Record Holders

Words in Use (Lesson 31)

• commuter
• confine
• idle
• idol
• jest
• patriotic
• dispute
• valor
• lunatic
• vein
• uneventful
• fertile

Read the following passage to see how the new words are used in it.
  
Record Holders
The Guinness Book of World Records is full of fascinating facts. For example, the champion commuter is Bruno Leuthardt of Germany, who traveled 370 miles each day for ten years to his teaching job and was late only once because of a flood. The record for being buried alive is held by Emma Smith of Ravenshead, England. She was confined in a coffin for 100 days. What a way to spend the idle hours! Peter Clark of London collected 1276 autographed pictures of famous men and women. Obviously* not all were his idols, but he did set a record. What drives people to these unusual practices? Some are simply done in jest, some for patriotic reasons. Certainly no one would dispute the valor of the "record-makers," even if the records themselves may be no more lasting than a popular* song. While one need not be a lunatic, he must have a vein of recklessness* to participate in such activities as bungee-jumping, high diving, or parachute jumping. If you are tired of leading a dull, uneventful life, remember the mortais* whose fertile imaginations have found novel* ways to add excitement to their lives.