What was going on when I was born?

Henry L. Foster may have built his company from nothing into the acknowledged world leader in its field in the past 35 years. He may have set new standards of customer service, work conditions and product quality. He may have helped save thousands of lives. Nevertheless, because some people are offended by the business of breeding animals for use in laboratory experiments, and most others are uncomfortable with it, he concedes that he has learned not to bring up the subject of Charles River Breeding Inc. at cocktail parties.

The current oversupply of crude oil worldwide has caused gasoline prices in the United States to drop by at least 2 cents to 3 cents a gallon in less than a month, and analysts say further reductions are a near certainty. ''The market is in a shambles, and demand is way off,'' said Vincent Sgro, editor of Oil Buyers Guide, a trade publication that follows the prices of petroleum products. ''It adds up to a consumer's dream.'' ''You want a gas station?'' asked William Perry, owner of the Brewster Friendly Service Station in Westchester, when asked about his business. ''Business is terrible.''

A clamor for change is sounding across the Sudan A2 Hope fades for 84 lost in oil rig dis- aster off Newfoundland A3 Zimbabwe seizes property owned by Nkomo's party A4 Around the World A5 Reagan urged to stress military threat in Caribbean A6 Pope says of Poland, ''I do not lose hope'' A9 West Bank university closed again by Israel A11 Government/Politics Stein assails Transit Authority on tunnel reconstruction B2 James Emery seeks G.O.P. nomi- nation for New York Governor B3 New accusations leveled against Labor Secretary's company B5 Inquiry ordered on vote to decer- tify air controllers' union B8 Washington Talk Briefing A20 Nancy Reagan stopping accept- ance of loans of gowns A20 Totals of food stamp users remain a shifting target A20 Decisions: Valve on heating de- vice recalled by maker A20 Federal Elections Commission battles Lance and Udall cases A20 General Around the Nation A16 Tennessee prison riddled with ra- cial violence A16 Growth of nearby Bath shipyard spills over to Portland, Me. A16 Fire heavily damages dozen stores in Jamaica mall B3 Missing retarded girl is found un- hurt in Manhattan B4 Health/Science Space shuttle is moved to its launching pad A16 Living Section Food Improvisation: Unlocking a se- cret of great cooking C1 Assessing freshness of city's meat and poultry C1 Capital eating: A critic's obser- vations C3 The 60-Minute Gourmet C3 Best Buys C8 Personal Health: Diet for dia- betics may be beneficial for all C12 Living Mrs. Reagan deplores a drug ''epidemic'' C1 Metropolitan Diary C2 Kitchen Equipment: salad dryers C2 Wine Talk: California whites worth a try C14 Toy fair unwraps the latest of- ferings C16 After death, mementos that mean a life C16 Arts/Entertainment Four closings bolster belief lack of hits hurts Broadway C17 A requiem for Lightnin' Hopkins, poet of the blues C17 Lou Ann Barton, new singer who beat the odds C17 ''Brainstorm'' resumes shooting, following Natalie Wood's death C18 Douglas Fairbairn's ''Down and Out in Cambridge'' is reviewed C22 Simon Preston, Westminster Abbey organist, at Trinity C22 ''Denmark Vesey's Rebellion,'' episode in slave history, onPBS C23 ''Lakeboat,'' David Mamet's first play, at Long Wharf C23 Lois Gibbs and her fight against Love Canal on CBS-TV C23 Gregg Smith Singers offer evening of Stravinsky C24 Sports Islanders win 13th in row, down- ing Penguins, 6-2 B9 Mavericks beat Knicks on last- second shot by Cooper, 112-110 B9 Cosmos disimis Weisweiler B9 Hard-pressed city schools try to raise funds for sports B9 Mavericks' Vincent gains respect B9 Seton Hall snaps 11-game losing streak B10 George Vecsey on keeping Knicks and Rangers in city B13 Features/Notes Questions and Answers: changes to student financial aid A18 About New York B3 Notes on People B4 Sports People B12 News Analysis Drew Middleton looks at Israel's worries on balance of power A10 Adam Clymer on Mondale's Mid- west campaign effort A15 Clyde Haberman discusses Koch's recent choices of topics B3 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 To the Middle East, by carpet Remember strategic minerals? Coining confusion on gold Topics: social history Letters A22 Russell Baker: telephones and the boxing game A23 Robert Neild: European self-de- fense A23 Dorothy J. Samuels and Norma Rollins: lie detectors lie A23 Michael Kallenbach: Irish voters' problem is economics A23 Andrea Lee: black and well-to-do in America A23

Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. of New Jersey was sentenced today to three years in prison and fined $50,000 on charges of bribery and conspiracy. The charges grew out of the Justice Department's Abscam investigation into political corruption. As Judge George C. Pratt imposed the sentence in Federal District Court here, the 62-year-old Democrat, a Senator for 23 years, sat glumly at the defense table. But minutes before, standing at a lectern before the bench in a courtroom crowded with reporters and other observers, Mr. Williams declared: ''I came into this court believing and knowing I was innocent of the crimes charged. I leave this court believing and knowing I am innocent of the crimes charged.''

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission opened the way for a broad expansion of futures trading based on stock market indexes today by approving a proposal by the Kansas City Board of Trade to deal in such instruments. The futures trading in Kansas City, Mo., will be based on the Value Line Average Stock Index of nearly 1,700 issues, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. A futures contract based on the index would, in effect, give the purchaser an interest in stocks represented by that index. Also pending before the commission are plans by the Chicago Board of Trade, the Commodity Exchange Inc., the New York Futures Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to offer their own versions of stock index futures. Philip McBride Johnson, chairman of the commission, said that the agency had not yet decided when to consider those additional requests.

