Chapter 4 of Test Pilot is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Test Pilot is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away. I look behind. The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath. On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed. Into the Painted Hills.
Chapter 4 of Test Pilot is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/91 · 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.
scenery hung at back of stage
From this reading “The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.”
providing no shelter or sustenance
From this reading “On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.”
a town in southeastern California
From this reading “On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.”
plutonic igneous rock having visibly crystalline texture; generally composed of feldspar and mica and quartz
From this reading “On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.”
coated with paint
From this reading “Into the Painted Hills.”
line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading “I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.”
uttered with a trill
From this reading “On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.”
directly under, often hidden by what is above
From this reading “The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.”
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 “I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.”
In this reading “I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.”
In this reading “I look behind.”
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 green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
at or in the front
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
scenery hung at back of stage
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
providing no shelter or sustenance
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
a town in southeastern California
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading I look behind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
on the far side of; further than
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
plutonic igneous rock having visibly crystalline texture; generally composed of feldspar and mica and quartz
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
plural of “hill” — a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading Into the Painted Hills.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
less than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
plural of “mile” — a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
plural of “mountain” — a land mass that projects well above its surroundings; higher than a hill
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
coated with paint
From this reading Into the Painted Hills.
line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
uttered with a trill
From this reading On beyond the railroad, beyond Barstow, into the Granite Mountains, low, rolling, black, barren, lava-formed.
(of mountains) capped with a covering of snow
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and three
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I look ahead to the railroad, thirty miles away.
directly under, often hidden by what is above
From this reading The green-sloped, snow-capped Bernardinoes form a backdrop for the desert underneath.
Chapter 4 of Test Pilot by James Collins holds 459 sentences, grouped into 92 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 459 sentences of Test Pilot, unabridged, divided into 92 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Test Pilot by James Collins exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 459 sentences, grouped into 92 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 92 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 92 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 Test Pilot by James Collins on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2733 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34589 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #34589, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 227 minutes of reading across 547 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Test Pilot section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Test Pilot 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 Test Pilot, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
