Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   After forty-five minutes of dancing the bell rang. The dancers left the dance floor and slowly headed for the beds in the next room. Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang again and the weary dancers straggled back to the dance floor. All day and all night, the same dancers continued to dance. Weeks passed and they kept on dancing. They were called dance marathons and people were crazy about them in the 1930s. In the longest marathon, the dancing went on for 5,148 hours or nearly 215 days. It was just after the stock market crash of 1929 in the United States. The Great Depression that followed affected everyone, and thousands of people were out of jobs. For some young people, entering a dance marathon was simply a way to earn money for food. As long as they continued to dance, they got food to eat.
   The first 500 hours of a dance marathon were the most difficult. Dancers had to get used to sleeping while leaning on their partners. Feet got sore and swollen, and tempers flared as dancers got tired. Three times a day, tables were pulled out on the dance floor and the dancers ate — while dancing.
   For many people, watching a dance marathon, was a cheap form of entertainment. At any time of day or night they could go and watch the dancers in the marathon. They yelled and threw money at their favorite dancers to encourage them to keep dancing. Some made bets on who would quit or fall down next.
   Dancers in a marathon were pushed to their limits. Without proper sleep, many got sick. When several dancers died from overexertion in a 1929 dance marathon, government officials tried unsuccessfully to outlaw marathons. Instead, marathons continued to be popular until the United States entered World War II. The wartime economy brought the country out of the Depression and people finally began to lose interest in dance marathons.
Vocabulary
outlaw – оголошений поза законом
overexertion – перенапруження
weary – виснажений
straggled – йти врозбрід
sore – запалений
swollen – опухший
temper – гнів
flare – спалахувати
yell – пронизливо кричати

Task I. Mark the right statements “True” and the wrong ones “False”.
1. Nowadays, people are crazy about dance marathons.
2. In the longest marathon, the dancing went on for nearly seven months.
3. Dance marathons appeared during the Great Depression.
4. Entering a dance marathon was a way to become rich.
5. Professional dancers only had a right to participate in a marathon.
6. Watching a dance marathon was an expensive form of entertainment.
7. Bets were made on who would quit or fall down next.
8. Several dancers died from indigestion in 1929.
9. Government officials outlawed marathons when the USA entered World War II.
10. People finally began to lose interest in dance marathons in the 1990s.

Task II. Choose the correct answer A, B or C to each question:
1. How long did hourly breaks last?
a) five minutes
b) ten minutes
c) fifteen minutes
2. When did people become crazy about dance marathons?
a) in the 1920s
b) in the 1930s
c) in the 1940s
3. When did the US stock market crash?
a) in 1929
b) in 1930
c) in 2001
4. How long did the longest dance marathon last?
a) 115 days
b) 215 days
c) 250 days
5. What did the dancers get as long as they participate in the contest?
a) bed and breakfast
b) free meals
c) pocket money
6. When could people watch the dancers in the marathon?
a) at any time of day or night
b) in the evening
c) at night
7. What did spectators throw at their favorite dancers?
a) some food
b) some towels
c) some money
8. Why did several dancers die?
a) they got poisoned
b) they got exhausted
c) they got bribed
9. Did the government ban dance marathons?
a) Yes, it did.
b) No, it did not.
c) It failed
10. Why did people finally begin to lose interest in dance marathons?
a) The USA entered World War II.
b) People became fed up with them.
c) The marathons were outlawed.
 
Завдання Всеукраїнських учнівських олімпіад з англійської мови/ Упоряд. О.С. Любченко. – Х.: Вид.група “Основа”, 2005. – С.38-40