Read and discuss the hobbies of famous people

1. Michael Jackson is crazy about animals. Many of them travel with Michael during his concert tours. He is also fond of travelling and Walt Disney films. He is a good rollerskater and excellent dancer.

2. Linda McCartney goes in for riding. She says: "If I'm lucky during the day I go for a ride on my stallion called Lucky Spot. He's got a lovely temperament. Horse riding is a marvellous form of exercise, both physically and spiritually. One interest we share closely is football. We rarely get to see matches but we always watch it on television. Paul is a great Liverpool fan, so we support Liverpool.

If I'm working or going out I have a woman in to do the cleaning. But I always do the cooking because I enjoy it. I cook for six every day."

3. A classic example is Mikhail Lomonosov, an outstanding Russian scientist who made a great contribution to science, literature and art. A talented physicist and poet, he made a mosaic panel depicting the Poltava Battle.

4. Dmitriy Mendeleyev, a great chemist, was a skilful bookbinder and also took pleasure in making suitcases. Once, when he came to a shop, the shopkeeper was asked "Who is that?" "Why, don't you know? Everybody knows Mr. Mendeleyev, the famous suitcasemaker!" answered the shopkeeper.

(bookbinder -переплетчик; suitcase - чемодан; skilful - искусный)

5. Nikolai Lobachevsky, a great mathematician, was Rector of Kazan University. He considered his main calling in life to keep and protect the University library. He personally selected and bought books for it and started a systematic catalogue. In 1842 there was a fire in Kazan in which over 1,300 buildings were burnt down. Lobachevsky was responsible for protecting the University building and saved the library books, while his flat was set on fire.

(calling -призвание; fire -пожар; to burn (burnt) down -сгорать; responsible -ответственный).

6. Academician Alexander Arbuzov, a chemist, was also remarkably versatile. An expert glass-blower, he produced many of the devices used in experiments. The so-called Arbuzov's bulb is now made at a factory near Kazan. When free of scientific work he was fond of playing the violin.

(versatile -многосторонний; bulb -колба, лампа; violin -скрипка)

1.14 Read the text & say what group your own hobby belongs to:

Numerous hobbies can be subdivided 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 man's hobbies, especially in some countries (Britain, for example). A relatively new hobby which is becoming more popular is computer games.

Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, and handicrafts. Some hobbyists write music. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill.

Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches, etc. 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. 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 the 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.

1.15 Tick more suitable characteristics for each hobby given below. Compare your opinion with your partner's one.

Hobbies

1.16 Are you a couch potato?

Centuries ago, people didn't have much free time, because eve­rybody was working too hard. In Britain in the nineteenth century, people had more spare time, but because the Victorians hated relaxing and doing nothing, they invented football, rugby and cricket. People took up more gentle activities too, like gardening, bird-watching and train spotting, and it was even possible simply to watch a sport and give the impression that you were actually doing something. Gradually, leisure activities have become less and less demanding, and most people have a variety of more or less energetic interests and hobbies. But now there is a new type of person who thinks that lying on the sofa watching television on Sunday afternoon or reading the newspaper from cover to cover is the most exciting activity they can manage. This is the twentieth-century couch potato. For them, every activity is too much trouble, and laziness is an art form! So how do you spend your free time? Are you a couch potato?