B. Keywords
photograph, sport, equipment, animal, skill, birds, look at, complicated, skill.
Vocabulary
riot, exhilaration, gallop, prior to.
B1. Now you are going to hear 5 people talking about their hobbies. Listen carefully and guess what the hobbies are.
1. The first part is to go out of your house and choose a subject matter to photograph, and that could range from a still life some kind to a moving object such as a racing car or a riot or some street scene.
I like the feel of the equipment whilst I am taking the photograph.
2. Well, I think it's the most amazing sport because I...I...I first had a go about 25 years ago, and obviously the equipment has changed quite a lot in the time since and it's become a lot safer.
Um, the scenery is absolutely superb and the...the air is...is wonderful, and the speed and the exhilaration.
You sleep well after it. And it's...for me it's just the best sport.
3. I think there's something rather special about it as a hobby, or a sport.
um...because with most hobbies, you just rely on yourself or maybe some equipment.
um...but here you're depending on an animal and quite a powerful animal at that.
So you have to build up a special relationship of trust between you.
And if you...if you do build up that relationship of trust, and if you develop some skill,
then there's enormous satisfaction and pleasure in what you can do together, whether it's walking quietly along a lane or galloping over open countryside.
4. One of the things I find most interesting is there are something like 6,500 types of birds in the world, that's 6,500 species of birds,
and it's only in the last 50 to 100 years, perhaps, that people have started looking at birds as something beautiful to admire in their own setting.
Prior to that, we ate birds, we still do.
Birds were shot and skilled for their feathers to put in hats, to decorate clothes.
Birds were used. Whereas now, a lot of people who enjoy looking at birds, simply do that.
5. You're using the force of the wind to get around over the earth's surface, as people did 2,000 years ago.
And it has been complicated, boats become more complicated, and navigation equipment has become electronic and complicated.
But these are luxuries. The essential skills are exactly the same as they were 2,000 years ago. And I think that's the...the fun.