Leisure inactivities usually involve _____. A: very little contact with other people or physical activity B: watching sport on TV C: taking a day off work and staying at home D: excessive amounts

Leisure inactivities usually involve ______. A: very little contact with other people or physical activity B: watching sport on TV C: taking a day off work and staying at home D: excessive amounts of time in front of a computer

阅读新视界大学英语第五单元课文，完成以下练习。 Leisure inactivities – or how to relax and do nothing 1 Centuries ago people didn’t have much free time, because everyone was working too hard. In Britain in the 19th century, people had more free time, but the Victorians thought relaxing and doing nothing was a sin. So to avoid temptation, they invented football and cricket. People took up more gentle leisure activities like bird-watching, and gardening, and it was even possible simply to watch a sport and be satisfied that you were actually doing something useful. 2 One instance of this is cricket, which is a peculiar game with weird rules, where nothing happens for five days, at the end of which the players often decide to call it a draw. And everyone playing or watching feels perfectly fulfilled by this non-event. It’s a good example of what we now call a leisure inactivity. 3 Gradually over the years, leisure inactivities have involved even less interaction. In the 1990s a new leisure creature evolved, one who thinks that lying on the sofa watching sport or DVDs on the television is the most exciting inactivity they can manage. This is the couch potato. 4 So who wants to be a couch potato? Well, as a matter of fact, many people do, and for very good reasons. Maybe it’s your one day off in the week, maybe you just got back from work or school. Maybe you’re tired and just want to chill. For the couch potato, every activity is too much trouble, and being idle is an art form. 5 How do you become a couch potato? It’s easy. Sit down in a comfortable place, such as a nice soft chair, or ... you knew it was coming ... a couch. Don’t sit on a potato. Make sure you have everything you need, things to eat (especially potato chips – no serious couch potato would eat anything else), drinks, magazines and a telly. 6 The most important piece of equipment is of course, the remote control. Without the freedom to change channels without moving from the couch, no couch potato would be worthy of the name. In fact, watching TV without a remote control becomes dangerously like physical exercise, and probably should be avoided. 7 Now just start watching the telly. Change channels every ten seconds, and then move on. Try your best to lose concentration quickly, in order to maintain your status as a couch potato. (Remember that you also have the attention span of a potato.) Finally, ask other people to do things for you, like get more food, or rent a movie. But be nice to them! If you aren’t nice, you’ll probably have to do it yourself. 8 But with every new trend, there’s a reaction. British farmers were recently reported by the BBC to be angry at the use of the expression couch potato, because it gave the vegetable a negative image. Potatoes are inherently healthy, says the British Potato Council, and is organizing protests to demand the removal of couch potato from the Oxford English Dictionary. 9 So there you are! Couch potatoes are healthy. 10 Of course, for the true couch potato, there are inherent risks. Perhaps the greatest of these results from the lack of exercise, and is referred to by professional couch potatoes as telly belly. Some, however, see their telly belly as a mark of their commitment to their leisure inactivity, and wear it proudly over the top of their trousers. (Interestingly, this is a highly fashionable style known as a muffin top. Find out why next time you’re in Starbucks.) 11 But time moves on, and in the 21st century we now have a version of the couch potato specially for the online activities on the computer. This is called the mouse potato. A mouse potato spends excessive amounts of time in front of a computer monitor, with the same absence of interest in the outside world as their older cousin, the couch potato. Mouse potatoes are hooked on online games with other fellow potatoes around the world. In fact, leaving the computer not only lacks purpose but also risks a threat by some rival or more skilful mouse potato in a brighter time zone across the world. For time off, their routine includes performing extensive Internet searches or participating in online chat rooms, leaving ill-informed and badly spelt opinions around the virtual world, causing offence or generally insulting one’s intelligence. 12 For mouse potatoes with an aspiration for adventure, you can even travel the world and visit countries you might otherwise never see by going to CouchPotatotravel.com. You can also find out how much time you spend on your computer by logging the distance your mouse travels. These are called mouse miles, and who knows, maybe one day you can exchange them for more potato chips at all good computer stores. 13 So with a minimum of effort you too can have your own leisure inactivity. Become a couch potato! Earn that telly belly! Train hard as a mouse potato, and earn mouse miles. Get started today. There’s so much time, and so little to do.