My Day-off. Hobby

Vocabulary

a day-off выходной день

to have a rest отдыхать

to go to the country for the week-end ездить за город на выходные

to have a good time хорошо провести время

to enjoy the fresh air наслаждаться свежим воздухом

to walk in the forest гулять в лесу

to feel rested чувствовать себя отдохнувшим

to return to town by late train возвращаться в город поздним поездом

hobby, n любимое занятие

stamp collecting собирание марок

view card открытка с видом

match-box top спичечные этикетки

badge, n значок

shell, n ракушка, раковина

coin, n монета

common, adj обычный, распространенный

take photos фотографировать

palace, n дворец

castle, n замок

church, n церковь

broaden one's outlook расширить кругозор

folk music народная музыка

Leisure activities and skills

fishing рыбная ловля

cooking приготовление еды

swimming плавание

painting рисование

pottery гончарное дело, керамика

photography фотография

riding езда

yoga йога

mountain climbing альпинизм

water-skiing катание на водных лыжах

dress-making шитье одежды

jogging бег трусцой

watching TV or videos просмотр телепередач или видеокассет

knitting вязание

sewing шитье

cycling езда на велосипеде

roller skating катание на роликовых коньках

I. Read the text ‘The Weekend’. Answer the questions after it.

The Weekend

Most people in Britain work five days a week from Monday to Friday. Schools, colleges and universities are closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Weekend starts on Friday evening when people leave work and wish each other a nice weekend.

Those who work away from home may go home. Some people go away for the weekend. They stay in a hotel or boarding house in the country or at the sea.

People who stay at home at the weekend try to relax, enjoy themselves. On Friday night people like to go to a bar for the happy hour, or the theatre. Nowadays it is not "in" to go to all-night parties, they get up early on Saturday morning. Saturday morning is the time for cleaning the house, washing the car, doing the laundry. Women usually do housework, sewing and gardening.

Saturday morning is a busy time for shopping. On weekdays shops close between 5.30 and 6 p.m. (They're closed on Sundays.) The shops in the centre of big cities usually close at one in the afternoon.

At about one o'clock people go out for lunch. After lunch they go for a walk or do some sports. On Saturday afternoon sporting events take place - football, horse-racing, rugby, cricket and other sports. People either go and watch or sit and watch the sports programmes on television.

Saturday evening is the favourite time for going out: parties, dances or theatre, maybe pictures. Some people like to go to watch a band.

Church bells are a typical feature of an English Sunday morning. On Sunday morning most people stay in bed till 9 o'clock. Then they have a cup of tea or coffee. They look through the newspapers. Reading Sunday papers is one of numerous traditions in Britain. There are quite a number of papers which are published weekly on Sundays.

After breakfast most people go for a walk or to the local pub. Usually men go to the pubs alone and their wives and children prepare for brunch.

At one or 1.30 people have brunch. It is a good time for all the family, when grandparents, parents and children go out to some restaurant and spend an hour or two over brunch. Brunch is a huge meal. They have all sorts of salads, vegetables, chicken, cold meat, pies, fruit, coffee, pudding.

Sunday evenings are rather quiet. Most people prefer to stay at home and watch television or just get ready for Monday. So they usually have an early night.

Questions to be answered:

1. How long is a week in Britain? 2. When does the weekend start in Britain? 3. When do the shops close on Saturday in Britain? 4. What do people usually do on Saturday afternoon? 5. What is the favourite time for going out? 6. What does brunch mean? 7. What do people usually have for brunch?

II. Match the two halves.

1. People work... a) the weekend.

2. Weekend starts on... b) because they get up early on Saturday.

3. Some people go away for... c) cleaning the house and doing shopping.

4. Those who stay at home try to … d) at 9 o'clock.

5. People don't go to all-night parties... e) an English Sunday morning.

6. Saturday morning is the time for... f) 5 days a week.

7. Saturday evenings is the time for... g) a huge meal.

8. On Sundays people get up... h) going out.

9. Church bells are a typical feature of... i) Friday evening.

10. Brunch is... j) relax and enjoy themselves.

11. On Sundays people have... k) an early night.

III. Decide if the following is true (T) or false (F).

1. People work 6 days a week. 2. Weekend starts on Saturday. 3. Women do housework on Sunday. 4. On weekdays shops close at 2 o'clock. 5. Saturday morning is a busy time for shopping. 6. On Sunday afternoon sporting events take place. 7. Saturday evening is the favourite time for going out. 8. On Sunday morning people stay in bed till 9 o'clock. 9. People have brunch at 5 p.m. 10. Brunch is a snack between meals. 11. People have tea or coffee for brunch. 12. On Sunday evenings people watch television.

