HOBBY

1). There are hundreds of personal interests and ways of spending one's free time. 2). Some people are interested in danc­ing. 3). It may be ballet, classical or modern, or folk-dancing. 4). So they devote their leisure time to this kind of occupation. 5). Quite a lot of people are great cinema- or theatre-goers. 6). They try not to miss any film or play which are worth seeing. 7). Thousands of people enjoy reading. 8). It's a very useful occu­pation, they think, it gives them a lot of information, enriches their life experience. 9). Young people are mostly fond of pop- or rock-music. 10). They go to concerts, they collect records or tape-recordings of their favourite groups or bands, or singers. 11). They can listen to the music from morning till night. 12). Some young­sters attend discotheques, different musical clubs, or vocal studios. 13). Young girls and lots of women spend a lot of time knit­ting and sewing things. 14). They want to look nice and attractive. 15). Some women and men take up cooking, gardening or growing

flowers.

16). So it's difficult to describe all hobbies known in the world. 17). But perhaps one of the most popular ways of spending leisure time is collecting things. 18). People collect a lot of things: stamps, coins, stones, shells, dolls, toys, postcards, badges and so on. 19). Philately is of course the most popular hobby. 20). Some people take it up very passionately. 21). They spend long hours sitting at a table and arranging new stamps in the albums or just looking them through. 22). Indeed, each stamp has a story to tell about distant countries and strange people. 23). You can see pic­tures of birds and animals which you have never seen. 24). Kings and presidents pass before your eyes and you can follow the his-. tory of whole nations.