The plane was late and detectives were waiting at the airport all morning.

[diamondcutter]

Lesson 7 Too late
The plane was late and detectives were waiting at the airport all morning. They were expecting a valuable parcel of diamond from South Africa. A few hours earlier, someone had told the police that thieves would try to steal the diamonds. When the plane arrived, some of the detectives were waiting inside the main building while others were waiting on the airfield. Two men took the parcel off the plane and carried it into the Customs House. While two detectives were keeping guard at the door, two others opened the parcel. To their surprise, the precious parcel was full of stones and sand!
(New Concept English 2, Longman)
This is the whole text for this lesson, which has no relation to other lessons.
I wonder what kind of article it is. A news report? A column article or just a passage for learners to learn English?

The beginning of the text seems strange to me. If we tell someone a similar story. I don’t think it’s a good starter. I think we should at least tell the date and so on.
What do you say?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[teechar]

A news report?

It could be an excerpt from a news report.

A column article

I doubt it.

or just a passage for learners to learn English?

That's possible.

The beginning of the text seems strange to me. I don’t think it’s a good starter. If we tell someone a similar story, [STRIKE]I don’t think it’s a good starter.[/STRIKE] I think we should at least tell the date and so on.
What do you say?

Not necessarily. It could just be an excerpt as I said above.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Giving the date "and so on" (whatever that is) would be fine if it were a diary. But it's not. It's what's called summary narrative. The writer is free to give whatever information the writer feels matters.