| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: circumstance, much to their honour, being considered in all
cases as a protection. The chiefs agreed to confiscate the
land of the aggressor to the King of England. The whole
proceeding, however, in thus trying and punishing a chief
was entirely without precedent. The aggressor, moreover,
lost caste in the estimation of his equals and this was
considered by the British as of more consequence than the
confiscation of his land.
As the boat was shoving off, a second chief stepped into
her, who only wanted the amusement of the passage up and
down the creek. I never saw a more horrid and ferocious
 The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: courtesies, new to the foolish and ignorant, too plainly showed their
texture to an observing mind. Such minds considered him a rotten
plank, on which no foot should trust itself.
No sooner had the beautiful Madame Rabourdin decided to interfere in
her husband's administrative advancement than she fathomed Clement des
Lupeaulx's true character, and studied him thoughtfully to discover
whether in this thin strip of deal there were ligneous fibres strong
enough to let her lightly trip across it from the bureau to the
department, from a salary of eight thousand a year to twelve thousand.
The clever woman believed she could play her own game with this
political roue; and Monsieur des Lupeaulx was partly the cause of the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: ment are placed together under a head hight sundries.
If it would like you, I will sepa --"
"It is of no consequence," I said, accompanying
the words with a gesture of the most utter indifference;
"give me the grand total, please."
The clerk leaned against the tree to stay himself, and
said:
"Thirty-nine thousand one hundred and fifty mil-
rays!"
The wheelwright fell off his stool, the others grabbed
the table to save themselves, and there was a deep and
 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |