Young people need a hobby. Not only will an interesting hobby keep children entertained(娱乐的), but also many hobbies1an educational experience as well.

In this day and age of video games and computers, parents should2their children to spend time on other educational and challenging interests. Some hobbies, started 3a person was young, may even develop into a lifelong 4.

Here are some of the best hobby ideas for5:

Learn a Musical Instrument (乐器)

6will often turn into a lifelong hobby and many kids enjoy playing a musical instrument in a group or band.

There are a lot of instruments to choose from. The guitar is 7 to learn and many people can teach themselves this instrument. Children will need8 to learn most other instruments. The key to mastering (精通)any instrument is 9 

Start a Collection

Many children enjoy collecting objects and collecting can10 skills like classifying and sorting. And many 11 can become valuable in the end.

Children like to collect stamps, coins, or rocks. People can12a lot of different things—from toys to bottles, old records, and dolls--or anything else your children 13be interested in.

Encourage your children to take part in a 14. Don't be 15to let your children try different things until they find the thing they really love.

Reading is a great hobby, but people of different ages read books for different reasons. Linda is an 11-year-old girl. She likes reading books about travelling because she is a lover. She is also interested in how animals live. Tony often reads a lot of medicine books. He has always dreamt to be . Harry is good at , and he wants to translate a Chinese book about a war into English. David is fat and old, but he gets exercise by every day. He often spends much time reading books about health care. Lucy is young and beautiful. She works hard and wishes to do well in.

A hobby is a special interest or an (活动)that people like to do in their free time. Most people in Britain have their (自己的) hobbies. Some people train dogs to race or keep pigeons(鸽子)to carry messages. Some people are mad about (植物). They put many kinds of beautiful flowers in their kitchens and living rooms. Others are (疯狂的)about their cars or motorbikes. They (花费) their

weekends washing them, (绘画)them and trying to make them go faster. Children and teenagers are (感兴趣的)in collecting things. They collect (邮票), postcards or pictures of a favourite pop star.

Learning some new (技能)is also people's hobby. Some people go to evening classes to learn body building, bread making and so on. Some people enjoy writing and it brings them (愉悦), even success.

Danny has a hobby—playing games online. He is interested solving puzzles. He especially enjoys chatting with other gamers.

Now Danny (sit) quietly in front of his computer. His mother thinks he is doing his homework, she is wrong. Danny is actually(实际上) surfing the Internet, solving puzzles and chatting with other gamers around the world. " funny it is!" Danny thinks.

Why are online games so interesting?" Because 1can pretend(假装) to be a different person. There are also many different kinds of games for me (play)," says Danny. "Other people love to play these games because they can play at any time. They do not have to organize a group. "

In fact, (start) a game online is not as easy as you think. Some gamers (not) welcome new gamers. They will become angry when new gamers ask them questions. Other gamers are (help). They want to make new friends. When Danny has question, he always says, ""Excuse me, are you busy? I am new at this game and I need some help. "Sometimes this (work). At other times, however, the gamer at the other end makes you feel like a fool.

Victor's hobby was collecting stamps. He had stamps from many countries, like Britain, Canada and China. On his birthday, can you guess what people gave him? That's right--stamps.

Victor's favourite stamps came from France. He had almost every stamp from 1954 to 2004. He only needed one. That was a 1974 special edition. It was very hard to find. He looked for it everywhere. He asked his friends and relatives to help him. But nobody could find the stamp. It made Victor very sad.

"Don't worry. Never give up," his father said to him. "If you have enough patience, you'll find it one day."

"I hope so, "Victor said.

Victor also liked writing. He had a pen friend in France. They wrote to each other every month. Victor's pen friend, Phillip, usually used new stamps to send letters. Sometimes, his mother gave him stamps to use. Once Phillip's mother gave him a big, green stamp. It looked old. When Victor received the letter, he was very surprised. On the envelope, he looked carefully at the stamp. It was the 1974 special edition stamp. Victor was so happy. He told his sister, his mother and his father. "You see, "his father said, "you did find your stamp. So, it's good to have two things in life. "

"What are they?" Victor asked.

"Friends and patience, "he answered.