Chapter 2 of The Vanishing Venusians is here in full — 533 sentences across 107 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The Vanishing Venusians is here in full — 533 sentences across 107 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance. The two black birds followed watchfully. They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees. The sky was now the color of blood. A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
Chapter 2 of The Vanishing Venusians is here in full — 533 sentences across 107 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/106 · 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 “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading “The two black birds followed watchfully.”
a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading “A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.”
a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect
From this reading “The sky was now the color of blood.”
possessive form of “girl” — a young female
From this reading “A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.”
shoot down, of birds
From this reading “They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.”
conformity or harmony
From this reading “Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.”
(of games) engaged in
From this reading “A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.”
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading “They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.”
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 “Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.”
wind moving 4-7 knots; 2 on the Beaufort scale
In this reading “A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with 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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading The two black birds followed watchfully.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading The two black birds followed watchfully.
The red fluid that circulates in the heart and blood vessels.
From this reading The sky was now the color of blood.
a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
inflected form of “catch” — discover or come upon accidentally, suddenly, or unexpectedly; catch somebody doing something or in a certain state
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect
From this reading The sky was now the color of blood.
the property created by the space between two objects or points
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading The two black birds followed watchfully.
a young female
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
possessive form of “girl” — a young female
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
shoot down, of birds
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
conformity or harmony
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The sky was now the color of blood.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
(of games) engaged in
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth
From this reading The sky was now the color of blood.
past form of “start” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
in the direction of
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
plural of “tree” — a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading The two black birds followed watchfully.
up to a particular time
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
past form of “wait” — stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
From this reading Harker waited until the girl had started, keeping his distance.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading They walked out across the thick grass of the plain, toward the trees.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The sky was now the color of blood.
in a watchful manner
From this reading The two black birds followed watchfully.
in the company of; together with
From this reading A light breeze caught the girl's hair and played with it.
Chapter 2 of The Vanishing Venusians by Leigh Brackett holds 533 sentences, grouped into 107 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 2 holds 533 sentences of The Vanishing Venusians, unabridged, divided into 107 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Vanishing Venusians by Leigh Brackett exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 533 sentences, grouped into 107 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 107 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 107 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 2 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 Vanishing Venusians by Leigh Brackett on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1082 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63516 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63516, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 90 minutes of reading across 217 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Vanishing Venusians section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of The Vanishing Venusians 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 Vanishing Venusians, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
