Leisure time

DISCO? TV? OR BOOKS?

1. Read the texts and answer their questions.

a) How do young people spend their spare time? What leisure activities do they prefer? These and other questions were asked in a sociological survey. The results of the opinion poll conducted among young people living in big cities and in the country add up to the following hierarchy of pastimes: music in combination with such forms of group activities as discos and concerts followed by the Internet, theatre and reading. Then come films, museums, amateur arts and engineering; and finally, TV and classical music. The questionnaire, circulated among pupils of 9-11 forms, students and young workers, has shown that the arts are regarded only to contacts with friends.

Most young people admit that they do not know how to plan their leisure. According to the poll, the actual priorities are as follows: TV comes first, followed by Internet, reading, films, listening to records, radio, going out to dances and discos; then come concerts, museums, amateur arts, and finally theatre.

And how do you spend your leisure time?

b) Television is a powerful means of spreading news in modern society. They show all sorts of things on TV – films, plays, ballets etc. Some people even say that the cinema and theatre have no future because of the development of television. Still there are many theatre- and cinema-goers among students. Are you one of them?

NOTES:

Spare = leisure time – свободное время

Sociological survey – социологическое исследование

opinion poll – опрос мнения

pastime - развлечение

amateur art – любительское искусство

questionnaire – вопросник, анкета

to circulate – распространять(ся)

To regard – относить(ся), касаться

AT THE THEATRE