| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: irony in that double turn of the wheel which, in one day, had
plunged him, Nick Lansing, into nethermost misery, while it
tossed the other to the stars!
With an intenser precision he saw again Susy's descent from the
gondola at the calle steps, the sound of her laughter and of
Strefford's chaff, the way she had caught his arm and clung to
it, sweeping the other men on in her train. Strefford--Susy and
Strefford! ... More than once, Nick had noticed the softer
inflections of his friend's voice when he spoke to Susy, the
brooding look in his lazy eyes when they rested on her. In the
security of his wedded bliss Nick had made light of those signs.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: difficulty he caused another to present itself, and when that too
was met he stuck another ship before me, creating a very
dangerous situation. I felt slightly outraged by this ingenuity
in piling up trouble upon a man.
"I wouldn't have got into that mess," I suggested mildly. "I
could have seen that ship before."
He never stirred the least bit.
"No, you couldn't. The weather's thick."
"Oh! I didn't know," I apologised blankly.
I suppose that after all I managed to stave off the smash with
sufficient approach to verisimilitude, and the ghastly business
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: had taken McTeague out to dinner with him. The dentist on
this occasion had drunk very freely. He and Heise had
returned to Polk Street towards ten o'clock, and Heise
at once suggested a couple of drinks at Frenna's.
"All right, all right," said McTeague. "Drinks, that's the
word. I'll go home and get some money and meet you at
Joe's."
Trina was awakened by her husband pinching her arm.
"Oh, Mac," she cried, jumping up in bed with a little
scream, "how you hurt! Oh, that hurt me dreadfully."
"Give me a little money," answered the dentist, grinning,
McTeague |
