Chapter 3 of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is here in full — 338 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is here in full — 338 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
All idealisation makes life poorer. To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
Chapter 3 of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is here in full — 338 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/67 · 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.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
make more beautiful
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story)
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
the quality of being intricate and compounded
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
plural of “make” — a recognizable kind
From this reading “All idealisation makes life poorer.”
comparative of “poor” — deserving or inciting pity
From this reading “All idealisation makes life poorer.”
carry out
From this reading “To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.”
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.
(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 All idealisation makes life poorer.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
make more beautiful
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story)
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
the quality of being intricate and compounded
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
(psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad
From this reading All idealisation makes life poorer.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading All idealisation makes life poorer.
plural of “make” — a recognizable kind
From this reading All idealisation makes life poorer.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
comparative of “poor” — deserving or inciting pity
From this reading All idealisation makes life poorer.
carry out
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity—it is to destroy it.
Chapter 3 of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad holds 338 sentences, grouped into 68 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 3 holds 338 sentences of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, unabridged, divided into 68 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 338 sentences, grouped into 68 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 68 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 68 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 3 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 Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6185 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #974 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #974, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 515 minutes of reading across 1237 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale 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 Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
