自考英語（二）閱讀輔導（15）

Leisure and Leadership

　　Observations and research findings indicate that people in advanced industrial societies are increasingly concerned with opportunities for leisure and what they can do in their leisure time.
　　The importance people attach to paid holidays and the rapid development of services for mass entertainment and recreation are signs of this increasing concern.
The term "quality of life" is difficult to define. It covers a very wide scope such as living environment, health, employment, food, family life, friends, education, material possessions, leisure and recreation, and so on. Generally speaking, the quality of life, especially as seen by the individual, is meaningful in terms of the degree to which these various areas of life are available or provide satisfaction to the individual.
　　As activity carried out as one thinks fit during one's spare time, leisure has the following functions: relaxation, recreation and entertainment, and personal development. The importance of these varies according to the nature of one's job and one's life-style.
　　Thus, people who need to exert much energy in their work will find relaxation most desirable in leisure. Those with a better education and in professional occupations may tend more to seek recreation and personal development (e.g., cultivation of skills and hobbies) in leisure.
　　The specific use of leisure varies from individual to individual.
　　Even the same leisure activity may be used differently be different individuals. Thus, the following are possible uses of television watching, a popular leisure activity: a change of experience to provide "escape" from the stress and strain of work; to learn more about what is happening in one's environment; to provide an opportunity for understanding oneself by comparing other people's life experiences as portrayed in the programmes.
　　In an urban society in which highly structured, fast-paced and stressful work looms large in life, experiences of a different nature, be it television watching or bird-watching, can lead to a self-renewal and a more "balanced" way of life.
　　Our likes and dislikes, tastes and preferences that underlie our choices of such activities as reading books, going to the cinema, camping, or certain cultural pursuits, are all related to social contexts and learning experiences. We acquire interests in a variety of things and subjects from our families, schools, jobs ,and the mass media. Basically, such attitudes amount to a recognition that leisure is an important area of life and a belief that leisure can and should be put to good use.
　　Professional workers in recreation services, too, will find that to impart positive leisure attitudes to the general public is essential for motivating them to use their leisure in creative and satisfying ways. Hence, it can be argued that the people with whom we come into contact in these various contexts are all likely to have exerted some influence in shaping our attitudes, interests and even skills relevant to how we handle leisure. Influence of this kind is a form of leadership.
　　Parents, teachers in schools, work associates and communicators in or using the mass media are all capable of arousing our potential interests. For example, the degree to which and the ways in which a school encourages participation in games, sports and cultural pursuits are likely to contribute to the shaping of leisure attitudes on the part of the students.
Schools usually set as their educational objective the attainment of a balanced development of the person. The more seriously this is sought, the more likely positive attitudes towards leisure as well as academic word will be encouraged.
　 　休閑與引導

　　觀察和研究結果顯示發(fā)達工業(yè)社會的人越來越關注的機會以及空閑時能做些什么。對帶薪休假的重視和大眾娛樂服務的快速進步是這種關注的標志。
　　"生活質量"這個詞不好下定義。它包含很廣的范圍，例如生活環(huán)境、健康、就業(yè)、食品、家庭生活、教育、物質財富、休閑和娛樂，等等。一般地說，尤其在個人來看，生活質量由個人在多大程度上能夠得到生活的這些方面并感到滿意來衡量。
　　作為個人認為適合在業(yè)余時間進行的活動，休閑具有以下功能：放松、消遣和娛樂，以及個人發(fā)展。這些功能的重要性因各人的工作性質和生活方式而不同。因此，需要在工作中消耗大量精力的人會發(fā)現(xiàn)最想要在休閑中放松。受過較好教育的人和職業(yè)較為專業(yè)的人可能傾向于在休閑中尋找消遣和個人發(fā)展。
　　休閑的具體用途因人而異。甚至同樣的休閑活動各人做起來也可能功能不同。下面是看電視的可能的用途，這是一種很常見的休閑活動：換種體驗，從工作壓力里"逃開"；了解更多身邊的事情；通過比較節(jié)目中他人的生活經(jīng)驗提供一個了解自身的機會。
　　城市生活中，結構嚴密，步伐迅速，工作壓力在生活中投下陰影，不同性質的經(jīng)驗，不管是看電視還是看鳥，都能達到自我更新更平衡的生活方式。
　　既然休閑基本上是個人決定的事，就可以做任何給自己帶來愉悅和滿足的活動，發(fā)展個人興趣愛好。
　　我們的好惡、品位、喜好決定了我們是選擇看書、看電影、露營、或某種文化追求，而前者又同社會環(huán)境和學習經(jīng)驗有關。我們從來自家庭、、學校工作和大眾傳媒的事物中獲得各種興趣。基本上這種態(tài)度就等于承認休閑是生活的重要部分，相信休閑能夠并且應該得到充分利用。
　　休閑服務的職業(yè)工作者也會發(fā)現(xiàn)賦予公眾對休閑的下面態(tài)度對于促使他們以創(chuàng)造性的、令人滿意的方式休閑很重要。因而，可以認為我們在各種環(huán)境中與之打交道的人往往對我們形成與休閑有關的態(tài)度、舉甚至技巧都產生了影響。這種影響是一種引導。
　　父母、老師、工作同伴和大眾媒體的傳播者都能激發(fā)我們潛在的興趣。例如，學校對于做游戲、參加體育活動和文化追求的鼓勵的程度和方式很可能對學生休閑態(tài)度的形成產生影響。
　　學校常常把人的平衡發(fā)展作為它們的教育目標。越是認真地追求這一目標，這越可能鼓勵正面的休閑態(tài)度，就像鼓勵學業(yè)一樣。