When does a hobby or pastime, or whatever you want to call what you do in your leisure time for rest and relaxation, cease to be a hobby or a pastime and become something a bit more serious, such as something you realize can be turned into financial gain, or an obsession that can mess up your life as much as any other addiction? The whole point of them, of course, is that they are done out of personal interest and for pleasure and enjoyment, not for financial gain.

Most people’s hobbies turn out to be easy and stress-free pastimes such as collecting things, making things, sports, playing a musical instrument, reading, and so on. And – so it is claimed – they are good for you, too. Pursuing a hobby can have calming and helpful beneficial effects. For a start, it can take your mind off your problems, and the more interests you have, the more you enjoy life.

One way in which the subject becomes a little bit serious is when you are applying for a job and writing out your curriculum vitae, or resume. There’s invariably a section which asks what your outside interests are, and because getting a job is a serious business, and you want to impress your prospective employers,
you might find yourself claiming that you like nothing better at weekends than being flown by helicopter to the top of the Alps and then making your way home by snowboard and hang-glider. Perhaps people find themselves doing this because they feel that applying for a job and corning across well at interview
is a test of character and being an aficionado of extreme sports is a lot cooler than stamp collecting. But why turn what is supposed to be calming and relaxing into a cause for anxiety?

Which of the following statements are true about hobbies and pastimes, according to the text?

Before Luke Howard invented his system for classifying clouds, they had simply been described by their shape and color as each person saw them: they were too changeable and moved too quickly for anyone to think they could be classified in any useful way. Howard had been interested in clouds – and meteorology
in general – ever since he was a small boy, and for thirty years kept a record of his meteorological observations. In 1802-1803, he produced a paper in which he named the clouds, or, to be more precise, classified them, claiming that it was possible to identify several simple categories within the various and complex cloud forms. As was standard practice for the classification of plant and animal species, they were given Latin names, which meant that the system could be understood throughout Europe.

Howard believed that all clouds belonged to three distinct groups; cumulus, stratus and cirrus. He added a fourth category, nimbus, to describe a cloud “in the act of condensation into rain, hail or snow”. lt is by observing how clouds change color and shape that weather can be predicted, and as long as the first
three types of cloud keep their normal shape there won’t be any rain.

This system came to be used across the European continent, and in the 20th century his cloud classification system was adopted, with some additions, as the international standard, but that was not his only contribution to meteorology. He wrote papers on barometers and theories of rain, and what is probably the first textbook on weather. He can also be considered to be the father of what is now called “urban climatology”. Howard had realized that cities could significantly alter meteorological elements. One of these he called “city fog”. Nowadays we call it “smog”, a combination of smoke and fog.

Which of the following achievements can be attributed to Luke Howard?