Hobbies Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to you 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 travelling and from chess to volleyball.

Gardening is one of the oldest of man’s hobbies. It is a well-known fact that the English are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses.

Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it is becoming more and more popular.

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. President Bill Clinton, for example, plays the saxophone.

Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, match-boxes, 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 a in small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might take pleasure in seeing them.

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.

I would like to tell you about my friend’s hobby. Nick is my best friend and three months ago he bought a compact disc player and decided to collect compact discs. He is fond of listening to music. He has a good ear and likes jazz very much. Besides jazz, Nick also likes rock music, pop music, classical music. He doesn’t like techno, metal and rap. He himself says that he likes any good music. Now Nick collects compact discs of his favourite groups and singers, he carefully studies the information printed on disc booklets. He also tries to find out everything about singers he likes. That’s why he reads a lot of specialized magazines and never misses MTV shoes (he thinks he must keep up with the news in the world of music). He even writes letters to some fan-clubs in other countries, so he has to brush up his English. He never misses a concert of his favourite group (if they come to our city). He brings his compact discs to the concert and asks the singers for their autographs.

Post-reading questions

1. Do you have a lot of free time?

2. What else do you do besides going to school?

3. Do you play any musical instruments?

4. Are you fond of listening to music?

5. What kind of music do you prefer?

6. Have you ever collected anything?

7. What is your hobby?

8. What is your best friend’s hobby?

9. Which of your friends collects stamps (records, compact discs, etc)?

10. How do you usually spend your leisure time?

11. What do you do for fun?

12. How do you spend your weekends?

Sometimes people's hobbies turn into a life passion, become an all-absorbing interest of the whole life. Do they always bring satisfaction and pleasure? Read the story that follows and note down in your notebook the main ideas of it.