Chapter 1 of Through deserts and oases of central Asia is here in full — 24 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Through deserts and oases of central Asia is here in full — 24 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Strike me dead, the track has vanished. Well, what now? We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray. PUSHKIN. F.R.G.S.
Chapter 1 of Through deserts and oases of central Asia is here in full — 24 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/4 · 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.
away from the right path or direction
From this reading “We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.”
captured, as if under a spell
From this reading “We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.”
plural of “demon” — an evil supernatural being
From this reading “We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.”
Russian poet (1799-1837)
From this reading “PUSHKIN.”
deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon
From this reading “Strike me dead, the track has vanished.”
a line or route along which something travels or moves
From this reading “Strike me dead, the track has vanished.”
having passed out of existence
From this reading “Strike me dead, the track has vanished.”
plural of “wild” — a wild primitive state untouched by civilization
From this reading “We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.”
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.
away from the right path or direction
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
captured, as if under a spell
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
plural of “demon” — an evil supernatural being
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
a degree on the Fahrenheit scale of temperature
From this reading F.R.G.S.
a metric unit of weight equal to one thousandth of a kilogram
From this reading F.R.G.S.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
plural of “horse” — solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
diode such that light emitted at a p-n junction is proportional to the bias current; color depends on the material used
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Well, what now?
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
Russian poet (1799-1837)
From this reading PUSHKIN.
a unit of radiation exposure; the dose of ionizing radiation that will produce 1 electrostatic unit of electricity in 1 cc of dry air
From this reading F.R.G.S.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading F.R.G.S.
deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
a line or route along which something travels or moves
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
having passed out of existence
From this reading Strike me dead, the track has vanished.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Well, what now?
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Well, what now?
plural of “wild” — a wild primitive state untouched by civilization
From this reading We’ve lost the way, Demons have bewitched our horses, Led us in the wilds astray.
Chapter 1 of Through deserts and oases of central Asia by Ella Sykes holds 24 sentences, grouped into 5 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 1 holds 24 sentences of Through deserts and oases of central Asia, unabridged, divided into 5 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Through deserts and oases of central Asia by Ella Sykes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 24 sentences, grouped into 5 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 5 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 5 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 1 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 Through deserts and oases of central Asia by Ella Sykes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3010 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72916 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72916, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 250 minutes of reading across 602 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Through deserts and oases of central Asia section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of Through deserts and oases of central Asia 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 Through deserts and oases of central Asia, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
