Chapter 4 of A Woman of Thirty is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of A Woman of Thirty is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Well--no, aunt. But why do you smile?” “Oh! you are right, poor child! There is nothing very amusing in all this. Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
Chapter 4 of A Woman of Thirty is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/33 · 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.
providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining
From this reading “There is nothing very amusing in all this.”
undergo or live through a difficult experience
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
yet to be or coming
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
past form of “guess” — expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
free from evil or guilt
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
the activity of protecting someone or something
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
plural of “trouble” — a source of difficulty
From this reading “Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.”
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.
(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 There is nothing very amusing in all this.
providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading “Oh! you are right, poor child!
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading “Well--no, aunt.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But why do you smile?”
events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
a young person of either sex
From this reading “Oh! you are right, poor child!
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading But why do you smile?”
undergo or live through a difficult experience
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
yet to be or coming
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
past form of “guess” — expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
free from evil or guilt
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
not any; not one
From this reading “Well--no, aunt.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading “Oh! you are right, poor child!
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading “Oh! you are right, poor child!
the activity of protecting someone or something
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
precisely, exactly
From this reading “Oh! you are right, poor child!
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading But why do you smile?”
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
plural of “trouble” — a source of difficulty
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
below or beneath something; less than
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
precisely as stated
From this reading There is nothing very amusing in all this.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading “Well--no, aunt.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading But why do you smile?”
in the company of; together with
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading But why do you smile?”
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Your future would be big with more than one mishap if I had not taken you under my protection, if my old experience of life had not guessed the very innocent cause of your troubles.
Chapter 4 of A Woman of Thirty by Honoré de Balzac holds 169 sentences, grouped into 34 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 4 holds 169 sentences of A Woman of Thirty, unabridged, divided into 34 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of A Woman of Thirty by Honoré de Balzac exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 169 sentences, grouped into 34 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 34 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 34 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 4 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 Woman of Thirty by Honoré de Balzac on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3279 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1950 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1950, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 273 minutes of reading across 656 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Woman of Thirty section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of A Woman of Thirty 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 Woman of Thirty, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