IV. Arrange the sentences in the proper order. Consult the text.

1. On Sunday people get up at 9 o'clock. 2. At 1 p.m. people go out for lunch. 3. Most men go to the pubs alone. 4. Weekend starts on Friday night. 5. On Friday people like to go to a bar. 6. After lunch they do some sports. 7. On Saturday afternoon people either go and watch or sit and watch the sports programmes. 8. On Saturday people usually do housework. 9. On weekdays shops close at 5.30 or 6 p.m. 10. After breakfast most people go to the local pub. 11. Sunday evenings are usually quiet. 12. On Sunday people have brunch in a restaurant. 13. They have an early night. 14. All the family spend an hour or two over brunch. 15. People get ready for Monday. 16. Over a cup of tea or coffee people read Sunday papers.

V. Tell how people in Britain spend their weekends.

VI. Speak about your day-off. The questions below will help you.

1. When do you have your day-off, on Saturday or on Sunday? 2. Do you have a good rest? 3. When do you get up? 4. Do you go to the country for the weekend? 5. Do you always have a good time in the country? 6. What do you do in the country? 7. What do you do if you stay at home? 8. Do you feel rested after the day-off?

VII. Read the text ‘Hobbies’.

Hobbies

A hobby is a favourite occupation of a person in his free time.

There are more than 1000 personal interests and ways to spend one's free time. The most popular hobbies are stamp-collecting, collecting view cards, match-box tops, badges, stones, flowers, shells, coins and books.

Gardening and cultivation of flowers, especially roses, is the most common hobby of all among Englishmen.

Some people are interested in photography. They like taking off old buildings: palaces, castles, churches and old houses of historical interest. And some of people like to take photos of friends when they don't know they are being photographed. Others are interested in video films and they record family events there.

Playing a musical instrument, watching TV, swimming, fishing and watching birds are also popular leisure activity in Britain.

A useful hobby is collecting tape recordings. You may have recordings of operas, light music, folk music and concerts.

It's impossible to describe all these 1000 hobbies known in the world. The main thing is that they increase your knowledge in some particular field and broaden your outlook.

VIII. Find in the text ‘Hobbies’ the English equivalents for the following Russian sentences.

1. Наиболее популярные виды любимых занятий - коллекционирование марок, открыток, этикеток со спичечных коробков, значков, камешков, цветов, ракушек, монет и книг. 2. Одним из полезных хобби является коллекционирование аудиозаписей. 3. Некоторые увлекаются фотографированием. 4. Некоторым нравятся видеофильмы, и они запечатлевают на видеокассетах интересные случаи семейной жизни. 5. Можно собирать записи опер, легкой музыки, народных песен и концертов.

IX. Answer the questions:

1. What is your hobby? Say a few words about it. 2. When did you first become interested in it? 3. Have you got any interesting collections at home? 4. What collections have you (your parents, your friends, your sisters and brothers) got? 5. What kinds of hobbies do you know? 6. What is the most popular hobby in our country? 7. What is the most popular hobby among Englishmen? 8. Do you belong to any hobby group (club)? 9. What is your favourite pastime? 10. Do you take much interest in sports? 11. Do you happen to take interest in making things? 12. Do you often take photos?

X. Many English verbs and some nouns and adjectives are used with certain prepositions. Sometimes the verbs and prepositions have special idiomatic meanings, e.g. "John tried to get out of doing his homework." (avoid); and at other times they keep their usual meanings. Remember that the gerund form of a verb must be used after a preposition. Read the story carefully and look for examples of verbs, adjectives and nouns used with prepositions.

Peter’s hobby

Peter is fond of listening to the short-wave bands on his radio. He likes to search for interesting foreign radio stations. When he discovers a new station he writes down the details in a notebook and marks the place on a large map of the world. Peter's cousin, Alan, is also keen on finding foreign radio stations. In fact, Alan and Peter are having a competition to see who can find the largest number of different stations.

Peter's mother occasionally complains about the noise he makes, and the other day his father turned off his radio because he was tired of the peculiar sounds that came from it.

However, Peter's hobby helped save someone's life last week. He was looking for new stations between the 19 and 16 metre bands when he came across a very faint signal in Morse Code, "SOS... SOS... SOS... Mary Jane... Position latitude 40°N, longitude 14°W.... Sinking fast... SOS..." A yacht, the Mary Jane, was in trouble in the Atlantic. Peter wrote down the details, then rang up the police and gave them the information. The police told the Navy and the Air Force about the message, and they were able to save the man. Apparently his boat had been damaged by a large piece of wood.

The man decided to reward Peter for helping to save his life. Several days later he received a new radio, larger and more powerful than his old one.

a) Put the correct preposition in the spaces. Don't look at the story until you have finished, then check to see if they are correct.

