Chapter 12 of The City Curious is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The City Curious is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country. All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen. Suddenly they heard a voice say: "It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen." "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
Chapter 12 of The City Curious is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading “"It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."”
dwell on with satisfaction
From this reading “The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.”
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading “The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.”
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading “"It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."”
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading “All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.”
past form of “remain” — stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading “All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.”
happening unexpectedly
From this reading “Suddenly they heard a voice say:”
plural of “tell” — a Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer
From this reading “The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.”
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 Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.”
In this reading “All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.”
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 Suddenly they heard a voice say:
(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 this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading "It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."
in a perplexed manner
From this reading "It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."
a politically organized body of people under a single government
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
dwell on with satisfaction
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading "It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading Suddenly they heard a voice say:
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
an expression of greeting
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "It's confoundedly cold in this disgusting kitchen."
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
have ownership or possession of
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
past form of “remain” — stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
express in words
From this reading Suddenly they heard a voice say:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading Suddenly they heard a voice say:
plural of “tell” — a Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Suddenly they heard a voice say:
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading All this time Smaly and Redy had remained in the great kitchen.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading Suddenly they heard a voice say:
which person or people
From this reading "Hullo, who is that?" asked Smaly and Redy together.
Chapter 12 of The City Curious by Jean de Boschère holds 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 12 holds 160 sentences of The City Curious, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The City Curious by Jean de Boschère exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 12 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 City Curious by Jean de Boschère on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1243 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #32406 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #32406, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 103 minutes of reading across 249 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The City Curious section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The City Curious 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 City Curious, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
