Conversation - Relaxation And Leisure

16\nFree time: relaxation and leisure\n\nA\nAdjectives describing free-time activities\n\nadjective\t\tmeaning\t\tpossible examples\nrewarding\t\tgives you a lot of positive experiences\tdoing voluntary work, helping charities\nfruitful\t\tproduces good results\tcollaborating/cooperating with someone in an activity\nlucrative\t\tmakes a lot of money\tselling designer jewellery, writing apps for smartphones\ntherapeutic\t\t/θəˈrɑː.pjuː.tɪk/\tmakes you healthy in body and/or mind\tgardening, yoga, jogging\nrelaxing/calm\t\treduces stress, gives a peaceful feeling\treading, listening to music, meditation\ntime-consuming\t\ttakes a long time to do\tbeing president of a club, being a member of a committee\n\nI enjoyed being secretary of the sports club but it was very time-consuming. I had to give up two evenings a week to do it.\nThe conservation work I do is very rewarding. I feel I'm doing something good and useful. Photography has been a lucrative pursuit for her. She often sells her pictures to magazines. Painting is such a therapeutic activity. It makes me feel good, and teaches me patience.\n\nB\nInformal expressions: how people spend their leisure\n\nRob's a real culture vulture; he goes to the theatre regularly and to every art gallery he can find. [big fan of anything cultural]\nI'm a bit of a couch potato; I spend hours every day just watching TV. [physically very inactive person]\nLucy loves playing tennis but only as an amateur - she'd never want to be a professional. [someone who does something as a hobby, not a job]\nFatima's a bit of a dabbler; she takes up a hobby for a couple of weeks, then she gets bored and starts something different. [person who never keeps doing one activity for long]\nMatt does a lot of chores at the weekend - things like shopping and mowing the lawn. [boring tasks that have to be done] [grass]\nLaura's a shopaholic. She buys all sorts of things she doesn't need. [person addicted to shopping]\nJoe is heavily into downhill skiing these days. [is very involved in]\nI went off football and I took up golf instead. [stopped liking, lost interest in]\nShe locks herself away for hours in her room and listens to music. [isolates herself from the world]\nShe's totally hooked on motor racing these days. [is addicted to]\nDo you have a hectic social life? I have a pretty full diary. [a lot of activities]\nMark is a keen participant in all the community activities in his town. [takes part enthusiastically]\n\nLanguage help\nWords like shopaholic, workaholic and chocoholic are used in a light-hearted way and are different from alcoholic, which is a serious and medically recognised condition.\n38\nEnglish Vocabulary in Use Advanced 16.1 Fill the gaps with a suitable adjective from A opposite. There may be more than one possible answer.\n1 I find writing poetry very ______________. It helps me to get a truer understanding of myself and gives me a good feeling inside.\n2 I enjoy selling the pictures I paint, but it's not very ______________. I only made £300 last year.\n3 Gardening is very ______________. It reduces stress levels and calms you down.\n4 I've had a ______________ partnership with Jane for several years; she plays the piano and I play the violin. It's been very good for both of us.\n5 Doing unpaid work at the hospital has been a ______________ experience for me.\n6 I would like to be on the club committee, but I've heard it's very ______________. and I don't have a lot of free time.\n\n16.2 Solve these riddles, based on words in B opposite.\n1 I am a vegetable that sits where humans sit. What am I?\n2 I enjoy shopping a bit too much. What am I?\n3 I am a bird that eats the flesh of fruit. What am I?\n4 I do some of this and some of that, but never all of this or all of that. What am I?\n\n16.3 Answer the questions.\n1 Which of these is your least favourite chore - washing your clothes or tidying your room?\n2 How often is it usually necessary to mow a lawn?\n3 Does an amateur footballer get paid for playing a match?\n4 If you say that someone 'dabbles in photography', are they a serious photographer?\n5 When it comes to sport, do you prefer to be a spectator or a participant?\n\n16.4 Give alternatives for the underlined words.\n1 My daughter's ______________ in folk music. She downloads a lot of traditional folk songs.\n2 She ______________ in the attic and plays with his model railway for hours on end.\n3 She's ______________ to football these days. She watches every match on TV.\n4 I have a ______________ of social appointments for the rest of the month.\n5 What do you ______________ in when you aren't working, Nigel?\n6 Martine performed with ______________ in the end-of-term concert. 16.5 Complete the dialogues with a word or expression from the opposite page. B agrees with A by saying the same thing in a different way.\n1 A: Going for a swim helps you forget your everyday worries, doesn't it?\nB: Yes, it's very ______________.\nA: Dan spends every evening ______________ rubbish TV.\nB: That's true. He's a terrible ______________.\nA: I'm not so keen on playing in the school orchestra as I used to be.\nB: Yes, I've ______________ it too.\nA: I'd like to join a drama group but it would mean giving up lots of evenings and weekends.\nB: Yes, it can be a very ______________ activity.\n5 A: I don't think I can fit in a tennis match with you for another couple of weeks.\nB: No problem. I've got a very ______________ too.\n6 A: Someone said I could make some money out of those necklaces I make in my spare time.\nB: I agree. I think it could prove very ______________ for you.