Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

Hobbies let you explore interests outside your work. They make you be creative and try all kinds of new things.【小题1】How can you choose the hobby that suits you from these options? Here are some tips.

Look at what interests you. And examine what takes up your spare time, when you have it. Do you enjoy reading books? Maybe you want to try your hand at writing them.【小题2】

【小题3】Do you value wisdom or courage? Do you admire artistic expression? Let those traits(特点) guide you when choosing a hobby. For instance, you could take up painting because you admire people who can express themselves with art.

Examine your skills and personality. Certain hobbies require certain skill sets. If you don't have a great deal of patience, then maybe hand sewing isn't something you'd enjoy. However, if you love building things, maybe you should consider a hobby like working on older cars or building furniture.【小题4】

Pay attention to what excites your passion. The way you talk about issues can also reveal your passions and those passions can be developed into a hobby. Think about the topics you go on endlessly about.【小题5】Now, think about what it is about that subject that you enjoy so much and determine how it can be transformed into a hobby. For instance, maybe you are passionate about local politics, and getting involved in the community voluntary work could become your hobby.

Parties and social gatherings no longer excite us the same way they once did. This is not due to a lack of desire to socialize, but the smartphone.

At parties, more people are on their smartphones than on their drinks. According to a recent International Data Corporation study, well over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach for it the moment they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people in society are using smartphones while driving and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teenagers admit to texting while driving, and they confirm that text messaging is their number one driving interruption. People’s attachment to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.

Just as drivers dismiss the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the significance of human interaction. When with their friends, some people pointlessly check or send text messages in the presence of a friend, which sends a message to that friend: the person I am texting is more important than you.   In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantage as being able to make new friendships in the real world. Face-to-face conversations will give us much stronger communication skills in the long run.

As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a text or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The quality of this technology is hindering(阻碍) social achievements and weakening the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to interact (交流) face-to-face, but it is also lowering society’s ability to communicate.