Chapter 2 of Motor Matt's Short Circuit is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Motor Matt's Short Circuit is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE SERPENT CHARMER. A brown man in a white turban sat by the river. It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light. The man was playing on a gourd flute. The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
Chapter 2 of Motor Matt's Short Circuit is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/28 · 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.
someone with an assured and ingratiating manner
From this reading “THE SERPENT CHARMER.”
a high-pitched woodwind instrument; a slender tube closed at one end with finger holes on one end and an opening near the closed end across which the breath is blown
From this reading “The man was playing on a gourd flute.”
plural of “gleam” — an appearance of reflected light
From this reading “It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.”
bottle made from the dried shell of a bottle gourd
From this reading “The man was playing on a gourd flute.”
limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous
From this reading “THE SERPENT CHARMER.”
plural of “splash” — the sound like water splashing
From this reading “It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.”
held in check with difficulty
From this reading “The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.”
a traditional Muslim headdress consisting of a long scarf wrapped around the head
From this reading “A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.”
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 “A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.”
In this reading “It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.”
In this reading “It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.”
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 A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
someone with an assured and ingratiating manner
From this reading THE SERPENT CHARMER.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
start firing a weapon
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
a high-pitched woodwind instrument; a slender tube closed at one end with finger holes on one end and an opening near the closed end across which the breath is blown
From this reading The man was playing on a gourd flute.
the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
plural of “gleam” — an appearance of reflected light
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
bottle made from the dried shell of a bottle gourd
From this reading The man was playing on a gourd flute.
greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The man was playing on a gourd flute.
the act of playing a musical instrument
From this reading The man was playing on a gourd flute.
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the Sabbath by Jews and some Christians
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
100 senti equal 1 kroon in Estonia
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous
From this reading THE SERPENT CHARMER.
shining with brilliant points of light like stars
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
plural of “splash” — the sound like water splashing
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
plural of “stick” — an implement consisting of a length of wood
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
held in check with difficulty
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
in a softened tone
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading The music--if such it could be called--was in a high key, but stifled and subdued.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE SERPENT CHARMER.
having come into contact
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
a traditional Muslim headdress consisting of a long scarf wrapped around the head
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
a Caucasian
From this reading A brown man in a white turban sat by the river.
in the company of; together with
From this reading It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
Chapter 2 of Motor Matt's Short Circuit by Stanley R. Matthews holds 140 sentences, grouped into 28 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 2 holds 140 sentences of Motor Matt's Short Circuit, unabridged, divided into 28 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Motor Matt's Short Circuit by Stanley R. Matthews exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 140 sentences, grouped into 28 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 28 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 28 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 2 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 Motor Matt's Short Circuit by Stanley R. Matthews on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2332 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52397 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52397, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 194 minutes of reading across 467 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Motor Matt's Short Circuit section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of Motor Matt's Short Circuit 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 Motor Matt's Short Circuit, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
