Chapter 5 of The Martian is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Martian is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully. Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it. The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words.... He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully. Here Blumberg interrupted.
Chapter 5 of The Martian is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/46 · 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.
past form of “lack” — be without
From this reading “The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....”
a small reddish planet that is the 4th from the sun and is periodically visible to the naked eye; minerals rich in iron cover its surface and are responsible for its characteristic color
From this reading “He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.”
imaginary people who live on the planet Mars
From this reading “Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.”
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading “Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.”
prevented from decaying or spoiling and prepared for future use
From this reading “He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.”
plural of “promise” — a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
From this reading “Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.”
past form of “rehearse” — engage in a rehearsal
From this reading “Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.”
a small and inadequate amount
From this reading “He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.”
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.
a teenager or a young adult male
In this reading “The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....”
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 He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
inflected form of “begin” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
taking care or paying attention
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
past form of “help” — give help or assistance; be of service
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading Here Blumberg interrupted.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
discontinued temporarily
From this reading Here Blumberg interrupted.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
evidencing the possession of inside information
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
past form of “lack” — be without
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
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 Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
a small reddish planet that is the 4th from the sun and is periodically visible to the naked eye; minerals rich in iron cover its surface and are responsible for its characteristic color
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
imaginary people who live on the planet Mars
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
many times at short intervals
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
and nothing more
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
plural of “point” — a geometric element that has position but no extension
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
prevented from decaying or spoiling and prepared for future use
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
plural of “promise” — a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
past form of “rehearse” — engage in a rehearsal
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
a small and inadequate amount
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
express in speech
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
express in words
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
in or at that place or location
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Blumberg Promises The Martian began to speak slowly, carefully.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
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 told of the scarcity of water on Mars--of how there was only a little, that had to be preserved carefully.
in or at the place that
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
the words that are spoken
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Through long days and nights he had rehearsed his story, knowing he would have to tell it.
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading The pale young man helped him often, at points where he lacked words....
Chapter 5 of The Martian by A. R. (Alec Rowley) Hilliard holds 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 5 holds 230 sentences of The Martian, unabridged, divided into 46 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Martian by A. R. (Alec Rowley) Hilliard exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 46 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 46 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 5 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 Martian by A. R. (Alec Rowley) Hilliard on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 902 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #40992 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #40992, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 75 minutes of reading across 181 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Martian section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of The Martian 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 Martian, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
