Vocabulary ladder
Anna Karenina
Part ONE, 1
977 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 63% of the text; the hard 5% is 32 entries — all of them below.
A 63.4% (214 types) B 6.1% (46 types) C 4.1% (33 entries) D 1.8% (17 entries) E 0.4% (2 entries) N 2.7% (13 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 46 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- morocco
- unpleasant
- sofa ×4
- despair ×3
- spinal
- curtains
- forgiveness
- fond
- sensations
- annoyed
- pillow
- characteristic
- adapting
- utterly ×2
- begging
- unhappy ×2
- inn
- cruel
- alike
- awake
- embraced
- conscious
- beside
- confusion
Band C — recognition checklist
All 33 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- coachman
- thereupon
- governess
- involuntarily
- hopelessness
- cheerfully
- acutely
- serge
- recollection
- housekeeper
- quarrel
- disgraceful
- ponder
- idiotic
- intrigue
- slipper
- peep
- vigorously
- indifferent
- reflex
- stout
- painfully
- pear
- brow
- physiology
- fuss
- unlucky
- fashionable
- knit
- unexpectedly
- vanish
- stray
- delightful
Band D — advanced (17 entries)
- drawing-room
- the sitting room for guests
- dressing-gown
- a loose robe worn at home
- gold-colored
- of the colour of gold
- kitchen-maid
- a girl who works in the kitchen
- leather-covered
- covered in leather
- man-cook
- a cook who is a man
- well-cared-for
- kept in good order
- gaily
- merrily
- springy
- giving back like a bent bow
- decanters
- a glass bottle for wine
- muttered
- to speak low in the throat
- gleam
- a soft flash of light
- mio ×2
- my, in Italian
- indignation
- anger at unfairness
- shuddered
- a shiver of horror
- habitual
- usual by habit
- twinkled
- to shine with quick small lights
Band E — rare & archaic (2 entries)
- good-humored ×2
- cheerful and easygoing
- tesoro ×2
- treasure, in Italian
False friends — common words wearing old senses (1)
- awful
- full of awe — the old sense here
Names (9)
- alabin ×2
- a Russian family name
- arkadyevitch ×5
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Arkady
- oblonskys ×2
- the Oblonsky family
- oblonsky
- Anna's brother, a genial Moscow official
- stiva
- a familiar form of Oblonsky's name
- darmstadt ×3
- a German city
- stepan ×5
- a Russian man's name; also Oblonsky's first name
- dolly ×2
- the eldest Shtcherbatsky sister, married to Oblonsky
- Stepan Arkadyevitch
- Oblonsky, Anna's brother, by his first name and patronymic