Chapter 1 of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean is here in full — 298 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean is here in full — 298 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!” “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea! Damned rubbish, he called it. The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living. This was about all you could say for it.
Chapter 1 of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean is here in full — 298 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/59 · 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.
take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome
From this reading ““Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!”
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “Damned rubbish, he called it.”
earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages
From this reading “The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.”
a state in east central United States; a border state during the American Civil War; famous for breeding race horses
From this reading “_Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!””
away from shore; away from land
From this reading “_Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!””
a partly sheltered anchorage
From this reading ““Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!”
a relationship between two lovers
From this reading ““Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!”
worthless material that is to be disposed of
From this reading “Damned rubbish, he called it.”
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 “The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.”
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 The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome
From this reading “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!
(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 This was about all you could say for it.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Damned rubbish, he called it.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading Damned rubbish, he called it.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Damned rubbish, he called it.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Damned rubbish, he called it.
a state in east central United States; a border state during the American Civil War; famous for breeding race horses
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
away from shore; away from land
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
a partly sheltered anchorage
From this reading “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!
a relationship between two lovers
From this reading “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!
worthless material that is to be disposed of
From this reading Damned rubbish, he called it.
express in words
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
From this reading “Roads of Adventure,” etc._ The romance of the sea!
the work of a sailor
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading The trade of seafaring was one way to earn a living.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading _Author of “The Call of the Offshore Wind”_ _“First Down, Kentucky!”
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading This was about all you could say for it.
Chapter 1 of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean by Ralph Delahaye Paine holds 298 sentences, grouped into 60 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 298 sentences of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean, unabridged, divided into 60 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean by Ralph Delahaye Paine exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 298 sentences, grouped into 60 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 60 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 60 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.
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Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Four Bells: A Tale of the Caribbean, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
