Chapter 1 of Slow Burn is here in full — 665 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Slow Burn is here in full — 665 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"You've really got the jitters, huh chief?" Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh. "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert. This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard. If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
Chapter 1 of Slow Burn is here in full — 665 sentences across 133 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 22/133 · 5 reading units · Lines 106–110
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.
on a ship, train, plane or other vehicle
From this reading “This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.”
with anger
From this reading “Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.”
third-person singular of “fail” — fail to do something; leave something undone
From this reading “If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.”
extreme nervousness
From this reading “"You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"”
the next day
From this reading “Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.”
a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite
From this reading “"I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.”
any vehicle self-propelled by a rocket engine
From this reading “If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.”
exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent
From this reading “"I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.”
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 “This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.”
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 "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
on a ship, train, plane or other vehicle
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
with anger
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
a person who is in charge
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
an opposing military force
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
third-person singular of “fail” — fail to do something; leave something undone
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
a formation of aircraft in flight
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
extreme nervousness
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
the sound of laughing
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
the next day
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
precisely, exactly
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
any vehicle self-propelled by a rocket engine
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent
From this reading "I'd sell my job for a nickel right now, Bert.
transport commercially
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
the unlimited expanse in which everything is located
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading If this ship fails, it's more than a rocket or the death of a man.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
make physical contact with, come in contact with
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
tested and proved useful or correct
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading Morrow turned angrily and then tried to laugh.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
the least favorable outcome
From this reading This will be touch and go, without having the worst enemy of space flight aboard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "You've really got the jitters, huh chief?"
Chapter 1 of Slow Burn by Henry Still holds 665 sentences, grouped into 133 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 665 sentences of Slow Burn, unabridged, divided into 133 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Slow Burn by Henry Still exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 665 sentences, grouped into 133 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 133 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 133 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.
Common questions about reading Slow Burn by Henry Still on this page, its source edition and its audio.
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 Slow Burn section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Slow Burn 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 Slow Burn, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
