Chapter 23 of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories is here in full — 13 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories is here in full — 13 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Choose again.” It was the fairy speaking. “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so. Three gifts remain. Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
Chapter 23 of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories is here in full — 13 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/2 · 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.
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading ““Choose again.””
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
From this reading “It was the fairy speaking.”
plural of “gift” — something acquired without compensation
From this reading “Three gifts remain.”
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading “Three gifts remain.”
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading ““The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.”
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading ““The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.”
in a wary manner
From this reading “Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.””
accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment
From this reading ““The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.”
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.
anew
From this reading “Choose again.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “Choose again.”
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
From this reading It was the fairy speaking.
plural of “gift” — something acquired without compensation
From this reading Three gifts remain.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was the fairy speaking.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
and nothing more
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading Three gifts remain.
To recall to mind.
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
the utterance of intelligible speech
From this reading It was the fairy speaking.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It was the fairy speaking.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading Three gifts remain.
in a wary manner
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was the fairy speaking.
accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
an indefinite quantity of something having a specified value
From this reading Only one of them has any worth--remember it, and choose warily.”
a late time of life
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “The years have taught you wisdom--surely it must be so.
Chapter 23 of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories by Mark Twain holds 13 sentences, grouped into 3 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 23 holds 13 sentences of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories, unabridged, divided into 3 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories by Mark Twain exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 13 sentences, grouped into 3 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 3 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 3 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 23 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 The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories by Mark Twain on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4631 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #142 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #142, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 385 minutes of reading across 927 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories 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 The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
