How I spend my free time

Jay Portman describes his unusual hobby, hill running, and tells us why he enjoys
it.
Hill running is the sport of running up and down hills and mountains, through open
countryside. It’s not popular among my friends, but I love it. My dad took me and my
brothers out running when we were little, and then when I was about fifteen, I joined a
hill running club, called the York Merlins.
There are some excellent runners in the club. When we do our practice runs, I’m
always a long way behind them. But that doesn’t bother me. They’re all really nice and
often give me advice. What I love is being outdoors and finding all these beautiful
places I never knew were there.
We race against other clubs at the weekends. In these races, runners are told where to
finish, but not how to get there. You need a good map and compass so you don’t get
lost. Everyone starts together at the beginning, but later in the race you often find
yourself running alone.
Anyone can enter these races – you just get there in the morning, pay your £5, and run.
There are no T-shirts or medals for the winners. The most you get is a piece of cake!
Often there are international hill running champions taking part, but they are just as
friendly as everyone else.
That doesn’t mean it’s an easy sport. Last weekend I did a race in heavy rain and high
winds, and I was asking myself what I was doing out there. But I got to the end, and
that was an amazing feeling.
1 Jay’s first experience of hill running was with
A a club.
B some friends.
C his family.
2 How does Jay feel about the good runners in his club?
A He’d like to be as fast as them one day.
B He doesn’t mind that they are better than him.
C He thinks they should help slower runners improve.
3 What does Jay say is important in the races he enters?
A listening to the instructions
B staying close to other runners
C being able to find your way
4 What do we learn about the races from the fourth paragraph?
 A They don’t have big prizes.
B They are only for local runners.
C They are free for some people to enter.
5 What does Jay say about the last race he did?
A The bad weather made it dangerous.
B He was very happy when he finished it.
C It wasn’t as difficult as some races he has done.

Jack Calder
Violin player Jack Calder plays in the Australian band, Ocean Blue.
Jack Calder started playing the violin when he was ten. ‘My music teacher played and
one day he asked if anyone wanted to learn. Some girls put up their hands and so did I.
I didn’t have a violin, but my uncle said I could use his. The lessons were really hard
at first, but playing the violin soon became important to me.’
After leaving school, Jack moved to Melbourne. For a time, he preferred listening to
music to playing it. The rock music he listened to sounded very different from violin
music, so he bought an electric violin, and started putting the things he liked about
rock music into the music he played on his violin.
A year later, Jack met a small group of Melbourne musicians. ‘We all thought about
music in the same way and started Ocean Blue together. A year later, we were playing
lots of concerts, and our music was selling well. But we didn’t want this to make us
different people. We didn’t want to stop being friends.’
Jack meets many people who think playing the violin is an unusual career, but he
doesn’t agree with them. ‘I think it’s the best thing in the world. I guess I’m lucky that
way. The internet has changed music, but when I walk into a violin shop it’s like
entering another world – one where time has stopped. Someone has looked after these
beautiful old instruments that are two or three hundred years old. I think that’s
amazing.’
1 What do we learn about Jack in the first paragraph?
A He was the only person at school to play the violin.
B He learned to play on an instrument that he borrowed.
C He enjoyed playing the violin as soon as he started learning.
2 What is the writer doing in the second paragraph?
A explaining why Jack thought some music was easy to play
 B saying why only a few people liked the music Jack played
C describing how Jack changed the kind of music he played
3 What does Jack say about Ocean Blue?
A Nobody in the band liked travelling far to play in a concert.
B The band members were interested in different kinds of music.
C Everyone wanted to stay friends when the band became successful.
4 Why does Jack think he is lucky?
A He meets lots of people.
B He loves what he does.
C He has an unusual career.
5 Jack thinks it is a good idea
A to keep some things that people used in the past.
B to make more music available on the internet.
C to teach more people to play an instrument.

A wonderful year
Ben Jones talks about his year of travel before studying at university.
I always knew I wanted to spend a year travelling before university. I wanted to see the
world, improve my skiing, make new friends from other countries and, more than
anything, try lots of things I’ve never done before.
The first place I visited was France. I’ve always loved the French language and I
wanted to study it. Then, while I was there, I became interested in French food. I took
some cooking lessons at a farmhouse in the French countryside, and learned to make
lots of lovely dishes.
Next, I visited Australia. My cousins live near the river in Sydney, so I had somewhere
to stay. To begin with, we spent a lot of time sailing in their boat. But then I got a job
in a hotel. It was great – the customers and staff were so friendly.
My last country was Japan, where I learned to become a skiing teacher. I planned to do
a three-week course. But when I got there, I saw that I wasn’t actually that good, so I
changed to a seven-week one. The course was amazing and afterwards I got a job with
a skiing company.
The other teachers were very friendly and on our days off, we did activities like
snowboarding. One weekend we even did winter camping. That was quite interesting,
but it was cold, so I can’t say I slept well! Anyway, we’re all planning to meet up soon
and I can’t wait.
1 What did Ben want to do during the year after he left school?
A try some different sports
B have some new experiences
C meet up with old friends
2 Why did Ben go to France?
A to do a French cooking course
B to see the French countryside
C to learn to speak French
3 Where did Ben live when he was in Australia?
A in the hotel where he worked
B with members of his family
C on a boat on the river
4 Why did Ben change his course in Japan?
A He heard about a better one.
B He knew he needed more practice.
C He wasn’t enjoying the first one.
5 What does Ben say about winter camping?
A It wasn’t pleasant at night.
B He would love to do it again soon.
C It was the most interesting thing he’s ever done.