Time Off

12/9/2021 8:51:00 PM
People spend their leisure time in the park. Image: theconversation.com

Do you know?

  • Leisure (or free time) is when a person can choose what to do. During a person's leisure time, they do not have an obligation to be at school or work at a job. 
  • Nowadays, leisure activities are totally different from the past. Many people no longer enjoy participating in outdoor activities after school or work.

Let's explore more in the following passage!

Let's learn some new words before you read the passage:

Listen to the passage Time Off and complete the sentences by dragging the correct word to each blank.

Amal works 45 hours a week. It takes him an hour to travel to work every day. That means he spends 10 hours commuting each week. At home, Amal spends about 23 hours a week doing work around the house. Of course, he needs to sleep (56 hours a week) and prepare and eat meals (14 hours a week). So Amal has 20 hours of . That is a amount of leisure time for someone in the United States. 

What do people do in their leisure time? , watching television is a popular free-time activity in many countries. Studies show that people are watching more TV today than they did twenty years ago. That is probably because there are many more TV today. People can choose programs from hundreds of TV channels. 

Computers are also changing the way people use their leisure time. Today people are spending more time doing things on their computers. the Internet is becoming another popular free-time activity. In fact, some are finding that workers are lunch to surf the Internet. 

More and more, people are their work time and playtime. They talk on the telephone while they are commuting to work. They read work papers while they are eating. They listen to music while they are studying. Maybe this is why people believe that they have less free time today.

Read the passage then choose the correct answer to each question.

Time Off

Watching TV is a popular free-time activity in many countries. Image: bls.gov 

Amal works 45 hours a week. It takes him an hour to travel to work every day. That means he spends 10 hours commuting each week. At home, Amal spends about 23 hours a week doing work around the house. Of course, he needs to sleep (56 hours a week) and prepare and eat meals (14 hours a week). So Amal has 20 hours of leisure. That is a typical amount of leisure time for someone in the United States. 

What do people do in their leisure time? Obviously, watching television is a popular free-time activity in many countries. Studies show that people are watching more TV today than they did twenty years ago. That is probably because there are many more TV channels today. People can choose programs from hundreds of TV channels. 

Computers are also changing the way people use their leisure time. Today people are spending more time doing things on their computers. Surfing the Internet is becoming another popular free-time activity. In fact, some employers are finding that workers are skipping lunch to surf the Internet. 

More and more, people are mixing their work time and playtime. People talk on the telephone while they are commuting to work. People read work papers while they are eating. People listen to music while they are studying. Maybe this is why they believe that they have less free time today.

Source: Facts and Figures, 4th edition

How much free time per week do most people in the United States have?

  • 23 hours
  • 20 hours
  • 14 hours
  • 10 hours

In paragraph 2, the author implies that _____

  • watching TV is the most popular leisure activity in the US.
  • TV programs help people study more effectively than before.
  • the development of TV channels attracts many people.
  • people in the US didn't watch TV twenty years ago.

Which sentence is true according to the text?

  • Instead of working, many workers are surfing the Internet.
  • People do some activities at the same time to have more free time.
  • Workers prefer surfing the Internet to watching TV.
  • How people use their leisure time is affected by computers.

What does the word “they” in the text refer to?

  • People who spend all day working hard
  • People who mix their work time and playtime
  • People who read work papers and listen to music
  • People who have less playtime because of their work

What is the passage mainly about?

  • Leisure time is less important to many people today.
  • People spend a lot of leisure time watching TV.
  • The way people use their leisure time is changing.
  • People mix their work time and playtime to be highly efficient.

Build your vocabulary by learning these intensive phrases/idioms

Complete the sentences by dragging the correct phrase/idiom to each blank.

  1. I was looking for information on Chinese music.
  2. I used to live in France; , not far from where you're going.
  3. It gets difficult to understand what is going on.

We spend the afternoon _____ leisure in the town center.

  • in
  • on
  • at

We use a huge _____ paper in the office every day.

  • amount of
  • number of

Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.

She goes to work by train from Naseby to Osborne every day. (COMMUTE)

Rewrite the sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the original one.

It takes Minh 2 hours to do his homework every day.

=> Minh spends ...........