Out and about - Module 10B

B2 First · Multiple Matching · First Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

You are going to read an article about leisure attractions. For questions 1–10, choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

For some people, leisure means relaxing and getting away from it all, for example, by visiting natural beauty spots in the country or places for outdoor recreation. Of course, such natural attractions are affected by the people who visit them but the things that make them attractive tend not to alter greatly through time. Built attractions, however, are designed to appeal to people for whom relaxation means going somewhere and engaging in some kind of specifically organised leisure activity. These attractions do, therefore, tend to change over time, in line with public taste and fashion. With each new attraction that is built, the competition to attract visitors increases, so great imagination and creativity is required of designers and managers in order to make their particular place stand out.

Over the past 30 years, there has been a marked trend in the leisure industry towards more exciting and sophisticated attractions of all kinds. Many museums, for example, have seen quite dramatic changes, becoming more interesting and entertaining places to visit, while still maintaining their role of informing visitors about the past. Some have been converted into 'living museums' where actors and actresses in costumes meet the public and play the roles of characters from the past, in attempts to make the exhibits come alive for visitors. In others, history is made vivid and exciting through the use of sounds, and even smells, to conjure up a sense of the past. In a number of museums, audiovisual innovations have allowed very popular interactive displays to be developed.

Another trend which is emerging is for more places to be opened to the public as attractions, although the original purpose for which they were built had nothing to do with leisure. Some of the earliest examples of this trend are religious buildings which attract tourists thanks to their great architectural value. These have come to serve a dual purpose, as places of worship and as attractions for visitors. This trend, however, has now extended to various types of fascinating buildings for a variety of reasons. Visitors often have an interest in exploring the homes of famous writers and artists from the past, however humble the buildings themselves may be. Not far from Madrid, in the town of Toledo, tourists flock to the tiny house of the famous painter El Greco, who lived there 400 years ago. Similarly, the parsonage which was the home of the Brontë sisters, whose 19th-century novels include Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, brings many thousands of tourists each year to Haworth in northern England.

More recently, especially in the UK, there has been a growing interest in the type of attraction where visitors can see a familiar object being manufactured. One example of this is the Edinburgh Crystal factory, which regularly opens its doors to the visiting public. Visitors are shown around the factory by a guide and they see the famous Edinburgh Crystal glassware being manufactured in traditional red-hot ovens. After the tour, they have the opportunity to buy crystal decanters and goblets similar to those they have seen being made. The visitors do not interfere with the glassmaking itself, so the factory serves a dual function of being both a real workplace and an attraction.

A good day out

attractions where the design of the building itself is of great interest to visitors?

the possibility that visitors might spoil the places they visit?

attempts to make exhibits at some attractions seem more realistic?

the need for each attraction to have its own individual features?

attractions which do not have particularly impressive venues?

attractions where visitors can watch a process in action?

a type of attraction that combines leisure with an educational purpose?

an attraction where consumer goods are on sale?

attractions associated with celebrated individuals?

the fact that attractions need to keep up-to-date with what visitors expect?

Which section mentions:

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