Lesson 6. Hobby

6.1. Усна тема. Моє хобі my hobby

What is a hobby? It is what you can and like to do, when you have free time. We choose a hobby according to our character and taste. When we have a hobby, our life becomes more interesting. Very often our hobby helps us to choose our future profession because we learn a lot of new things. Many people are interested in music. They collect records. Others like to read and collect books. People living in cities and towns like to be closer to nature and they spend their free time in the country. Some of us go on hikes, others prefer working in their gardens, taking photographs or knitting. For example, gardening and growing roses is the most common hobby among Englishmen.

Вправа 1. Складіть розповідь про своє хобі, використовуючи такі фрази.

When I have free (spare) time ...; I have chosen my hobby because ...; I started ... when I was ...; I like (to do) / like (doing) ...; I prefer (doing something) ...; I am interested in (something) (doing something) ...; I am fond of (something); The most common hobby among (somebody) is ...; My hobby plays an important part in ...; I spend much (little) time on (doing something); I’m keen on (something) (doing something); I’m into (something) (doing something); I enjoy (something) (doing something); I relax by (doing something).

Прочитайте назви найбільш популярних хобі у додатку (Appendix I).

6.2. Читання

Прочитайте текст зі словником.

An Unusual Hobby

Hi, I’m Ron Hawker. I started riding the unicycle when I was 11 years old. My mother gave me a unicycle as a Christmas present. I have never been a good athlete, so it took me a long time to learn how to ride. At first, my mother used to fight me because all the walls of my house were decorated with my fingerprints.

In a month, I could ride around the block (about half a mile) falling about 3 times. It took me several weeks to learn how to freemount. I taught my brother and a couple of my friends unicycling. Since the first day, my father was extremely supportive and always found ways to keep me involved in different unicycling activities.

Training for my first unicycling competition was interesting. My coach David used to wake me up at 5:00 a.m. every morning, to run 5 miles. At first it was very hard and even I was not sure if the whole thing was worth it ... now I know that it definitely was.

A few months later, I went with my father to Nassau County, in Long Island, New York. I never thought I was good enough to compete in an international competition. When the race started, I decided to do what my trainer, David, told me: I had to follow the first rider in order to have him (her) cut the wind. At the end of the race, I discovered that I could go faster than the first rider and I decided to pass her. As I was passing her, I fell from my unicycle but I managed to get back on and still win the race. I was VERY excited. That was my first international race and I won!!!

6.3. Письмові завдання

Вправа 2. Складіть заперечні речення до тверджень щодо прочитаного тексту “An unusual hobby” за зразком: The text is about the weather. – The text is not about the weather. The text is about a hobby.

1. The boy’s name is John Brown. 2. His hobby is riding a bicycle. 3. He started riding at the age of 13. 4. This strange vehicle was his father’s New Year present. 5. Ron has a sister. 6. Ron’s trainer is Thomas. 7. While training Ron had to get up at 7 o’clock in the morning. 8. Ron went to competitions to New York city. 9. He was sure he would win. 10. Ron was following the first rider, who was an old man. 11. Ron lost the competitions.

☺Smile!

You are an Internet Addict if ...

• Your nightmares are in HTML and GIFS.

• You start introducing yourself as “Jim at net dot com.”

• Your heart races faster and beats irregularly each time you see a new WWW site address on TV.

• All of your friends have an @ in their names.

• Your dog has its own home page.