Chapter 4 of Tales by Polish Authors is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Tales by Polish Authors is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It was morning! The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night. The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air. The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light. The air was fresh and keen.
Chapter 4 of Tales by Polish Authors is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 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.
of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies
From this reading “The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.”
the state of being tense and feeling pain
From this reading “The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.”
occurring in spells and often abruptly
From this reading “The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.”
a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them
From this reading “The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.”
plural of “nose” — the organ of smell and entrance to the respiratory tract; the prominent part of the face of man or other mammals
From this reading “The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.”
worried and uneasy
From this reading “The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.”
an area that includes places where several people can sit
From this reading “The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.”
ready to fall asleep
From this reading “The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.”
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 fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.”
In this reading “The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.”
on everybody's mind
In this reading “The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.”
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 fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
(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 The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies
From this reading The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
the first light of day
From this reading The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
the state of being tense and feeling pain
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
plural of “face” — the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
occurring in spells and often abruptly
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them
From this reading The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
at or to or toward the front
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
recently made, produced, or harvested
From this reading The air was fresh and keen.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was morning!
having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
From this reading The air was fresh and keen.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading It was morning!
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
plural of “nose” — the organ of smell and entrance to the respiratory tract; the prominent part of the face of man or other mammals
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
worried and uneasy
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
advancing or becoming higher or greater in degree or value or status
From this reading The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
an area that includes places where several people can sit
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
the state of being asleep
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
ready to fall asleep
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
plural of “soldier” — an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
caused to fall to the ground
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was morning!
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The soldiers were sleeping in discomfort on the seats, some with their heads thrown forward, others with their noses in the air.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading The dawn was rising and flooding all the world with crimson light.
Damaged or thinned by continuous use.
From this reading The fitful, pale light fell on faces sleepy and worn with a long restless night.
Chapter 4 of Tales by Polish Authors by Else C. M. (Else Cecilia Mendelssohn) [Translator] Benecke holds 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 4 holds 129 sentences of Tales by Polish Authors, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Tales by Polish Authors by Else C. M. (Else Cecilia Mendelssohn) [Translator] Benecke exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 26 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 26 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 4 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 Tales by Polish Authors by Else C. M. (Else Cecilia Mendelssohn) [Translator] Benecke on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2756 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35456 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35456, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 229 minutes of reading across 552 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tales by Polish Authors section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of Tales by Polish Authors 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 Tales by Polish Authors, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
