Chapter 8 of Hung Lou Meng — Book II is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of Hung Lou Meng — Book II is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts. Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü. While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death. But to resume our narrative. At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
Chapter 8 of Hung Lou Meng — Book II is here in full — 340 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/68 · 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.
prevent from being seen or discovered
From this reading “While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.”
characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation
From this reading “While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.”
marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
From this reading “Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.”
any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
From this reading “While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.”
possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree
From this reading “At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.”
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading “But to resume our narrative.”
take up or begin anew
From this reading “But to resume our narrative.”
an imaginary creature represented as a white horse with a long horn growing from its forehead
From this reading “At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But to resume our narrative.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
the protruding part of the lower jaw
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
prevent from being seen or discovered
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
compelled forcibly by an outside agency
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
emotional or moral sensitivity (especially in relation to personal principles or dignity)
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
(usually followed by “with” or used as a combining form) generously supplied with
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading But to resume our narrative.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading But to resume our narrative.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
take up or begin anew
From this reading But to resume our narrative.
Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
try to get or reach
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
a general conscious awareness
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
an instance of visual perception
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
express in words
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
plural of “thought” — the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
hard to endure
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
an imaginary creature represented as a white horse with a long horn growing from its forehead
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight.
during the time that
From this reading While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.
Chapter 8 of Hung Lou Meng — Book II by Xueqin Cao holds 340 sentences, grouped into 68 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 8 holds 340 sentences of Hung Lou Meng — Book II, unabridged, divided into 68 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of Hung Lou Meng — Book II by Xueqin Cao exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 340 sentences, grouped into 68 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 68 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 68 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 8 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 Hung Lou Meng — Book II by Xueqin Cao on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 14023 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #9604 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #9604, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2805 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Hung Lou Meng — Book II section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of Hung Lou Meng — Book II 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 Hung Lou Meng — Book II, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
