Chapter 4 of The Variable Man is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Variable Man is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him. He struck against the wall--and vanished. "Down!" Reinhart shouted. He dropped to his hands and knees.
Chapter 4 of The Variable Man is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/89 · 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 “beam” — a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather
From this reading “Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.”
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading “He dropped to his hands and knees.”
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading “Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.”
a short vivid experience
From this reading “Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.”
plural of “knee” — hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
From this reading “He dropped to his hands and knees.”
(of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream
From this reading “Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.”
in a vehement outcry
From this reading “Reinhart shouted.”
having passed out of existence
From this reading “He struck against the wall--and vanished.”
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.
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.
touching and pressing; in opposition to
From this reading He struck against the wall--and vanished.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He struck against the wall--and vanished.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
plural of “beam” — a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading He dropped to his hands and knees.
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
a short vivid experience
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading He dropped to his hands and knees.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He struck against the wall--and vanished.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He dropped to his hands and knees.
plural of “knee” — hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
From this reading He dropped to his hands and knees.
past form of “reach” — reach a destination, either real or abstract
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Reinhart shouted.
(of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
in a vehement outcry
From this reading Reinhart shouted.
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading He struck against the wall--and vanished.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He dropped to his hands and knees.
having passed out of existence
From this reading He struck against the wall--and vanished.
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading Sherikov reached the wall, running head down, energy beams flashing around him.
Chapter 4 of The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick holds 448 sentences, grouped into 90 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 448 sentences of The Variable Man, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 448 sentences, grouped into 90 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 90 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 90 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 Variable Man by Philip K. Dick on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2271 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #32154 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #32154, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 189 minutes of reading across 455 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Variable Man section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of The Variable Man 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 Variable Man, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
