| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: drinking champagne, and -- tra-la--la! But behold, at last we
reach the intellectual center. I arrived on the very day the
result was declared, and had the satisfaction, my dear sir, of
celebrating my own success: my work received the first prize.
Hurrah! Next day I went out along the Nevsky and spent seventy
kopecks on various newspapers. I hastened to my hotel room, lay
down on the sofa, and, controlling a quiver of excitement, made
haste to read. I ran through one newspaper -- nothing. I ran
through a second -- nothing either; my God! At last, in the
fourth, I lighted upon the following paragraph: 'Yesterday the
well-known provincial actress so-and-so arrived by express in
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: to the milking.
Then Stutely arose from where he was lying. "A plague of such ill luck!"
quoth he. "Here have we abided all day, and no bird worth
the shooting, so to speak, hath come within reach of our bolt.
Had I gone forth on an innocent errand, I had met a dozen stout
priests or a score of pursy money-lenders. But it is ever thus:
the dun deer are never so scarce as when one has a gray goose
feather nipped betwixt the fingers. Come, lads, let us pack up
and home again, say I."
Accordingly, the others arose, and, coming forth from out the thicket,
they all turned their toes back again to Sherwood. After they had gone
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: "No," she said, "it is I who am altogether in his hands."
Nobody would have guessed that Jorgenson had heard a single word
of that emphatic declaration if he had not addressed himself to
Lingard with the question neither more nor less abstracted than
all his other speeches.
"Why then did you bring her along?"
"You don't understand. It was only right and proper. One of the
gentlemen is the lady's husband."
"Oh, yes," muttered Jorgenson. "Who's the other?"
"You have been told. A friend."
"Poor Mr. d'Alcacer," said Mrs. Travers. "What bad luck for him
The Rescue |