1. Peter is fond... listening to the short-wave bands.

2. He likes to search... interesting foreign radio stations.

3. He writes... the details in a notebook.

4. Alan is keen... finding foreign radio stations.

5. Peter's mother often complains... the noise.

6. His father turned... the radio.

7. He was tired... hearing the peculiar sounds that came... the radio.

8. Peter was looking... new stations.

9. He came... a very faint signal.

10. A yacht was... trouble.

11. Peter rang... the police.

12. The police told the Navy and Air Force... the message.

13. His boat had been damaged... a large piece of wood.

14. The man rewarded Peter... helping to save his life.

b) Complete these sentences by putting in the correct prepositions.

The other day Mary came 1)... an interesting old book in a second-hand bookshop. As she didn't have enough money, she wrote 2)... the title and author so she would remember them. She is fond 3)... old books but her husband, Bill, is tired 4)... them. Every time she buys a new one he complains 5)... it.

Bill is keen 6)... collecting antique furniture, however, and he loves searching 7)... unusual pieces in London's antique markets. A friend rang him 8)... last night to tell him 9)... an interesting chair he had seen. The chair came 10)... Japan originally. Bill has been looking 11)... such a chair for a long time, but has not been successful. Bill told his friend he would take him to lunch to reward him 12)... this information. Then he realised he couldn't buy the chair as he was already 13)... trouble with his bank for writing too many cheques.

Answers: 1. across; 2. down; 3. of; 4. of; 5. about; 6. on; 7. for; 8. up; 9. about; 10. from; 11. for; 12. for; 13. in.

c) Now choose the best answer to each question. They are all about the story. The first five are to check that you under­stand it; the rest concern the vocabulary.

1. Peter listens to the short-wave bands on his radio...

a) to save people's lives;

b) as a hobby;

c) to earn money;

d) because he is interesting.

2. Alan listens to the short-wave bands because...

a) he wants to annoy Peter;

b) Peter has a large map of the world;

c) he has a foreign radio;

d) he likes looking for foreign radio stations.

3. Peter's hobby... annoys his parents.

a) sometimes;

b) never;

c) rarely;

d) always.

4. When Peter heard the message from the yacht he...

a) looked at his map;

b) sent a signal to the police;

c) wrote a message to the man on the yacht;

d) made a note of the important information.

5. The police told both the Navy and the Air Force because...

a) the Army was busy;

b) they work together when there are accidents at sea;

c) the police didn't know what to do;

d) the Air Force has more boats, than the police.

6. While Peter is looking for new stations his radio sometimes makes peculiar noises.

a) strange;

b) pleasant;

c) horrible;

d) loud.

7. Peter's father turned off the radio because he was... the noise.

a) annoyed by;

b) happy about;

c) furious about;

d) used to.

8. While Peter was playing with his radio last week he … a very urgent signal.

a) saw;

b) noticed;

c) found;

d) turned off.

9. He heard a faint signal in Morse code.

a) Peter couldn't understand Morse code;

b) Morse code is difficult to understand;

c) The signal was difficult to hear;

d) Peter could hear the signal easily.

10. The man rewarded Peter for helping to save his life.

a) He sold Peter a new radio;

b) He bought a yacht from Peter;

c) He gave radios to Peter's parents;

d) He gave Peter a present.

Answers: 1. b; 2. d; 3. a; 4. d; 5. b; 6. a; 7. a; 8. c; 9. c; 10. d.

XI. Speak about Peter's hobby.

XII. Speak about your favourite pastime.

XIII. Make sure you can translate the following text both ways: from English into Russian and vice versa.

XIV. Answer the questions:

1. What is the most popular leisure activity in Britain? And in Russia? 2. How many people watch television? 3. What do people like better: watching sport TV or taking part in it? 4. Do most of people like playing musical instruments? 5. What are the most popular things to do outside the house?

XV. Nowadays there are a lot of debates about advantages and disadvantages of TV. Is TV doing more harm or good? Read the following arguments. Think of some more.

XVI.Discuss the problem of TV with your fellow-students in order to make a decision.

D I A L O G U E S

a) Read the dialogues in pairs

I.

A. What is your hobby, Henry?

B. It's collecting old books. There are already six hundred of them in my library.

A. Do you read them?

B. Yes, … but reading is not important. It is the process of collecting them that interests me.

II.

A. Do you think Jill will come to the party tonight?

B. Certainly. She is crazy about dancing.

A. Do you mean to say dancing is her hobby?

B. Oh, yes. She dances well and she would dance day and night.

III.

A. What a fine collection of old coins you have! Why are you so keen on collecting old coins?

B. Old coins tell much of the history of human society.

A. You want to become a historian, don't you?

B. Oh, no! It is only my hobby.

IV.

A. What hobby group or club would you like to join?

B. I'd like to attend the English-speaking club.

A. Why?

B. I take much interest in the English language.

b) Learn the dialogues by heart. Reproduce them in the group.

J U S T F O R F U N

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