Тема “leisure time” тексты The Use of Leisure

By the way in which a man uses his leisure his character can be told – more surely in all probability than by the way he does his work. For most men work is necessity in order to gain a living. Vast number of men have not even been able to choose what work they would do, but have been forced by economic necessity to take the first job that came their way. But in their leisure time they do what they really want to do and their real selves are reflected in their actions.

Some people are completely passive during leisure hours […]. If such people go out they go to some place of entertainment where no effort is required by them, a cinema or a dancing hall, and if the latter, they do not dance but simply sit and watch others dancing.

A different type of person hurries home from work full of eagerness to begin on some scheme which he has been planning for his leisure time. Perhaps his hobby is carpentry or model engineering, or gardening-, or he might wish to write, or to study some subject in which he is interested. This is the creative type of character. For him, his leisure hours are full of promise and he can look back on them with satisfaction when he reviews what he has achieved in them.

Leisure should be refreshment; it should send a man out with fresh spirits to battle with the problems of life. Sometimes this freshness comes not from doing anything, but by filling one’s mind with fresh springs of beauty. Many a man gets full value from his leisure by contemplating nature, listening to music, or reading noble books. By this sort of occupation he may not have made anything that he can show, but he has none the less recreated his own source of inspiration and made his own mind a richer and fuller treasure house. This is the true use of leisure.

(From “Fifty Model Essays” by Joyce Miller)

Exercise 1. Comprehension questions.

1. Why can a man’s character be told by the way he uses his leisure?

2. What types of men are there by the way they spend their leisure?

3. What do passive people do during leisure hours?

4. How does a creative type of character spend his leisure time?

5. Why should leisure be refreshment?

Exercise 2. Find in the text equivalents to the following words and phrases:

1. досуг, 2) огромное количество, 3) свежие источники красоты, 4) садоводство, 5) полный стремления, 6) место развлечения, 7) собственный источник вдохновения, 8) сокровищница, 9) творческая личность, 10) своё настоящее Я, 11) род занятий.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions:

1. What type of character are you?

2. Are you an out-going person or not?

3. What is your favourite occupation in leisure time?

4. Did (or will you) you choose your job by economic necessity?

5. What is your friend’s hobby?

A Night at the Theater

Here we are outside the theatre. It is the Library Theatre which is underneath the Central Library in Manchester. We are going to see a modern play which is very popular with theatre-goers.

Passing through the revolving door and down the stairs we come to the box office where the tickets are sold. Luckily we booked our seats a few weeks ago or would not be able to get in, because for this play all the seats had already been sold. It is so popular that this is the second time it has been produced here.

We leave our raincoats in the cloakroom. At the entrance to the theatre itself an attendant in uniform tears our theatre tickets in half. He gives us our halves back so that we can find our seats by their numbers. Another attendant shows us to our seats and sells us a programme that will tell us which parts the actors are playing and how many acts there are in the play. Then we take our seats about halfway down the auditorium.

All around us people are settling down into their seats, reading their programmes, passing chocolates. Everybody is excited, looking forward to the play. We all have a clear view of the stage because the seats are set on wide steps which slope down to the level of the stage. On the front row, you are so close you can smell the paint on the scenery but not too close to spoil your view of the actors. Even in the back row you have a perfect view of the stage because this is a small theatre.

This auditorium holds only 300 seats, but many theatres are much larger. In a small theatre you can always be sure to hear and see everything and really feel that you are with the actors in everything they do and in all the places they visit. But many plays are still produced in very large, old theatres where it is difficult to see and hear properly if you are in the back rows. There are sometimes so many stalls (ground-floor seats) in these theatres that they are divided into orchestra stalls, centre stalls, and rear stalls, with the pit behind them. Above, there is the dress circle and boxes, then the balcony and, high above, the gallery, or the “gods”!

The auditorium seems to be full now. In a few minutes the play will begin. The attendants close the doors and draw the curtains over them. The warning bell rings to tell everyone the play is about to begin. People whisper excitedly. Slowly the lights begin to come up on the stage.

(After The Theatre Information Book London, 1961)

Exercise 1. Find in the text the equivalents to the following:

1. очень популярна среди театралов, 2) театральная касса, 3) купить билеты, 4) поставлена (пьеса) во второй раз, 5) гардероб, 6) найти места (в театре), 7) роль, 8) передние / задние ряды, 9) зал вмещает, 10) партер, 11) амфитеатр, 12) зал заполнен, 13) загораются огни.

Cinema

I am not a great cinema-goer, but now that they have built a new cinema near my house I go and see a film occasionally. Actually it was last Sunday that I saw again the film that was produced by the Mosfilm Studio – “The Diamond Arm”. This comedy is a funny mixture of fiction and reality. The plot of the film is the following: a group of rouges were trying to smuggle jewellery into our country. They gave the jewels to the wrong man who was quite unsuspecting and who incidentally gave them away. When he came back to his town they began to follow him to get hold of the jewels. A lot of funny episodes happened during this hunt. Finally the smugglers were traced down by the militia.

Nikulin who was in the title-role is a real favourite with the public. Even though he sometimes didn’t do anything funny the audience started laughing the very moment he appeared on the screen. His very face was enough to set them roaring with laughter. As for me, I am not terribly fond of him though he is an actor of some talent. Another man playing the second best role, one of the gang, Mironov, was more to my taste. His acting was quite good. There were a couple of songs and some dancing too. There were some fantastic tricks as well. Such as a car lifted by a helicopter, pistol shots in the dark, hands moving in the light of diamond, etc. I couldn’t call it exactly a very good film, but I must say I enjoyed it.

Notes:

1. diamond [ʹdǝiǝmend] – бриллиант

2. rogue [rǝug] – жулик

3. to smuggle – заниматься контрабандой

4. gang - банда

Translate the following text without using a dictionary.

I’ll never forget my first visit to the Bolshoi Theatre. It was ages ago, but it stands out in my memory quite vividly. My mother bought two tickets beforehand for a matinee performance of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaikovsky.

We came to the theatre long before the performance began. A sign at the entrance of the theatre read “House full”. Many people were standing at the theatre asking if we had an extra ticket.

We left our coats in the cloak-room and bought a programme from the usher to see what the cast was. I remember we were glad to see that Plisetskaya was dancing the main part.

At twelve sharp the lights went down and the performance began. I had never seen anything more wonderful. The scenery and the dancing were excellent. When the last curtain fell the house burst into applause. The dancers got many curtains calls and were presented with flowers. The performance was a great success with the public. This first visit to the Bolshoi Theatre is one of my brightest memories.