Раздаточный материал по теме "Hobby"

^{ON HOBBIES}

The real character of a person is found out by his

amusements.

Reynolds

A hobby is a recreation activity. Hobbies are as various as the world of human interests and experience. A hobby includes an element of exploration that gives the hobbyist a chance to discover the world and his abilities. A hobby provides us with a means of expressing emotions and offers many opportunities to create a new world of entertainment. It satisfies our wish for learning and stirs the imagination.

One of the most widespread hobbies is collecting. People usually start collecting with stamps, badges or coins. It is the common way to become involved, hobby. Later they move to more expensive with such a hobbies, or the ones that require more skills or knowledge. Antiques appear next in popularity. It includes collecting china, glass, period furniture, laces or needle work, or pictures or documents of some historical significance. Natural objects can become pieces of a collection as well: shells, butter­flies, bugs, flowers.

Many people are interested in dolls of different kinds: rubber, paper, china, knitted ones. Super-fans are so crazy that they can give a fortune for a picture of their idol, especially if it is signed. Many teachers of languages collect funny sentences or translations of their students, and read them or publish then in newspapers. There exist collections of beads, knives, match covers, campaign buttons, clocks or canes. Often such collections become the foun­dation for some bigger or even national treasure houses such as the Hermit­age, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum, the Wallace collection, or the Tate Gallery in London.

However, many people are not satisfied with possession only and some day they start to create pieces of collections. They write poems or short (usually humorous) stories, paint landscapes or draw caricatures, compose music, do woodwork. Sewing or knitting is considered to be a woman's hobby, but many men find it interesting and pleasant as well. About 3% of men are engaged in it. Gardening is extremely popular in Britain, Holland and many other European countries. The British are very conservative concerning their leisure tastes. Today one hobby can be called a national one - watching TV. People in the top income bracket spend about 20 hours a week, and the figure grows to over 31 for the poorest, though it can hardly be named a creative one. The division into performing, educational and creative hobbies is rather relative. We study languages, art periods,or start playing different musical instruments. Playing sport games can be exciting as performing on stage.

How do we get interested in this or that hobby? Sometimes parents or friends give us advice or encouragement. An occasional gift can start a hobby; or we often follow our friends' example and begin with an exchange. A visit to a show or an exhibition stirs our interest. Children prefer collection hob­bies and often move from one hobby to another. Quite often this interest grows into a profession.

QUESTIONS:

Do/Did you have any hobby? How did you start it?

Did you often move from one hobby to another?

Does/Did it help you study at school? broaden your outlook?