Chapter 20 of The sea girl is here in full — 168 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of The sea girl is here in full — 168 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DOOMED REALM! It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle. Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength. We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us. The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
Chapter 20 of The sea girl is here in full — 168 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/33 · 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.
showing little or no emotion or animation
From this reading “We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.”
marked for certain death
From this reading “DOOMED REALM!”
plural of “fight” — a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
From this reading “Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.”
in an uncontrolled manner
From this reading “Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.”
so strong as to be irresistible
From this reading “The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.”
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
From this reading “We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.”
a domain in which something is dominant
From this reading “DOOMED REALM!”
not reasonable; not showing good judgment
From this reading “The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.”
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 “Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.”
In this reading “We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.”
In this reading “We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.”
In this reading “It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.”
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 Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
showing little or no emotion or animation
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
an enclosure made or wire or metal bars in which birds or animals can be kept
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
past form of “descend” — move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
marked for certain death
From this reading DOOMED REALM!
having the power of driving or impelling
From this reading The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
divisible by two
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
plural of “fight” — a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
in an uncontrolled manner
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli
From this reading The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
immediately past
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
so strong as to be irresistible
From this reading The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
past form of “plunge” — thrust or throw into
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
a domain in which something is dominant
From this reading DOOMED REALM!
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
preservation of yourself from harm; a natural or instinctive tendency
From this reading The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
the property of being physically or mentally strong
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
make a strenuous or labored effort
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
not reasonable; not showing good judgment
From this reading The instinct for self-preservation, overwhelming, driving us into unreasonable panic.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
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 Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading It seemed for an instant that we had not the courage left to struggle.
in the company of; together with
From this reading We stood with full realization, apathetic; and then panic descended upon us.
inside; before a period of time has passed
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
but in spite of that
From this reading Yet even a rat within a cage plunged into water frantically fights to its last strength.
Chapter 20 of The sea girl by Ray Cummings holds 168 sentences, grouped into 34 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 20 holds 168 sentences of The sea girl, unabridged, divided into 34 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of The sea girl by Ray Cummings exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 168 sentences, grouped into 34 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 34 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 34 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 20 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 sea girl by Ray Cummings on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The sea girl section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The sea girl 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 sea girl, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
