Chapter 7 of The Wailing Asteroid is here in full — 478 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The Wailing Asteroid is here in full — 478 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it. Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall. There was no force to the impact. Keller made an interested noise. When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
Chapter 7 of The Wailing Asteroid is here in full — 478 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/95 · 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.
with brightness
From this reading “Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.”
close interaction
From this reading “There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.”
the face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours
From this reading “When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.”
aimless wandering from place to place
From this reading “Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.”
the striking of one body against another
From this reading “There was no force to the impact.”
United States lecturer and writer who was blind and deaf from the age of 19 months
From this reading “Keller made an interested noise.”
the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
From this reading “There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.”
(informal) small and of little importance
From this reading “There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.”
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 “Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.”
In this reading “There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside 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 There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Keller made an interested noise.
cause to be bored
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
with brightness
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
close interaction
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
the face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
aimless wandering from place to place
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
opinion or judgment
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
a powerful effect or influence
From this reading There was no force to the impact.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
the striking of one body against another
From this reading There was no force to the impact.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
having or showing interest; especially curiosity or fascination or concern
From this reading Keller made an interested noise.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
United States lecturer and writer who was blind and deaf from the age of 19 months
From this reading Keller made an interested noise.
set afire or burning
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Keller made an interested noise.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
not any; not one
From this reading There was no force to the impact.
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading Keller made an interested noise.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
relating to or being on or near the outer side or limit
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
having a point
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
transport commercially
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
very small
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading There was no force to the impact.
having come into contact
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
(informal) small and of little importance
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
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 Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
at the time that
From this reading When eyes turned to him, he pointed to a dial.
in the company of; together with
From this reading There was a tiny shock; in a minute, trivial contact of the ship with something outside it.
inside; before a period of time has passed
From this reading Drifting within the now brightly lighted bore, it had touched the wall.
Chapter 7 of The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster holds 478 sentences, grouped into 96 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 7 holds 478 sentences of The Wailing Asteroid, unabridged, divided into 96 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 478 sentences, grouped into 96 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 96 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 96 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 7 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 Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4783 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50022 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50022, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 398 minutes of reading across 957 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Wailing Asteroid section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of The Wailing Asteroid 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 Wailing Asteroid, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
