Chapter 1 of The Mystery of Carlitos is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Mystery of Carlitos is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Fine! I’d love it.” “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door. A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house. About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Chapter 1 of The Mystery of Carlitos is here in full — 140 sentences across 28 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 15/28 · 5 reading units · Lines 71–75
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 “disappear” — get lost, as without warning or explanation
From this reading “A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.”
derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in
From this reading “About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.”
a city in central Italy on the Arno; provincial capital of Tuscany; center of the Italian Renaissance from 14th to 16th centuries
From this reading ““We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.”
equally distant from the extremes
From this reading “About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.”
past form of “halt” — cause to stop
From this reading “About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.”
the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale
From this reading “About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.”
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading “A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.”
marked by repeated turns and bends
From this reading “A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.”
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 “A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.”
In this reading “A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.”
In this reading “About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.”
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
In this reading ““We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.”
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 A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
past form of “disappear” — get lost, as without warning or explanation
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading “Fine!
a city in central Italy on the Arno; provincial capital of Tuscany; center of the Italian Renaissance from 14th to 16th centuries
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
destroyed or killed
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
equally distant from the extremes
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
past form of “halt” — cause to stop
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I’d love it.”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading I’d love it.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
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 “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
From this reading I’d love it.”
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
a particular point in time
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
past form of “start” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading About halfway down the trail Jo Ann halted a moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
marked by repeated turns and bends
From this reading A few minutes later they disappeared down a winding trail back of the house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “We won’t be gone long,” Florence told her mother as she and Jo Ann started out the door.
Chapter 1 of The Mystery of Carlitos by Helen Randolph holds 140 sentences, grouped into 28 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 140 sentences of The Mystery of Carlitos, unabridged, divided into 28 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Mystery of Carlitos by Helen Randolph exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 140 sentences, grouped into 28 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 28 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 28 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 Mystery of Carlitos by Helen Randolph on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2987 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44060 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44060, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 248 minutes of reading across 598 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Mystery of Carlitos section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Mystery of Carlitos 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 Mystery of Carlitos, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