The narcotics problem among young Americans has reached epidemic proportions, Nancy Reagan said at an informal news conference today aboard the Air Force plane carrying her to Texas from St. Petersburg, Fla. ''It certainly crosses all lines,'' said Mrs. Reagan, who is on the second and final day of her first major trip involved with social issues. ''It is the most democratic of diseases.'' The First Lady, who visited an elementary-school prevention project and narcotics-rehabilitation facility in Florida on Monday, attended a lunch here today with representatives of the Texans' War on Drugs Committee. Before returning to Washington she also visited Richardson Families in Action, a parent group dedicated to removing narcotics from Richardson, a suburb north of Dallas.

With great respect but with a job to do, the movers have come to the Museum of Modern Art. Stacked quite humbly frame to frame in a corner against a bare wall were a Matisse and two Mondrians. Four Matisse sculptured heads lay on a cloth on the floor looking for all the world like a family of sleeping sisters. A life-size George Segal sculpture, lashed to a dolly and wood frame, seemed tortured where once it was exalted. Two weeks ago the museum began to move the entire contents of its main building at 11 West 53d Street to the new west wing, part of a $85.6 million expansion that includes a condominium tower. The movers, who were quick to explain that they were professional art handlers, were hauling thousands of renowned paintings through a maze of archways to the corridor connecting the two buildings.

The United Automobile Workers will probably face a choice of accepting a sharp rollback of wages and benefits at General Motors this fall or calling a strike from a weak position, the union president, Douglas A. Fraser, said today. Addressing members of the union's skilled trades conference on collective bargaining, Mr. Fraser said the collapse of negotiations last month with the giant auto maker would leave the union in a difficult tactical position when the current contract expires Sept. 14. He said the situation might be similar to that of 1958, when the union was forced to work for several months without a contract after it could not come to terms with the company. Pessimistic Outlook ''We could go through the same scenario in 1982,'' Mr. Fraser said. But he said the company might impose reductions in wages and benefits, which it did not do in the past. ''They could lay down the economics we'd have to work under or go out on strike.''

International President Reagan assured Israel that the United States remained committed to maintaining the Israelis' military superiority over their Arab neighbors and said that no new ''requests'' had been made to sell military equipment to Jordan. The assurance, made in a letter to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, followed reports quoting Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and his aides as saying they favored selling advanced weapons to Jordan. (Page A1, Column 6.) Doubts about the Salvadoran Army were increasing as the senior United States military commander in Latin America began a three-day visit. The commander, Lieut. Gen. Wallace H. Nutting, arrived in San Salvador at a time of rising concern about whether the Salvadoran armed forces can defeat the rebels, even with more United States aid. (A1:4-5.)

A one-man grand jury was appointed today to conduct a statewide investigation into the possibility of ''fraud, corruption and patient abuse'' by nursing homes and other providers of Medicaid services in Connecticut. The Chief State's Attorney, Austin J. McGuigan, said the investigation would focus on ''a substantial number'' of nursing homes and pharmacies in the state but he declined to elaborate. Acting on a request from Mr. McGuigan, Maurice J. Sponzo, the Chief Court Administrator, ordered a Superior Court judge, Joseph A. Adorno of Middletown, to conduct the investigation.

IN New York's butcher shops and supermarkets there are aged prime ribs from Iowa, rosy pork roasts from Nebraska and Ohio, plumplooking chickens from Maryland and Pennsylvania, neatly rolled and ready-for-roasting lamb from Colorado and Utah and even milk-fed veal from Brooklyn. There is no doubt that the city offers shoppers a remarkable variety of meat and poultry. But how fresh is it? Most of the meat in stores here is available within four or five days of being slaughtered; poultry often within a day or two. However, freshness, if one is talking about age alone, cannot be easily defined for these foods. The fact is, beef actually improves in flavor if it is aged properly for a week or two. To some tastes, lamb and many types of This is the second of four articles on freshness in food. game are also better after aging. Anyone who has tried to eat a chicken or turkey the same day that it is killed knows what it's like to eat rubber; these birds have to sit for a day, long enough for the muscles to relax, before they can be properly cooked. Pork, veal and organ meats need to be eaten quickly, certainly within a week, or they will spoil.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Farrar Capon, an Episcopal priest and food writer, is the author of ''Supper of the Lamb'' (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). By ROBERT FARRAR CAPON HUMANKIND can be divided many ways - into male and female, children and adults, cat persons and dog lovers -and, no doubt, most of the distances we thus put between ourselves remain stubbornly unbridgeable. But the gulf fixed between cooks who can improvise and cooks who can't may not be as great as it seems. Indeed, it may not necessarily be a chasm at all but only a case of quite vincible ignorance. If bookbound cooks could learn to get their noses out of the printer's ink and into the air, they might be surprised at what they could produce. For everyone, cook or not, is already rich in olfactory experience. You are walking along a street, for example, or emerging from an apartment house elevator and the odor of cooking bursts upon you. Reactions vary, of course. Tripe at the boil is only minimally enchanting; members of the cabbage family are not known for expiring gracefully. But given half a break, the nose rises to the occasion: at times in delight at recognizing the familiar - scampi, curry, coq au vin - at others in awe at the mystery of the true greatness - what in the world could that be?