1. Read & Listen I
Track 2: US man & irishman
S
ome people will
do anything to be
a Guinness World
Record holder… as these
examples of records will
show.
In 2006, 28-year-old
Anandita Dutta Tamuly from
India ate 51 of the world’s
spiciest chillies in just two
minutes.
Linda Wolfe, 68, from the
USA, holds the record for
being married the most
times. She’s currently
divorced from her 23rd
husband and would like to
marry again.
The record number of
T-shirts worn at one time is
155. The largest T-shirt was
XXXXXXXXXXL!
In January 2008, Wim
Hof immersed himself in
a container of icy water
for a record of one hour
and 12 minutes. He beat
his previous record from
2004 of one hour and eight
minutes.
In 2010, Marco Hort from
Switzerland managed to put
264 straws in his mouth.
In 2001, Ralf Laue solved a
Rubik’s Cube in five minutes
42 seconds... while he was
blindfolded!
Fan Yang and Deni Yang set a
new Guinness World Record
in April 2011 for getting the
most people inside a soap
bubble. They managed to
squeeze in 118 people.
The record for the fastest
mile in flippers is held by
American Ashrita Furman.
He set it in 2010 with a
time of seven minutes and
56 seconds. Ashrita is no
stranger to Guinness World
Records as he’s set more
than 340 of them!
The world’s heaviest
pumpkin weighed 821 kilos
and was grown by farmer
Chris Stevens. The record
was confirmed on 9th
October 2010 in Wisconsin,
USA. Chris said it was down
to a mixture of rain, cow
manure, good soil, seaweed
and fish emulsion.
Truly amazing!
/ www.hotenglishgroup.com / Check out the interactive PDF offer. Visit: www.hotenglishmagazine.com6
Nine unusual
world records
Exams This reading and listening activity will help prepare you for English exams such as KET and TOEFL.
Objective To improve your reading and listening comprehension.
Think about it What are you good at? Do you have any hidden talents? What sports are you good at?
Which records do you think you could break?
By Susan Walsh
GLOSSARY
Answers on page 44
1 Pre-reading
Look at the objects below. What
word records involving these
objects do you think have been
broken?
2 Reading I
Read the article once to
compare your ideas from the
pre-reading task.
3 Reading II
Read the article again. Then,
answer the questions. Wh0…
1. ...ate 51 chillies?
2. ...holds the record for
being married the most
times?
3. ...stayed in some cold
water for more than an
hour?
4. ...put a lot of straws in
his mouth?
5. ...ran the fastest mile in
flippers?
6. ...grew the world’s
heaviest pumpkin?
Chillies
T-shirts
Straws
Rubik’s Cube
Flippers
Pumpkin
a record n
a “record” is the best result for a sport, etc.
spicy adj
“spicy” food is hot and can burn your mouth
to hold a record exp
if you “hold the record” for something, you
have the best score / result for it
to immerse yourself exp
if you “immerse yourself” in water (for example),
you put yourself in the water until it covers you
icy adj
very cold; almost like ice (frozen water)
to beat vb
if you “beat” a previous record, you do better
than that previous record
blindfolded adj
if you’re “blindfolded”, you have a piece of
cloth covering your eyes so you can’t see
a soap bubble n
a large ball of air that you make with soap
(the substance you use for cleaning)
to squeeze in phr vb
if people “squeeze in” to a small space, they
enter that small space, often by being pushed
flippers n
flat pieces of rubber that you can wear on
your feet to help you swim more quickly
no stranger to exp
if you’re “no stranger to” something, you’ve
done it before
down to exp
if A is “down to” B, A happens because of B
manure n
animal waste / excrement that is used as a
fertiliser to make plants grow
soil n
the substance on the surface of the earth in
which plants grow
seaweed n
green plants that grow in the sea and that
you can eat
fish emulsion n
a liquid substance made from fish