Read A Tale of Two Cities in English — and understand every line.
Read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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DICTIONARY
TRANSLATION
apreciar, atesorar
to feel warm affection for; to hold something dear.
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The opening
How “A Tale of Two Cities” begins
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Public domain — the whole book is yours to read in the app.
Vocabulary
Words to know before you start
The 30 words you will meet most often in “A Tale of Two Cities” at level B2 and above, with how many times each one appears.
- spy
- strike
- citizen
- saint
- breast
- carriage
- observe
- bear
- shadow
- fellow
- vengeance
- heaven
- recall
- creature
- tone
- republic
- patriot
- jury
- thus
- circumstance
- confidence
- witness
- glance
- tear
- cry
- echo
- pursue
- seek
- golden
- darkness
The meanings here are the everyday ones. In the reader, tap a word to see the sense this sentence uses.
Grammar
Grammar you will meet in “A Tale of Two Cities”
How much of each kind of grammar “A Tale of Two Cities” uses, counted in the sentences the Reader marks: per 10,000 words, compared with the other books in the library.
- Passive voice
- Relative clauses
- Perfect tenses
- Phrasal verbs
- -ing forms and to-infinitives
- Modal verbs
- Reported speech
- Conditionals
Constructions to look for
- Phrasal verb with 'down' Pressing his hand to his bewildered head, Darnay sat down at the table.
- Whose (possession) Cruncher,” said Miss Pross, whose eyes were red with felicity; “if you are ready, I am.
- -ing clause as adverbial (Feeling tired, …) Pressing his hand to his bewildered head, Darnay sat down at the table.
Counted the way the Reader shows it: one card per construction in a sentence. Open the book in the Reader and tap a highlighted phrase to see the rule.
Library
What you get while you read
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Tap to translate
Tap any word to see what it means in this exact sentence — with pronunciation and a clear example.
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Save what matters
Add a word and it comes back on a spaced-repetition schedule timed to how memory actually works.
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Grammar in context
Notable structures light up in the text, with a short explanation tied to the sentence you're reading.
About the book
Why A Tale of Two Cities is a great book to read in English
On LangOrbit you read “A Tale of Two Cities” with a safety net: the translation is one tap away when a sentence runs long, every word opens its meaning in context and can be saved for spaced-repetition review, and the grammar behind the trickier lines is explained right where you meet it.
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More books to read in English
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A Tale of Two Cities
Read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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