
he did not feel the indifference, which he himself experienced;
but his advice was received with so angry a rebuff that he
retired in all haste, abashed, to résumé his watchman's duty,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: horseman. Her hand, so noble, so flexible, could handle gun or pistol
with the ease of a practised marksman. She always wore when out of
doors the coquettish little cap with visor and green veil which women
wear on horseback. Her delicate fair face, thus protected, and her
white throat tied with a black cravat, were never injured by her long
rides in all weathers.
Under the Directory and at the beginning of the Consulate, Laurence
had been able to escape the observation of others; but since the
government had become a more settled thing, the new authorities, the
prefect of the Aube, Malin's friends, and Malin himself had endeavored
to undermine her in the community. Her preoccupying thought was the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: release from the body, issuing forth dispersed like smoke or air and in her
flight vanishing away into nothingness. If she could only be collected
into herself after she has obtained release from the evils of which you are
speaking, there would be good reason to hope, Socrates, that what you say
is true. But surely it requires a great deal of argument and many proofs
to show that when the man is dead his soul yet exists, and has any force or
intelligence.
True, Cebes, said Socrates; and shall I suggest that we converse a little
of the probabilities of these things?
I am sure, said Cebes, that I should greatly like to know your opinion
about them.
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