Chapter 15 of The Wife, and Other Stories is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of The Wife, and Other Stories is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass: “Good-evening. Are you having tea? That’s just right. It’s diabolically cold.”
Chapter 15 of The Wife, and Other Stories is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/38 · 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.
the lowest part of the musical range
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading “It’s diabolically cold.””
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
plural of “glove” — the handwear used by fielders in playing baseball
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
plural of “take” — the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
a beverage made by steeping tea leaves in water
From this reading “Are you having tea?”
smooth and soft to sight or hearing or touch or taste
From this reading “Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Are you having tea?
the lowest part of the musical range
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading It’s diabolically cold.”
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
as a devil; in an evil manner
From this reading It’s diabolically cold.”
plural of “glove” — the handwear used by fielders in playing baseball
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Good-evening.
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading Are you having tea?
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It’s diabolically cold.”
and nothing more
From this reading That’s just right.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
precisely, exactly
From this reading That’s just right.
plural of “say” — the chance to speak
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
plural of “take” — the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
a beverage made by steeping tea leaves in water
From this reading Are you having tea?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That’s just right.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
smooth and soft to sight or hearing or touch or taste
From this reading Coming in to us, he slowly takes off his gloves and says in his velvety bass:
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Are you having tea?
Chapter 15 of The Wife, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov holds 191 sentences, grouped into 39 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 15 holds 191 sentences of The Wife, and Other Stories, unabridged, divided into 39 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of The Wife, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 191 sentences, grouped into 39 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 39 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 39 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 15 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 Wife, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4371 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1883 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1883, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 364 minutes of reading across 875 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Wife, and Other Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of The Wife, and Other Stories 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 Wife, and Other Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
