Chapter 2 of Much Darker Days is here in full — 93 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Much Darker Days is here in full — 93 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
PHILIPPA was another’s! Life was no longer worth living. Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted. The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished. All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
Chapter 2 of Much Darker Days is here in full — 93 sentences across 19 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/18 · 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.
a cherished desire
From this reading “Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.”
made dull or blunt
From this reading “Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.”
-ing form of “bound” — move forward by leaps and bounds
From this reading “All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.”
the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed
From this reading “All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.”
past form of “evaluate” — evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
From this reading “Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.”
used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time
From this reading “The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.”
the body of people in a learned occupation
From this reading “The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.”
having passed out of existence
From this reading “The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.”
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 All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
a cherished desire
From this reading Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PHILIPPA was another’s!
made dull or blunt
From this reading Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.
-ing form of “bound” — move forward by leaps and bounds
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
plural of “brother” — a male with the same parents as someone else
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
the shore of a sea or ocean
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
past form of “evaluate” — evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
From this reading Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading Hope was evaluated; ambition was blunted.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading Life was no longer worth living.
the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities
From this reading Life was no longer worth living.
for more time
From this reading Life was no longer worth living.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
not any; not one
From this reading Life was no longer worth living.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PHILIPPA was another’s!
the body of people in a learned occupation
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
the season of growth
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading All the spring, the elasticity seemed taken out of my two Bounding Brothers from the Gutta Percha coast.
having passed out of existence
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading PHILIPPA was another’s!
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading The interest which I had hitherto felt in my profession vanished.
an indefinite quantity of something having a specified value
From this reading Life was no longer worth living.
Chapter 2 of Much Darker Days by Andrew Lang holds 93 sentences, grouped into 19 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 93 sentences of Much Darker Days, unabridged, divided into 19 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Much Darker Days by Andrew Lang exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 93 sentences, grouped into 19 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 19 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 19 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.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in Much Darker Days, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
