Chapter 19 of A Bicycle of Cathay is here in full — 101 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIX
Chapter 19 of A Bicycle of Cathay is here in full — 101 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter. The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me. "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked. "I do not like it at all," I answered. "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
Chapter 19 of A Bicycle of Cathay is here in full — 101 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.
a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world
From this reading “BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.”
an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs
From this reading “"And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.”
a female human offspring
From this reading “BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.”
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.”
lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
From this reading “"It has taken me upon a dreary round.”
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading “The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.”
apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel)
From this reading “BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.”
established or decided beyond dispute or doubt
From this reading “BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.”
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 "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
anew
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading "I do not like it at all," I answered.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
past form of “answer” — react verbally
From this reading "I do not like it at all," I answered.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
the -ing form of “be”
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
a female human offspring
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
From this reading "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "I do not like it at all," I answered.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
immediately following in time or order
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel)
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
a charge of ammunition for a single shot
From this reading "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
established or decided beyond dispute or doubt
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading "It has taken me upon a dreary round.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The Doctor was not at home, but his daughter was glad to see me.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading BACK FROM CATHAY The next morning, being again settled in my rooms in Walford, I went to call upon the Doctor and his daughter.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "And how do you like your cycle of Cathay?" she asked.
Chapter 19 of A Bicycle of Cathay by Frank R. Stockton holds 101 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 19 holds 101 sentences of A Bicycle of Cathay, unabridged, divided into 21 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 19 of A Bicycle of Cathay by Frank R. Stockton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 101 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 19 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 Bicycle of Cathay by Frank R. Stockton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2857 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12334 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12334, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 238 minutes of reading across 572 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Bicycle of Cathay section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of A Bicycle of Cathay 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 Bicycle of Cathay, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
