read bultin is broken when used with pipes

[Holger Berger]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i386
OS: linux-gnu
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i386' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i386-pc-linux-gnu' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='pc' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64  -I. 
-I/usr/include -I/home/swt/doko/export/packages/bash/bash-2.04 
-I/home/swt/doko/export/packages/bash/bash-2.04/include 
-I/home/swt/doko/export/packages/bash/bash-2.04/lib -I/usr/include -g -O2
uname output: Linux versahb 2.2.17 #1 Sat Sep 9 12:42:22 EST 2000 i686 unknown
Machine Type: i386-pc-linux-gnu

Bash Version: 2.04
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
        in my opinion, the bash builtin 'read' does not work as it should.
                echo Hello world | read a b 
                echo $a 
        should print Hello
        When read is used in pipes with bash, it never reads anything.
        Is this according to any specification?
        I really love the read command, this renders bash completly
        useless for scripting for me... other shells like SysV bourne
        shell and korn shell do it 'the right way'.
        zsh as well. pdksh seems to have the same problem.
        This problem accurs on all platforms I used bash so far, and
        with all versions of bash I used so far.

Repeat-By:
        See above.