These are all words for activities that you do for pleasure in your spare time. 以上各词均指业余消遣、闲暇活动。

• interest an activity or a subject that you do or study for pleasure in your spare time 指业余爱好（活动或科目）：◆Her main interests are music and gardening. 她的主要爱好是音乐和园艺。
• hobby an activity that you do for pleasure in your spare time 指业余爱好（活动）：◆His hobbies include swimming and cooking. 他爱好游泳和烹饪。
• game a children's activity when they play with toys, pretend to be sb else, etc.; an activity that you do to have fun 指儿童游戏、玩耍、娱乐：◆a game of cops and robbers 警察抓强盗的游戏◆He was playing games with the dog. 他在逗狗玩。
• pastime an activity that people do for pleasure in their spare time 指消遣、休闲活动：◆Eating out is the national pastime in France. 在法国，下馆子是全国性的消遣活动。

interest, hobby or pastime? 用 interest、hobby 还是 pastime？

• A hobby is often more active than an interest. * hobby 常较 interest 主动、积极：◆His main hobby is football(= he plays football). 他的主要业余爱好是踢足球（他踢足球）。◆His main interest is football(= he watches and reads about football, and may or may not play it). 他的主要业余爱好是足球（他看足球赛和阅读有关足球的消息，但不一定踢足球）。 Pastime is used when talking about people in general; when you are talking about yourself or an individual person it is more usual to use interest or hobby. * pastime 泛指一般人的消遣活动，指自己或个人的业余爱好较常用 interest 或 hobby：◆Eating out is the national interest/hobby in France.◆Do you have any pastimes?

Patterns

• a popular interest/hobby/pastime
• to have/share interests/hobbies
• to take up/pursue a(n) interest/hobby