| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: water from the town pump had always been hateful
work in Tom's eyes, before, but now it did not strike
him so. He remembered that there was company
at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and
girls were always there waiting their turns, resting,
trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking.
And he remembered that although the pump was only
a hundred and fifty yards off, Jim never got back with
a bucket of water under an hour -- and even then some-
body generally had to go after him. Tom said:
"Say, Jim, I'll fetch the water if you'll whitewash
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: syllables, and even of letters, should be carefully attended to; above all,
it should be equable in style. There must also be quantity, which is
necessary in prose as well as in verse: clauses, sentences, paragraphs,
must be in due proportion. Metre and even rhyme may be rarely admitted;
though neither is a legitimate element of prose writing, they may help to
lighten a cumbrous expression (Symp.). The translation should retain as
far as possible the characteristic qualities of the ancient writer--his
freedom, grace, simplicity, stateliness, weight, precision; or the best
part of him will be lost to the English reader. It should read as an
original work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which can be
made of the language from which the translation is taken, consistently with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: even hint suspicion when so high a name is concerned, lest the
Star Chamber should punish them for scandal of the nobility."
"They do well to speak low," said the Countess, "who would
mention the illustrious Dudley as the accomplice of such a wretch
as Varney.--We have reached the postern. Ah! Janet, I must bid
thee farewell! Weep not, my good girl," said she, endeavouring
to cover her own reluctance to part with her faithful attendant
under an attempt at playfulness; "and against we meet again,
reform me, Janet, that precise ruff of thine for an open rabatine
of lace and cut work, that will let men see thou hast a fair
neck; and that kirtle of Philippine chency, with that bugle lace
Kenilworth |
