| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me leave it in the
soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow.
But she didn't say another word. We gave her spirits of ammonia and put
ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress, and half an
hour later, when we walked out of the room, the pearls were around her
neck and the incident was over. Next day at five o'clock she married Tom
Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months'
trip to the South Seas.
I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came back, and I thought I'd
never seen a girl so mad about her husband. If he left the room for a
minute she'd look around uneasily, and say: "Where's Tom gone?" and
The Great Gatsby |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: often observed, viz. that the Christian religion always civilises
the people, and reforms their manners, where it is received,
whether it works saving effects upon them or no.
From thence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an
equal distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China
where our European ships usually come; being resolved, if possible,
not to fall into any of their hands, especially in this country,
where, as our circumstances were, we could not fail of being
entirely ruined. Being now come to the latitude of 30 degrees, we
resolved to put into the first trading port we should come at; and
standing in for the shore, a boat came of two leagues to us with an
Robinson Crusoe |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: hall, summoned to the dance. The musician was an old gray-headed
negro, who had been the itinerant orchestra of the neighborhood
for more than half a century. His instrument was as old and
battered as himself. The greater part of the time he scraped on
two or three strings, accompanying every movement of the bow with
a motion of the head; bowing almost to the ground, and stamping
with his foot whenever a fresh couple were to start.
Ichabod prided himself upon his dancing as much as upon his
vocal powers. Not a limb, not a fibre about him was idle; and to
have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion, and clattering
about the room, you would have thought St. Vitus himself, that
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
