A quiet day

July 25th

Английский язык. “Экспедиция” (B2-C1)

 Leisure time in Britain

http://vashoroskop.blogspot.ru/2012/03/top-5-british-pastimes.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/under-35s-have-rated-gardeni
ng-in-their-top-five-favourite-leisure-activities-but-why-9679321.html

http://www.englishminute.com/englands-favourite-leisure-activities-in-
2016
 Leisure time in the USA

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/12/8-ameri
can-pastimes-brits-learn-love

https://www.statista.com/statistics/382623/most-popular-l
eisure-activities-among-adults-us/
Rest and get away
Escape
Sleep well!
 Bored!
There are a great many books, websites, and training courses today more or less dedicated to the idea that being
bored is a major sin, for which the only cure is to find ways to be busy and productive every waking moment.
People who follow this idea are constantly on-the-go — any feelings of boredom quickly smothered with yet more
activity.
At work, at home, at play, each moment must be filled with things to ward off the slightest possibility of being bored.
As a society, we’re over-stimulated to the point of mania, like hyper-excited children in those few moments at a party
before it all goes wrong and everyone starts crying. I suspect the rise in ADHD isn’t only due to eating strange
chemicals in the diet; we’re training ourselves to require continual distraction, reducing our attention-span to less than a
few seconds before we’re bored again.
It used to be only teenagers who sighed, “I’m so bored!” Now almost everyone acts as if not having something truly
exciting to do every moment is either the first sign of senility or — much worse — positive proof that they, and their
careers, are gone, past it, over the hill, on the way towards oblivion.
Yet boredom is, in reality, crucial to any ability to be truly productive, let alone effective. If you’re flat-out busy and
engaged all the time, you may feel important, but the reality is different. It’s those who are constantly distracted with
activities who are most likely to be headed towards a nasty let-down.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/24/seven-ways-boredom-is-actually-good-for-you/#71a968cc6d85

http://anxietyfreechild.com/im-bored-why-boredom-is-important-to-your-childs-development/
 Bored!
The trouble is that people who are afraid of being bored soon become too busy to stay effective. In all their rush and haste to stay
active, they have no time left to think about what they are doing, let alone add any new tricks to their repertoire. Besides, just
sitting around in some classroom learning stuff is so . . . boring. I want to be out there, in the thick of the action, doing things.
Of course, being so active makes you tired, but resting is boring too. With the help of a lot of coffee, some superficial excitement,
and a great deal of sheer determination (plus youth), you can get through on remarkably little sleep. And once you get into the
habit of keeping your mind racing, ready to leap into the next crisis, you’ll find it hard to sleep anyway, until you are so exhausted
your body rebels and knocks you out. Who cares what this is doing to you, physically and mentally? That’s years away, whatever
it is. Plenty of time to worry about that when you’re old.
It’s not true, sadly. A large proportion of Americans are chronically sleep-deprived: a situation that is known to have serious
present and long-term ill effects on both body and mind.
Being bored turns your mind inward and encourages reflection.When you’re rushing about, there’s no time to think. When
you’re bored, there’s nothing else to do but think. The fashion today may be to admire action heroes and denigrate the power of the
mind, but fashion never made anything right. With time to consider what you’re doing and why, you may just come up with some
useful questions about the direction you’re headed in. We may be living in an age full of self-regard, but that doesn’t mean people
spend much time in introspection. It’s more like they keep looking at themselves in a mental mirror, seeing how they look on the
surface. They don’t go any deeper.
Boredom is nearly always essential to creativity. It isn’t true that creativity is mostly sparked by having a specific problem to be
solved. It’s far more likely to arise because the person is bored with the way something has been done a thousand times before and
wants to try something new. That’s why new movements in technology, the arts, and even public life usually start when there are
still plenty of people polishing and refining the current approach. They don’t begin because what is being done now is totally
played out; they begin because a few people decide that’s boring and start playing around with how to change it.
Boredom stimulates the search for better ways to things like nothing else does. How many improvements in processes and
ways of producing things have come about because the people doing the job are so damn bored with going over same thing again
and again? My guess is that it’s the single biggest spur to working smarter, far exceeding cost-cutting or abstract ideas of ‘constant
improvement’. It’s become a truism that vast amounts of creativity and improvement are available from simply asking those who
do some job how they might do it better. Those dull places where processes never change, and people spend their working days
with minds numbed by boredom, relieved only by gossip, get that way because the people in charge are control freaks who can’t
stand that anyone might have an independent idea.
Boredom is an essential step in falling asleep and getting enough rest. Watch almost any animal. If they’re stuck somewhere
with nothing to do, they go to sleep. It’s the natural thing to do. We do it too. People usually can’t sleep because their minds are too
active. They’re thinking about what they will do tomorrow, worrying about what they did today, or mad because they ought to be
asleep and aren’t, and lying here wide awake is so boring. If they would only give in to being bored — relish how dull everything
was and how there was nothing to do or think about — they’d be asleep in a matter of moments. But their minds are trained to seek
constant stimulation. Even when they fall asleep, those minds fill the night with dreams of frantic activity. No wonder they wake
up feeling tired.
 Books to read
In Christopher Booker’s, The Seven
Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, the
7 plots are:
Types of Conflicts Include: Blake Snyder shoots for 10 basic plot
1. Overcoming the monster
types in his, Save the Cat! The last
● Human vs. self 2. Rags to Riches
Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever
● Human vs. human 3. The Quest
Need:
● Human vs. nature 4. Voyage and Return
1. Monster in the House
● Human vs. environment 5. Comedy
2. Out of the Bottle (Wishes and
● Human vs. technology 6. Tragedy
curses)
(machine) 7. Rebirth
3. Whydunit
● Human vs. supernatural
4. Golden Fleece (Quest; Journey)
● Human vs. god
5. Rites of Passage
6. Institutionalized
7. Buddy Love
http://genresofliterature.com/
8. Superhero
http://annettesimmons.com/the-six-kinds-of-stories/
9. Dude with a Problem
http://www.stevedenning.com/Business-Narrative/types-of-story.aspx 10. The Fool Triumphant (Underdog)
What is there in reading?

1. Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent)
Alzheimer's and Dementia, since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power. Just
like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, so the phrase
"use it or lose it" is particularly apt when it comes to your mind.
2. No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced
in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport
you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting
tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.
3. Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come
in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you'll ever
face.
4. The more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they'll inevitably make their way into your
everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that
you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem.

https://seriousreading.com/blog/283-30-reasons-to-read-books.html
What is there in reading?
5. When you read a book, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds,
ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through
every story. That's a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can remember these things
with relative ease. Amazingly enough, every new memory you create forges new synapses (brain
pathways)and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing
moods.

6. In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we

multi-task through every day. In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time between
working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people, keeping an eye on twitter and
monitoring their smartphone. This type of ADD-like behaviour causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our
productivity. When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just
falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you're absorbing. Try reading for 15-20
minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit), and you'll be surprised at
how much more focused you are once you get to the office.
The book that changed my life

● Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time.
● His Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 60 companies, including Geico, Duracell and
Dairy Queen.
● The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age
13.
● He has committed to giving more than 99% of his fortune to charity. So far he has given
nearly $32 billion.
● With friend Bill Gates, he launched The Giving Pledge, asking billionaires to donate their
wealth.
http://www.investopedia.com/university/warren-buffett-biography/
Vocabulary
Review
The books that changed English

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150225-secrets-of-alice-in-wonderla
nd
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2933712-alice-in-wonderland
● All that glitters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice) ● [Obvious] as a nose on a man's face (The Two Gentlemen
● All's well that ends well (title) of Verona)
● As good luck would have it (The Merry Wives of Windsor) ● Out of the jaws of death (Twelfth Night)
● Better foot before ("best foot forward") (King John) ● Own flesh and blood (Hamlet)
● Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Hamlet) ● A plague on both your houses (Romeo and Juliet)
● Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew) ● Play fast and loose (King John)
● Brevity is the soul of wit (Hamlet) ● Seen better days (As You Like It? Timon of Athens?)
● Refuse to budge an inch (Measure for Measure / Taming ● How sharper than the serpent's tooth it is to have a
of the Shrew) thankless child (King Lear)
● Forever and a day (As You Like It) ● Shall I compare thee to a summer's day (Sonnets)
● For goodness' sake (Henry VIII) ● Something in the wind (The Comedy of Errors)
● Foregone conclusion (Othello) ● Stony hearted (I Henry IV)
● The game is afoot (I Henry IV) ● Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep ("Still
● Jealousy is the green-eyed monster (Othello) waters run deep") (2 Henry VI)
● It was Greek to me (Julius Caesar) ● Swift as a shadow (A Midsummer Night's Dream
● Heart of gold (Henry V) ● Tedious as a twice-told tale (King John)
● Household words (Henry V) ● Set my teeth on edge (I Henry IV)
● A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! (Richard III) ● Too much of a good thing (As You Like It)
● In my mind's eye (Hamlet) ● Truth will out (The Merchant of Venice)
● Laugh yourself into stitches (Twelfth Night) ● What's done is done (Macbeth)
● Love is blind (Merchant of Venice) ● What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell
● Melted into thin air (The Tempest) as sweet. (Romeo and Juliet)
● Much Ado About Nothing (title) ● Wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet)
● Not slept one wink (Cymbeline)
 ● fashionable ● schoolboy
● fortune-teller ● shooting star
● accommodation ● freezing ● silliness
● addiction ● generous ● to submerge
● assassination ● gloomy ● traditional
● bedroom ● housekeeping ● unaware
● belongings ● to hurry ● unchanging
● birthplace ● impartial ● uncomfortable
● bloodstained ● Judgement Day ● to undervalue
● bump ● ladybird ● uneducated
● cold-blooded ● motionless ● unmitigated
● coldhearted ● to negotiate ● unreal
● countless ● puppy-dog ● unsolicited
● dawn ● quarrelsome ● upstairs
● downstairs ● in question ● vulnerable
● to educate ● well-behaved
● employer ● well-read
● employment
● eventful

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