| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: customs, the outrages upon their church, the excesses of the foreign
nobles, the disgraceful domination of the Jews on Christian soil, and
all that had aroused and deepened the stern hatred of the Cossacks for
a long time past. Hetman Ostranitza, young, but firm in mind, led the
vast Cossack force. Beside him was seen his old and experienced friend
and counsellor, Gunya. Eight leaders led bands of twelve thousand men
each. Two osauls and a bunchuzhniy assisted the hetman. A
cornet-general carried the chief standard, whilst many other banners
and standards floated in the air; and the comrades of the staff bore
the golden staff of the hetman, the symbol of his office. There were
also many other officials belonging to the different bands, the
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: dampness, even in dry weather, gave the look of being daubed with
fresh plaster. Between the stones of this court was a filthy and
stinking black substance, left by the sugars and the molasses that
once occupied it. Only one of the bedrooms had a chimney, all the
walls were without paper, and the floors were tiled with brick.
Since early morning Gaudissart and Popinot, helped by a journeyman
whose services the commercial traveller had invoked, were busily
employed in stretching a fifteen-sous paper on the walls of these
horrible rooms, the workman pasting the lengths. A collegian's
mattress on a bedstead of red wood, a shabby night-stand, an old-
fashioned bureau, one table, two armchairs, and six common chairs, the
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: XXX. TO PRINCESS KAIULANI - Forth form her land to mine she goes
XXXI. TO MOTHER MARYANNE - To see the infinite pity of this place
XXXII. IN MEMORIAM E. H. - I knew a silver head was bright beyond compare
XXXIII. TO MY WIFE - Long must elapse ere you behold again
XXXIV. TO MY OLD FAMILIARS - Do you remember - can we e'er forget?
XXXV. The tropics vanish, and meseems that I
XXXVI. TO S. C. - I heard the pulse of the besieging sea
XXXVII. THE HOUSE OF TEMBINOKA - Let us, who part like brothers, part
like bards
XXXVIII. THE WOODMAN - In all the grove, not stream nor bird
XXXIX. TROPIC RAIN - As the single pang of the blow, when the metal is
|
