IELTS Speaking Part 3: Relaxing

1.        What are some of the various things that people do to relax?

Well, I’d say there are a lot of different ways that people like to relax, of which probably the most common would be listening to music or watching TV.

2.        Do people of different ages relax in the same way?

No, I guess on the whole, they generally don’t. I mean, children, for example, kind of just like to relax by playing with toys or watching cartoons on TV. And for my age group, I’d say we generally like chatting with friends on QQ or weibo, which is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. And regarding the older generation, I’d say they generally tend to relax by simply either watching TV or reading the newspaper, which is something that young people don’t really do anymore.

Equivalent – 相当于

3.        Are there any differences in the way people relax today compared to the past?

Yeah, I’d say there are, because for example, in the past, I think it’s fair to say that people mainly used to relax in front of the TV, whereas nowadays, it seems to be the case that people are moving away from the TV and spending more time on the computer instead. So that’s one difference, and I suppose another thing to mention would be that quite a lot of people now, especially young people, like going to cafés to relax with their friends. And this is reflected in the fact that there are lot more cafes around than there used to be.

I think it’s fair to say that － 我觉得可以说…

4.        So why are people spending more time on the computer?

I’d say there are a handful of reasons as to why this is the case, one of which would be that we are now able to do more and more things on the computer, like watch films and TV series, whereas in the past, we were only able to watch them on TV. And if you watch stuff on your computer, you don’t have to sit through all the annoying adverts which you get on the TV.

a handful of reasons – a number of reasons

annoying – 烦人的

5.        Why do you think some people find it hard to relax?

That’s a good question, and I suppose there are a number of possible reasons for this, one of which might be that they’re overloaded with work, and generally just too stressed out to relax. I mean, a lot of people I know find it very difficult to completely forget about their work when they’re at home, because their work is always at the back of their mind, regardless of what they’re doing.

overloaded with work –超负荷工作

at the back of their mind -心底

6.        Do you think that there is more stress in modern life than there was in the past?

It’s pretty hard to say, but I guess there probably is, yeah, because first of all, living costs have got a lot higher, and secondly, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult finding a decent job with good pay, as competition’s so fierce nowadays. Whereas in the past, there didn’t use to be so many things to worry about, because life was basically a lot simpler.

Decent job = good job

7.        What about the future, do you think there will be less stress than today, or more?

Well I’m not altogether that sure, but my feeling is probably that there will be slightly less stress, because I mean, I think we’ve reached a point where life can’t get much more stressful than it already is! So in the future, I imagine life will go back to being a bit simpler. In other words, I think what will most likely happen is that people will get better at prioritizing their time and cut out doing things which aren’t that important to them.

prioritizing -理出优先顺序

cut out doing = stop doing

8.        Some people think leisure activities are a waste of time. Do you agree?

Well I guess it depends what the leisure activity is. Because if it’s something that doesn’t benefit you in any way, then I’d say it is a waste of time. But if, on the other hand, it brings some kind of positive value to you, then I’d say it’s definitely worthwhile. And I mean, if you think about it, people who don't have any hobbies tend to be very one-dimensional, whereas those with lots of hobbies tend to be much more well-rounded and interesting people.

One-dimensional -一 维的

Well-rounded – 全面的

(Audio 录音: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=522027255752 )