| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: Sometimes she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched
upon cushions of cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as
though she were still too weary and wished to sleep again; the
Carthaginians, all believing that water is brought forth by the moon,
shouted to make her travail easy.
The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in
the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of
the streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big
frothy jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it
seemed as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the
washed temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning.
Salammbo |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: attention?
Said the other: "I do not wish to lie to you. No, it is not
absolutely certain, it is probable. And there is another truth
which I wish to tell you now: our remedies are not infallible.
In a certain number of cases--a very small number, scarcely five
per cent--they have remained without effect. You might be one of
those exceptions, your wife might be one. What then?"
"I will employ a word you used just now, yourself. We should
have to expect the worst catastrophes."
George sat in a state of complete despair.
"Tell me what to do, then," he said.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: "Here is a pencil, at any rate."
"Have you any paper? for they have left me nothing."
"Here, take this Bible, and tear out the fly-leaf."
"Very well, that will do."
"But your writing will be illegible."
"Just leave me alone for that," said Cornelius. "The
executioners have indeed pinched me badly enough, but my
hand will not tremble once in tracing the few lines which
are requisite."
And really Cornelius took the pencil and began to write,
when through the white linen bandages drops of blood oozed
The Black Tulip |
