Chapter 4 of The Transient Lake is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Transient Lake is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA. The air-ship was falling. For a moment horror was upon all in the little party. It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges. A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
Chapter 4 of The Transient Lake is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/31 · 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.
plural of “atom” — (physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
having gaps or spaces
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
having a sharply uneven surface or outline
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
plural of “ledge” — a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
a rocket carrying a warhead of conventional or nuclear explosives; may be ballistic or directed by remote control
From this reading “A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.”
large American feline resembling a lion
From this reading “THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.”
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
plural of “thousand” — the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading “It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.”
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.
temporarily
In this reading “For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.”
In this reading “For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.”
In this reading “THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.”
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 For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
transport (cargo) by air
From this reading The air-ship was falling.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
(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 For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
plural of “atom” — (physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
at or to a lower level than something
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
make overcast or cloudy
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
having gaps or spaces
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
having dropped by the force of gravity
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
decreasing in amount or degree
From this reading The air-ship was falling.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
From this reading THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
intense and profound fear
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
having a sharply uneven surface or outline
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
plural of “ledge” — a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
a rocket carrying a warhead of conventional or nuclear explosives; may be ballistic or directed by remote control
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
a particular point in time
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
an organization to gain political power
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
having great power or force or potency or effect
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
large American feline resembling a lion
From this reading THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading A powerful missile had fallen from the cloud and struck full and fair in the air-ship’s bow.
causing fear or dread or terror
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
plural of “thousand” — the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It was a terrible realization, for below, thousands of feet, they might be dashed to atoms upon jagged ledges.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading For a moment horror was upon all in the little party.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The air-ship was falling.
in the company of; together with
From this reading THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA.
Chapter 4 of The Transient Lake by Luis Senarens holds 157 sentences, grouped into 32 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 4 holds 157 sentences of The Transient Lake, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Transient Lake by Luis Senarens exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 157 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 4 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 Transient Lake by Luis Senarens on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1706 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #55556 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #55556, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 142 minutes of reading across 342 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Transient Lake section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of The Transient Lake 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 Transient Lake, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
