Chapter 1 of The City of Fire is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The City of Fire is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“What doing?” “Nothing much. Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt. I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?” Billy regarded him coolly.
Chapter 1 of The City of Fire is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 38/84 · 5 reading units · Lines 186–190
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.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading “Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.”
a short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading “Billy regarded him coolly.”
in a composed and unconcerned manner
From this reading “Billy regarded him coolly.”
a condition of urgency making it necessary to hurry
From this reading “I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?””
be the source of pain
From this reading “Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.”
past form of “regard” — deem to be
From this reading “Billy regarded him coolly.”
come to a halt, stop moving
From this reading “I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?””
change directions as if revolving on a pivot
From this reading “Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.”
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 Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
a short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading Billy regarded him coolly.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
in a composed and unconcerned manner
From this reading Billy regarded him coolly.
-ing form of “do” — engage in
From this reading “What doing?”
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Billy regarded him coolly.
a condition of urgency making it necessary to hurry
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
be the source of pain
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
and nothing more
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
to a great degree or extent
From this reading “Nothing much.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading “Nothing much.
past form of “regard” — deem to be
From this reading Billy regarded him coolly.
an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
come to a halt, stop moving
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading “What doing?”
change directions as if revolving on a pivot
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry, see?”
in the company of; together with
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act like you had a fall an' was hurt.
Chapter 1 of The City of Fire by Grace Livingston Hill holds 423 sentences, grouped into 85 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 423 sentences of The City of Fire, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The City of Fire by Grace Livingston Hill exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 423 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 The City of Fire by Grace Livingston Hill on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6645 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7008 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7008, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 553 minutes of reading across 1329 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The City of Fire section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of The City of Fire 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 of Fire, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
