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Conversational Topic
«Hobby»
Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting. Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things.
The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to traveling and from chess to volleyball.
Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some hobbyists write music or play musical instruments.
Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums and galleries. Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items.
No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.
Hobbies are either consciously chosen, or they arise from an individual's interests, skills, daily work, tastes, ambitions, or past schooling. Stamp and coin collecting are examples of hobbies based on deliberate choice. Making model airplanes can be something to do for a pastime, or it might develop as a result of service in the air force or as an airline pilot. Designing computer programs is apt to be a hobby based on work experience or schooling.
All hobbies involve activity, but some involve more than others. Collecting - whether of antiques, coins, or first editions of books - is relatively passive compared to doing one's own paintings or making furniture.
There have traditionally been four types of hobbies - those relating to history, nature, handicrafts and the arts. Recently, with advances in electronics, many individuals have made computer use a hobby, while others use videocassette cameras to make their own movies. There can be considerable overlap between hobbies relating to the arts and those that have to do with the past. Scrimshaw, for instance, is an art, but it is also a kind of memorabilia relating to 19th century sailing. Many hobbies require both collecting and creating.
Notes to the Text:
Eisenhower Эйзенхауэр (президент США с 1953 по 1961г.; знаменитый генерал американской армии во время II мировой войны);
Winston Churchill Уинстон Черчилль (известный политический деятель, премьер-министр Великобритании во время II мировой войны).
Topical Vocabulary
character характер
according to по, согласно
to include [inklu:d] включать
variety [və'raiəti] разнообразие
activity занятие
gardening садоводство
grown-up взрослый (человек)
relatively ['relətəvli] относительно, сравнительно
painting [peintirj] живопись
sculpture скульптура
to design [di'zain] создавать, моделировать, конструировать
handicraft ['hændikra:ft] ремесло, ручная работа
hobbyist [hobiist] любитель, человек имеющий определенное хобби
to collect собирать
stamp марка
coin монета
matchbox спичечный коробок
record ['reko:d] пластинка
postcard ['pəustka:d] почтовая открытка
value ['vælju:] ценность
valuable ценный, дорогой
to house [hauz] помещать, размещать
in a small way в малом масштабе, понемногу
item [aitəm] предмет
a good deal of много
rare [reə] редкий
private ['praivit] частный, личный
to take pleasure in получать удовольствие от
no matter what kind of hobby a person has чем бы человек ни увлекался opportunity возможность
to add добавлять
exciting [ik'saitiŋ] увлекательный, захватывающий
aspect ['æspekt] аспект, сторона
Vocabulary and Speech Exercises
I. Answer the questions.
1. What is a hobbyhorse?
2. Do you agree that learning can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby? Why?
3. Which hobby groups do you know?
4. Have you chosen a hobby according to your character and taste?
5. The most popular hobby group is doing things, isn't it? What kind of activities does this group include?
6. What do you know about gardening?
7. Do you like computer games?
8. Are you fond of making things?
9. Do you know any famous hobbyists?
10. Have you ever collected anything?
11. What can be collected?
12. Do you know of any private collections that were given to museums or art galleries?
13. Tastes differ. Can you say the same about hobbies?
14. What is your hobby?
II. Find synonyms of: 1) exclude, 2) extensive, 3) exhibition, 4) involve, 5) to relate, 6) very old, 7) except for, 8) valuable things, 9) rich, 10) cine-cameras.
III. Find antonyms of: 1) exclude, 2) simple, 3) besides, 4) decline.
IV. Read the text and perform the tasks (A, B, C, D).
Historical Background
In the 16th century a favourite toy for children of all ages was a hobbyhorse. In appearance, a hobyhorse could be as simple stick, or it could have a decorated wooden framework with an imitation horse's head attached. Whether simple or elaborate, children used them for the games of the time involving war and knighthood, much as children in the early part of 20th century played cowboys and Indians. Over the time the popularity of the hobbyhorse declined, but the pleasure of doing something outside the routine activities of daily life had brought a new word into the language, the word hobby, which is a shortened form of hobby horse.
Hobbies today include a vast range of activities. The definition that best describes hobbies is constructive leisure-time activities. This definition excludes games and sports and leaves out purely spectator activities like watching television. It also excludes schooling and work done to make a living. A hobby, like playing with a hobbyhorse, is an activity apart from the ordinary routines of life. It should encourage the use of creativity and imagination and bring the reward of learning. Some hobbies bring monetary rewards as well.
Before the 20th century, hobbies were something that only wealthy people had the time and money to enjoy. The present-day interest in hobbies throughout the world comes from the increased amount of free time available to far more people as a result of shortened working hours and greater prosperity.
Some popular hobbies are as old as civilization. These include such activities as music, dance, literature, painting, sculpture, carving and whittling, weaving, raising pets, and astrology, as well as making pottery, baskets, beadwork, kites, toys, leather goods, dolls, fishing, jewelry and miniatures or models.
Rulers in ancient times often collected valuable objects, rare manuscripts and art treasures. Later, individuals who were educated and had a broad range of interests made field trips and travelled to other countries, bringing back fossils, plants, artifacts, and other objects. Such people also built up extensive personal libraries and collections.
During the second half of the 19th century, the Arts and Crafts Movement in England prompted a great popular interest in handicrafts through a magazine called The Hobby Horse. There were public exhibitions of handicrafts in England between 1888 and 1896, followed by similar expositions in Boston and Chicago in 1897.
(from Compton's Encyclopaedia)
A. Guess the word by its definition:
1) a child's toy like a horse's head on a stick;
2) a skill needing careful use of the hands, such as sewing, weaving, making baskets, etc;
3) an object made by human work, especially a tool, weapon or decorative object that has special historical value;
4) a hardened piece or print of an animal or plant that died many years ago that has been preserved in rock, ice, etc;
5) to make someone feel brave enough or confident enough to do something, especially by giving approval;
6) things which are interesting in connection with a famous person or event;
7) carving or other work on articles of ivory, whalebone, shell etc.
B. Choose a right word (make or do) to make the phrases:
a living; furniture; work; model airplanes; pottery; baskets; away with something; one’s own movies; field trips; glass beads (бусы, бисер).
Can you add anything to this list?
C. Answer the following questions:
1) What is the origin of the word hobby?
2)Define the word hobby.
3) Watching TV is a hobby, isn’t it?
4) People have more free time and that's why they have more hobbies. Is it true?
5) Can the hobby reflect an individual's past schooling? How?
6) The most popular group of hobbies is doing things, isn't it? What does this group include?
8) Are you fond of making things?
9) Are you keen on collecting things? What can be collected?
D. True or false?
1)Riding on hobbyhorses was popular with children when they played war games in the 16th century.
2)At the beginning of the 20th century children used hobbyhorses while playing cowboys and Indians.
3) Weaving is as old as civilization.
4)When the magazine The Hobby Horse appeared in England many people got interested in exhibiting handicrafts.
5)Some hobbies are of recent origin. They are collecting fossils and making furniture.
6)Collecting something is passive whereas making something is always active.
7)Many hobbies require either collecting or creating in the author's opinion.
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