Chapter 7 of And Then the Town Took Off is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of And Then the Town Took Off is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Attention interlopers," it said. "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe." "Stay down here," Alis whispered. "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up. That's where Thebold must have got it.
Chapter 7 of And Then the Town Took Off is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/90 · 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.
draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
From this reading “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
a formation of aircraft in flight
From this reading “"There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.”
plural of “interloper” — someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another without permission
From this reading “"Attention interlopers," it said.”
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
one of the contractile organs of the body
From this reading “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
affected with paralysis
From this reading “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
(usually followed by “to”) not having the necessary means or skill or know-how
From this reading “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
a large entrance or reception room or area
From this reading “"There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.”
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 “"You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."”
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 "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Stay down here," Alis whispered.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
the process whereby a person concentrates on some features of the environment to the (relative) exclusion of others
From this reading "Attention interlopers," it said.
draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading "Stay down here," Alis whispered.
apart from; not including
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
a formation of aircraft in flight
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading That's where Thebold must have got it.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading "Stay down here," Alis whispered.
plural of “interloper” — someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another without permission
From this reading "Attention interlopers," it said.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "Attention interlopers," it said.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
one of the contractile organs of the body
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading That's where Thebold must have got it.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
affected with paralysis
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "Attention interlopers," it said.
a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading "Stay down here," Alis whispered.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That's where Thebold must have got it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That's where Thebold must have got it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
(usually followed by “to”) not having the necessary means or skill or know-how
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
uninvited
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
a large entrance or reception room or area
From this reading "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up.
in or at the place that
From this reading That's where Thebold must have got it.
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading "Stay down here," Alis whispered.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
used when the person spoken to is also the object of the action
From this reading "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
Chapter 7 of And Then the Town Took Off by Richard Wilson holds 453 sentences, grouped into 91 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 7 holds 453 sentences of And Then the Town Took Off, unabridged, divided into 91 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of And Then the Town Took Off by Richard Wilson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 453 sentences, grouped into 91 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 91 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 91 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 7 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 And Then the Town Took Off by Richard Wilson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3525 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #42111 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #42111, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 293 minutes of reading across 705 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through And Then the Town Took Off section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of And Then the Town Took Off 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 And Then the Town Took Off, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
