"The Fifty-Yard Race"

(after William Saroyan)


FIRST LISTENING

Listen to the story "The Fifty-Yard Race" and find out whether these sentences are TRUE or FALSE:

1. The boy decided to become the strongest man in the neighbourhood.
2. The boy bought a special programme with instructions which promised to make him into a real man.
3. The boy was proud that Mr. Strongfort called him intelligent and quite different from the ordinary person.
4. The boy didn't write back about his problem because he didn't want to seem a very ordinary person.
5. The boy felt a little disappointed when the letter with Mr. Strongfort's secrets came.
6. The boy followed the rules and became the school champion.
7. The boy started the race with a speed no one in the history of athletics had ever reached.
8. He was first by ten yards and overtook the others.

SECOND LISTENING

Listen to the story again and answer the questions:

1. Was the advertisement that the boy saw in a magazine convincing? What attracted the boy?
2. Why couldn't the boy buy a wonder programme immediately? Did he write back about his problem? Why?
3. What were Mr. Strongfort's instructions?
4. Did the author follow them?
5. What was the boy's own programme?
6. Did the boy think much of himself? How do you know that he did?
7. Why was the boy so angry when he got home after the competitions?
8. Was writing a letter to Mr. Strongfort a proper thing to do? Why do you think so?
9. What things do people do to become strong and healthy?