Chapter 9 of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories is here in full — 411 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories is here in full — 411 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves. But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing.... In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal." Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech. "How inhuman!"
Chapter 9 of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories is here in full — 411 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
plural of “cry” — a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition
From this reading “Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.”
plural of “glove” — the handwear used by fielders in playing baseball
From this reading “"And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.”
without compunction or human feeling
From this reading “"How inhuman!"”
possessive form of “manager” — someone who controls resources and expenditures
From this reading “"And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.”
plural of “madame” — title used for a married Frenchwoman
an uneasy psychological state
From this reading “But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....”
make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
From this reading “But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....”
comparative of “soft” — yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading “In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."”
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 a state of proper readiness or preparation or arrangement
In this reading “In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."”
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.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
lacking funds
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
plural of “cry” — a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
a state in which all hope is lost or absent
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
brought together in one place
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
plural of “glove” — the handwear used by fielders in playing baseball
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
destroyed or killed
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "How inhuman!"
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
without compunction or human feeling
From this reading "How inhuman!"
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
plural of “lady” — a polite name for any woman
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
engage in
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
possessive form of “manager” — someone who controls resources and expenditures
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
plural of “madame” — title used for a married Frenchwoman
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
an uneasy psychological state
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
not one thing; not anything
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
(often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
having a surface free from roughness or bumps or ridges or irregularities
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
comparative of “soft” — yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading In order to make the skin softer and more smooth, it must be taken from the living animal."
exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "And afterwards I gathered from the manager's talk that our late companion's skin had gone to make ladies' gloves.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading Cries of despair broke in upon the poodle's speech.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading But ... prepare your nerves, _mesdames ..._ but, this is nothing....
Chapter 9 of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories by A. I. (Aleksandr Ivanovich) Kuprin holds 411 sentences, grouped into 83 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 9 holds 411 sentences of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories by A. I. (Aleksandr Ivanovich) Kuprin exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 411 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 9 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 Slav Soul, and Other Stories by A. I. (Aleksandr Ivanovich) Kuprin on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4099 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #57036 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #57036, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 341 minutes of reading across 820 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Slav Soul, and Other Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of A Slav Soul, and Other Stories 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 Slav Soul, and Other Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
