Chapter 1 of A Bad Town for Spacemen is here in full — 102 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of A Bad Town for Spacemen is here in full — 102 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason! I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner. They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up. And that I had better get out of their way. I got.
Chapter 1 of A Bad Town for Spacemen is here in full — 102 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/20 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
past form of “act” — perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading “There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!”
change from a liquid to a thickened or solid state
From this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
get lost, as without warning or explanation
From this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
From this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
From this reading “They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.”
easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
From this reading “They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.”
inflected form of “step” — shift or move by taking a step
From this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
closely constrained or constricted or constricting
From this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!”
In this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
In this reading “I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.”
move out of or depart from
In this reading “And that I had better get out of their way.”
to cause to separate and go in different directions
In this reading “They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
past form of “act” — perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
(comparative of “good”) superior to another (of the same class or set or kind) in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability; more highly skilled than another
From this reading And that I had better get out of their way.
terminate
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
change from a liquid to a thickened or solid state
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
a place off to the side of an area
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
get lost, as without warning or explanation
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading And that I had better get out of their way.
the act of departing
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading I got.
a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
and nothing more
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
the force of workers available
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
a rational motive for a belief or action
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
inflected form of “step” — shift or move by taking a step
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading And that I had better get out of their way.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading And that I had better get out of their way.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
closely constrained or constricted or constricting
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading I stepped back out of the gutter and watched the tight clot of men disappear around the corner.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading They hadn't really been menacing, just had made it obvious they weren't going to break up.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading There was a reason why the city acted the way it did ... and we were the reason!
Chapter 1 of A Bad Town for Spacemen by Robert Scott holds 102 sentences, grouped into 21 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 1 holds 102 sentences of A Bad Town for Spacemen, unabridged, divided into 21 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A Bad Town for Spacemen by Robert Scott exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 102 sentences, grouped into 21 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 21 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 21 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 1 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Bad Town for Spacemen by Robert Scott on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 102 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #61199 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #61199, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 8 minutes of reading across 21 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Bad Town for Spacemen section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of A Bad Town for Spacemen to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Bad Town for Spacemen, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
