Speed Reading — First and Last Name - Level 6 — 500 wpm

Now do this put-the-text-back-together activity.


This is the text (if you need help).

A group of 178 men all sharing the name Tanaka Hirokazu convened in Tokyo on Saturday to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people with the same first and last name. The successful record attempt was organized by the Tanaka Hirokazu association. This group was established by a guy called Tanaka Hirokazu (surprise, surprise) in 1994. Mr Tanaka's inspiration came from seeing a namesake of his drafted into a professional Japanese baseball team. Ex-baseball player Tanaka Hirokazu was also part of Saturday's record meeting. The 178 new record holders span the generations, with the youngest being three years old, and the eldest being an octogenarian.

Association leader Tanaka Hirokazu, 53, was elated at breaking the world record. His association had tried twice before, in 2011 and 2017, to break the record. These attempts were thwarted largely because of the association's insistence on all participants having to have the same Chinese characters (kanji) in their name. Saturday's meeting had a more lenient criterion. The association deemed that anyone with the name Hirokazu Tanaka was eligible, regardless of the kanji used to spell their name. Mr Tanaka reflected on his world-beating achievement. He told reporters: "I never expected we would achieve such a ridiculous record." He added that the 178 Tanakas had "set an example of silliness".

Comprehension questions
  1. In which city did the men break the world record?
  2. When was the Tanaka Hirokazu association started?
  3. Who started the Tanaka Hirokazu association?
  4. What sport did one of the record breakers use to play?
  5. How old was the oldest record breaker?
  6. How did Tanaka Hirokazu feel about breaking the world record?
  7. How many times in total did the group try to break the record?
  8. What did the first attempts require all names to have?
  9. Who did Tanaka Hirokazu talk to about breaking the record?
  10. What did Tanaka Hirokazu call the world record an example of?

Back to the first and last name lesson.

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