Mrs. Higgins lowered her voice. “Actually… there was a mix-up. The judges originally chose a boy named Sam. Great story about a robot. But Sam withdrew.”
Mark laughed. “Honest. I’ll write that down.” He scribbled: Winner: unenthusiastic . Then he asked, “What did she win?”
Mark closed his notebook. “And nobody thought to tell the newspaper?”
Mark Davis, a 47-year-old journalist for the local Weekly Herald , had always hated the annual "Young Voices" writing competition. Every year, he had to interview the winner—usually a teenager who wrote about feelings and ponies. luistertoets engels vwo 2009
Mrs. Higgins shrugged. “You were late.”
A quiet bookshop in a small English town, late afternoon.
“Who won?”
Mrs. Higgins looked up. “Gone home. The winner was announced at 4 PM.”
Mrs. Higgins nodded. “That’ll sell.” (Einde verhaal – geschikt voor een luistertoets met vragen over: waarom was Mark te laat? Wat was de echte reden dat Sam won? Wat is de houding van de journalist?)
“Why?”
Mark stopped writing. “So the real winner was Sam. But he quit because of stage fright. And Chloe won by default?”
Hier is een kort verhaal (story) dat qua stijl, lengte en thematiek aansluit bij een (vergelijkbaar met eerdere CITO-/examenluistertoetsen: alledaagse situaties, Brits/Amerikaans accent, wat ironie of een twist). Title: The Wrong Winner