Chapter 2 of The Forgotten Planet is here in full — 416 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The Forgotten Planet is here in full — 416 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
But he was not a high-grade genius. Certainly not yet. He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water. He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths. Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
Chapter 2 of The Forgotten Planet is here in full — 416 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 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.
warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California
From this reading “Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.”
(plural) the deepest and most remote part
From this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality
From this reading “But he was not a high-grade genius.”
in an unhurried way or at one's convenience
From this reading “Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.”
the act of hearing attentively
From this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center
From this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
look at with fixed eyes
From this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
a vivid mental image
From this reading “Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.”
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 “He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.”
In this reading “Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.”
institute, enact, or establish
In this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
In this reading “He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.”
In this reading “He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.”
In this reading “He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.”
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 But he was not a high-grade genius.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
(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 He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading Certainly not yet.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
(plural) the deepest and most remote part
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
being one more than seven
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
surpassing in quality
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
in an unhurried way or at one's convenience
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
the act of hearing attentively
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
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 Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
on one occasion
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
past form of “reach” — reach a destination, either real or abstract
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
look at with fixed eyes
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He looked behind and all about, listening, then lay down to stare into the shallow depths.
a vivid mental image
From this reading Once, a huge crayfish, a good eight feet long, moved leisurely across his vision.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading But he was not a high-grade genius.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading He reached a spot from which he could look down into the water.
but in spite of that
From this reading Certainly not yet.
Chapter 2 of The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster holds 416 sentences, grouped into 84 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 2 holds 416 sentences of The Forgotten Planet, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 416 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 2 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 Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4157 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41637 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41637, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 346 minutes of reading across 832 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Forgotten Planet section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of The Forgotten Planet 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 Forgotten Planet, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
