Chapter 1 of The Professor's Mystery is here in full — 192 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Professor's Mystery is here in full — 192 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?" The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled: "Naouw. Reported forty minutes late." At this point I believe I swore.
Chapter 1 of The Professor's Mystery is here in full — 192 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/38 · 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.
someone who proclaims a message publicly
From this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
From this reading “"Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"”
past form of “drawl” — lengthen and slow down or draw out
From this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug
From this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
made known or told about; especially presented in a formal account
From this reading “Reported forty minutes late."”
past form of “shift” — make a shift in or exchange of
From this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
inflected form of “swear” — utter obscenities or profanities
From this reading “At this point I believe I swore.”
leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion
From this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
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 “Reported forty minutes late."”
a prolonged period of time
In this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
take into consideration for exemplifying purposes
In this reading “The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:”
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 The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
someone who proclaims a message publicly
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
accept as true; take to be true
From this reading At this point I believe I swore.
state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
either side of the face below the eyes
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
past form of “drawl” — lengthen and slow down or draw out
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
being ten more than thirty
From this reading Reported forty minutes late."
destroyed or killed
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading At this point I believe I swore.
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading Reported forty minutes late."
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 The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
From this reading Reported forty minutes late."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Naouw.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
a geometric element that has position but no extension
From this reading At this point I believe I swore.
made known or told about; especially presented in a formal account
From this reading Reported forty minutes late."
past form of “shift” — make a shift in or exchange of
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
inflected form of “swear” — utter obscenities or profanities
From this reading At this point I believe I swore.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading At this point I believe I swore.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
create by training and teaching
From this reading The train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
but in spite of that
From this reading "Has the two-forty-five for Boston gone yet?"
Chapter 1 of The Professor's Mystery by Wells Hastings holds 192 sentences, grouped into 39 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 192 sentences of The Professor's Mystery, unabridged, divided into 39 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Professor's Mystery by Wells Hastings exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 192 sentences, grouped into 39 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 39 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 39 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 Professor's Mystery by Wells Hastings on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4630 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34988 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #34988, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 385 minutes of reading across 926 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Professor's Mystery section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Professor's Mystery 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 Professor's Mystery, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
