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Part 2&3  An activity you enjoyed in your free time when you were young答案及解析_雅思口语练习「新东方雅思官方网校」

Well, I think I’m still young, to be fair! Haha. But anyway, an activity that I used to enjoy when I was younger, in my first year at university, was dancing. I used to attend a salsa dance class that was run by one of the South American teachers on campus – I think she was from Ecuador. I can’t recall exactly. Anyway, I loved going to this salsa dance class. It took place two evenings a week, and was a great way to stay healthy and fit, enjoy great music, and get to know other people. Because a lot of these kind of dances are interactive – men and women dance together as partners, and change partners too – then it’s a really good way to break the ice with people of the opposite sex and become friends, or maybe more… We would often go out for drinks after the salsa evenings, and sometimes stay out late chatting, or even clubbing in the city. So, yeah, these evenings I particularly enjoyed, and for a while the dance society at university was one of the most important things in my life – apart from studying and all that. It was my social outlet as well as my form of regular exercise, and a nice chance to get involved in something more international. It’s a shame that I don’t seem to get time to do something like that now, really. Or at least I don’t create the time and opportunity. Maybe I should make the effort – just thinking about it makes me feel a bit nostalgic actually. I had such a good time in those years! And became quite a really good dancer! 

It’s very important yes! Anyone that says people should work like machines and that’s a sign of dedication and diligence is talking nonsense! There was a phase a few years ago when several big bosses of tech companies in China were praising the “wolf” spirit of working and that started a ridiculous phase of some companies working a 996 working week – it was a perfect example of a totally unscientific and impractical idea becoming popular for the sake of basically companies getting staff who would work for them all the hours under the sun at the expense of the rest of their lives. Everybody knows that people perform better at work if they have a good work life balance… with the possible exception of a few individuals, geeks, or CEOs that stand to make more billions if they stay up longer! 

Yes, of course, there is a lot to do today. However, I’m not sure that people take the chances to use their free time productively. Sometimes I feel that when there are less options people appreciate and make the most of their free time more. Today we have so many options, and such a high level of digital connectivity, I think people get lazy – in fact, I think young people spend far too much time on the cellphones and not enough time doing other activities, with other people, in person. 

Some do, some don’t. I think that a lot of people don’t to be honest. I think there is a trend in the past ten years in my country where children and adults are pushed far too hard to supposedly maintain a “higher” standard of living – but in reality, they are just working all hours to try to compete with others in order to maintain the same standard of living and not lose it, or not fall behind others. It’s a shame really. I think this has driven people to lose sight of the value of free time and leisure, and frankly all the work and study efforts are not really worth it for many. Not anymore. 

It depends what types of people you’re talking about. People exercise in different ways. Older people often go to the park, do some dancing or use these simple exercise machines in their communities. Young people do all sorts – they go to the gym, they play basketball, football or other competitive sports… other people like to go jogging, or cycling or … there are lots of popular activities that people do here – pretty much the same as anywhere in the world.

Balancing work and life in China can be tough. The "996" work culture—9 am to 9 pm, six days a week—was common for a while in many industries, especially tech and finance, although I don't think it's allowed any more exactly, I'm not sure. This makes it hard for many to find time for family and personal interests. However, not everyone faces this extreme and as I said, it's not the case anymore so much. Some regions and sectors offer more balanced schedules. There's also a growing push for better work-life balance, with some companies adopting more flexible hours.
In short, while it's challenging for many, there is change continually and hope towards improvement.