| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: after place; for we see the same eagerness in other nations of the
Continent, who cannot be accused (as wholes) of that weakness. The
fact is, a Government place, or a Government decoration, cross,
ribbon, or what not, is, in a country where self-government is
unknown or dead, the only method, save literary fame, which is left
to men in order to assert themselves either to themselves or their
fellow-men.
A British or American shopkeeper or farmer asks nothing of his
Government. He can, if he chooses, be elected to some local office
(generally unsalaried) by the votes of his fellow-citizens. But
that is his right, and adds nothing to his respectability. The test
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their
deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well
supply'd by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding
fourteen years of age, nor under twelve; so great a number of
both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of
work and service: And these to be disposed of by their parents if
alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due
deference to so excellent a friend, and so deserving a patriot, I
cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my
American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience, that
their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: set down memory and carefulness between them for their common use,[26]
so that you would find it hard to determine which of the two, the male
or the female, has the larger share of these. So, too, God set down
between them for their common use the gift of self-control, where
needed, adding only to that one of the twain, whether man or woman,
which should prove the better, the power to be rewarded with a larger
share of this perfection. And for the very reason that their natures
are not alike adapted to like ends, they stand in greater need of one
another; and the married couple is made more useful to itself, the one
fulfilling what the other lacks.[27]
[26] Or, "He bestowed memory and carefulness as the common heritage of
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