Go For English

During stage (training) the trainees who were teaching English got to use the English text books used in the Cameroonian school system. They discovered the following passage in Go For English (3eme edition). You just can't make this stuff up.

The youth was trembling with intense excitement. His muscles stood in twisted knots, oiled and elastic. In contrast to him, his challenger was cool as ice. He stood with feet astride, hands interlaced above his head, motionless. He did not even budge one inch when his opponent began to circle around him with a long whip, the leather-hide or koboko, looking for a tender spot on which to cut him. There was plenty of exposed skin above the waist, but from the waist down the challenger was heavily girded in leather cloth.

Suddenly the man with the whip made a feint as if he intended to strike. The onlookers drew in their breaths. But he merely withdrew and began his dance again.

The music hushed again as the whip began menacing the victim. The man who had his hands above his head had not moved except when he turned aside, in the face of the threat, to spit.

Here are some of the reading comprehension questions that followed the passage:

The youth's muscles were oiled:
a) to keep his magic.
b) to prevent the whip from wounding him.
c) to make him look beautiful.

Jalla wore a leather skirt:
a) because he had many cows.
b) because he was poor.
c) becaue it would protect him better than clothes.

Dumaru looked for a "tender spot" on Jalla because:
a) that was the rule.
b) he wanted to inflict maximum pain and suffering.
c) he was a bad man.

Awesome. I wish my French classes had used material this entertaining.