[00:01.040]--- lesson 40 Who's who
[00:05.600]--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
[00:11.400]--- How did the policeman discover that the whole thing was a joke?
[00:18.120]It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else.
[00:25.920]Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the hoax.
[00:31.680]Inviting the fire brigade to put out a nonexistent fire is a crude form of deception which no self-respecting student would ever indulge in.
[00:41.360]Students often create amusing situations which are funny to everyone except the victims.
[00:49.120]When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his university,
[00:56.160]he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two students dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill.
[01:05.240]As soon as he had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them that if a policeman ordered them to go away, they were not to take him seriously.
[01:14.960]He added that a student had dressed up as a policeman and was playing all sorts of silly jokes on people.
[01:21.680]Both the police and the workmen were grateful to the student for this piece of advance information.
[01:28.000]The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that went on.
[01:33.840]Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked the workmen to go away.
[01:39.640]When he received a very rude reply from one of the workmen,
[01:43.360]He threatened to remove them by force.
[01:45.840]The workmen told him to do as he pleased and the policeman telephoned for help.
[01:51.360]Shortly afterwards, four more policemen arrived and remonstrated with the workmen.
[01:57.240]As the men refused to stop working, the police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill.
[02:02.920]The workmen struggled fiercely and one of them lost his temper.
[02:07.280]He threatened to call the police.
[02:09.760]At this, the police pointed out ironically that this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest.
[02:18.200]Pretending to speak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a telephone call before being taken to the station.
[02:26.160]Permission was granted and a policeman accompanied him to a pay phone.
[02:31.120]Only when he saw that the man was actually telephoning the police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a hoax.