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Travelling

The world is full of exciting places which, unfortunately, most of us will never personally see. We know that they exist, we see them on TV or in magazines. However some people do get to these faraway places. They are able to do so because it’s easier to travel today than it used to be. We can observe the most rapid growth of tourist industry today.

We often get tired of the same surroundings and daily routine. For this reason some relaxation is essential to restore our mental and physical resources. That is why the best place of relaxation is the one where you have never been before or that you like most of all. And it is by means of travelling that you get to that place.

Basically, we can travel by car, by bus, by bicycle, by train, by ship, by plane. Each kind of travelling has its advantages. Modern means of travelling have various facilities. The seats in carriages are comfortable, the carriages themselves are air-conditioned, one can sleep or enjoy beautiful scenery through the window. Nowadays more and more people prefer not to waste time and travel on board a plane. Travelling by sea is also popular with holiday-makers. But as any other means of transport it has some disadvantages. A lot of people are poor sailors as they are seasick. Some people like travelling by car. They appreciate that they don't need to book the tickets, to carry heavy luggage and to be always in a hurry. They like that they can choose any itinerary and any place of interest they want to visit.

Travelling is always exciting. We meet people, go to new places, get a lot of impressions. We enjoy picturesque landscapes, explore them and go sightseeing. We learn history, culture and traditions of different lands. We come to know more about music, art, literature and famous people. This is a perfect way to become more educated. It’s better to see once than to hear many times. You taste new cuisine that gives you new emotions. One more thing makes travelling wonderful. You are always looking forward to your trip and then to home coming, returning to your native town, family and friends. And it’s quite natural. After all, “East or West – home is best” as the proverb puts it.

We owe much to travelling. It makes us more friendly, more interested in the life of other peoples and cultures, it drives away the stress and gives us energy and power for the rest of the year.

There are different forms of travelling. Probably, the most comfortable is package holidays that are organized by a travel company where the basic price includes transportation, accommodation and food. Going on such holidays you can settled everything beforehand and fully relax during the holidays.

I have not travelled much yet and I have not gone on long journeys either, but I am fond of travelling and have already been to a few places. And I hope that in future I will have more opportunities for travelling and seen the worlds most famous and beautiful places.

Leisure Time

There is nothing like having leisure time. One can spend it in a million ways. It’s even hard to name all the activities, entertainments and hobbies run by people in their spare time. Some enjoy outdoor activities while others prefer watching films, performances, sporting events on TV to attending them.

The ways people spend their leisure time normally differ according to the age group. So, the basic leisure time activities of the young are travelling, doing sports including extreme sports, visiting discos and clubs or more passive ways of recreation like listening to music or watching TV and videos, and surfing the Internet. Teenagers normally prefer to do extreme sports, that is sports featuring speed, height and danger as they lead to the so called “adren­aline rush” in participants. They wish to push themselves to the limits of their physical ability and fear. Teens’ tastes in music are normally different kinds of popular music associat­ed with youth subcultures, such as hard rock, hip hop or rap, punk rock and the like. In watching TVand videos or going to the cinema, they prefer film genres which are full of action, movement, colour, cinema effects and have a good soundtrack. They normally like action films, comedies, musicals, thrillers and cartoons.

Although I am mostly busy, occasionally I have leisure time when I can do what I like. I prefer to spend my free time doing four things: swimming, reading, listening to music or playing computer games.

Reading has always been my passion. It opens to me a whole world of events and people. Books teach and inspire, please and entertain, save from despair and give advice on how to live. I wouldn’t say that I’m particular about any specific genre of literature. I like fiction, science fiction, detective stories and thrillers. I don’t mind reading essays or memoirs, romance or historical novels. I equally enjoy mystery and adventure books. What I really prefer is good prose which does not only convey a clear meaning but is written to satisfy the ear. I can’t say that I prefer any particular author to others but I’ll still mention some names whose writing I like best. They are …

I’m also fond of sports. Doing sports (I have been doing swimming since I was 7) helps me keep fit and be always in high spirits, as well as build up stamina and get tempered. Moreover, it is the best way of taking away the stress of our everyday life.

I enjoy listening to music, as music helps me relax and relieve stress. When I listen to music I enjoy, I forget about the troubles of every day life; music provides an escape from everyday problems, it fills me with hope and joy. Stress melts away as I am taken in by the beauty of the music, and my mood shifts. The choice of music I listen to depends on my state of mind and mood.

I am also keen on computer games. Some of them are really fascinating, absorbing and beautiful. They amuse and help to relax. I am well aware that some people strongly disapprove of computer games. They are of the opinion that it’s no good for you to use a computer like it was part of yourself. They believe that virtual reality might badly affect your intellect and imagination. Needless to say, I don’t share such views. What you can do on the computer is magic, if you have the necessary skills, certainly.

(There are also many other outdoor and indoor activities I pursue in my spare time. I participate in a few sports: I ski, play football and tennis. I am bent upon swimming.

Experiencing theatre and watching many films of many different kinds also give me much pleasure and excitement as well as browsing museums from time to time.)

Fashion

Fashion is something we deal with everyday. Even people, who say they don’t care what they wear, choose clothes every morning that say a lot about them and how they feel that day.
What influences our choice of clothes is an interesting question. I believe that most of the people do not follow the fashion displayed on the catwalk. That kind of clothes is the product of famous high-class designers’ work, it is more often very extravagant and extremely expensive. It is also not designed to be worn every day, but it is suitable some special occasions.

However, we definitely get fashion ideas from music clips, videos, books and television. Movies also have a big impact on what people wear. For example it is known that more sunglasses were sold in America after the movie Man In Black. Sometimes a trend is world-wide. Back in the 50-s teenagers everywhere dressed like Elvis Presley.

Musicians and other cultural icons as well as political and royal figures have always influenced what we are wearing.

Depending on their attitude towards clothes and fashion, people can be divided in three groups: fashion slaves, spending all their money on the latest clothes even if they don’t look good in them; fashion fans, who enjoy wearing modern clothes but not obsessed by them and people who just don’t care how they look.

Personally I place myself between fashion fans and people who don’t care how they look. Although I enjoy shopping very much and like to try things on, especially when I look good in them, I don’t spend much time choosing and buying clothes. And of course I do it only when I really need something new to wear, and not in order to kill time.

My style and the range of clothes that I have are defined by the activities I engage in. Work occupies most of my time and therefore most of the clothes that I have corresponds with the dress code, registered in the policy of our company. According to the dress code, an employee is not allowed to wear certain items of clothing to work. For example, men are supposed to wear ties and business suits, and nobody is allowed to wear jeans, except on Fridays. Women’s clothes are not supposed to be skin-tight, too short and too open. All of the shirts are supposed to have collars. Clothes also can’t be too bright, the colors should correspond to the corporate colors – dark blue and white.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14