>>> from standings import read_standings

--iniin

>>> lin = ['Arabia,2,1,0,1,3,3,3,1.5',
... 'Argentina,2,0,1,1,3,4,1,0.5',
... 'Australia,2,0,1,1,2,5,1,0.5',
... 'Denmark,2,0,1,1,1,3,1,0.5',
... 'France,2,2,0,0,7,2,6,3.0',
... 'Mexico,2,0,2,0,2,2,2,1.0',
... 'Poland,2,1,1,0,2,1,4,2.0',
... 'Tunisia,2,0,2,0,1,1,2,1.0']

--fiin

>>> with open('stin.txt', 'w') as f:
...     for a in lin:
...         r = f.write(a+'\n')

>>> L = read_standings('stin.txt')

--iniout

>>> L == [['Arabia', 2, 1, 0, 1, 3, 3, 3, 1.5],
... ['Argentina', 2, 0, 1, 1, 3, 4, 1, 0.5],
... ['Australia', 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 5, 1, 0.5],
... ['Denmark', 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 0.5],
... ['France', 2, 2, 0, 0, 7, 2, 6, 3.0],
... ['Mexico', 2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 2, 1.0],
... ['Poland', 2, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1, 4, 2.0],
... ['Tunisia', 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1.0]]
True

--fiout